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The US-brokered DR Congo-Rwanda peace deal is already being viewed skeptically by long time watchers of conflict in eastern Congo who worry that the agreement does not address some of its root causes and might not be sustainable in the long term.
The agreement was signed in Washington on Friday by the foreign ministers of both African countries.
US President Donald Trump has claimed a major diplomatic win in bringing an end to the three-decade conflict which has cost millions of lives. In recent months the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have claimed large swathes of the eastern Congo subregion leading to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people.
The “Critical Minerals for Security and Peace Deal” will allow US partners to extract and trade Congo’s rare earth minerals in exchange for improved security and peace to offset China’s dominance in the country’s supply chain. But on the continent that has also raised the spectre of “resource exploitation, camouflaged as diplomatic triumph.”
Mvemba Dizolele, of Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies, said minerals were only ever one driver of the conflict alongside ethnic tensions, land disputes, and citizenship claims in the troubled region. The Congolese-born analyst said the US must ensure a robust legal framework including reparations for victims, disarmament, and accountability for war crimes: “Without these elements, the deal will not live up to its promises,” he wrote.
