Latest news with #RwandaCongo
Yahoo
05-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Rwanda's Kagame unsure whether peace deal with Congo will hold
NAIROBI (Reuters) -Rwandan President Paul Kagame said on Friday he was unsure whether a U.S.-brokered peace deal would hold with Democratic Republic of Congo and warned he would respond to any "tricks" from his neighbour. The agreement signed last week calls for Rwandan troops to withdraw within 90 days from eastern Congo, where the United Nations says they are supporting M23 rebels who seized the region's two largest cities earlier this year. Rwanda denies helping M23 and says its forces are acting in self-defence against Congo's army and ethnic Hutu militiamen linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide, including from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). Kagame told reporters in Kigali that Rwanda was committed to implementing the deal, but that it could fail if Congo did not live up to its promises to neutralise the FDLR. "If the side that we are working with plays tricks and takes us back to the problem, then we deal with the problem like we have been dealing with it," Kagame said. He said he was grateful for the involvement of U.S. President Donald Trump's administration in mediation efforts. "If it doesn't work, they aren't the ones to blame," Kagame said. There was no immediate response from Congo which has regularly accused Rwanda of being the aggressor. Kagame's remarks were his first in public since June 6. He was not seen attending events from then until June 24 and there was no activity on the presidency's usually busy social media accounts during that time. His absence led to speculation among Rwandan dissidents based outside the country about his health. David Himbara, a former Kagame adviser turned critic living in Canada, said repeatedly on social media that Kagame was ill. Asked for a response, Kagame brushed off the reports. "Some of my personal health problems might originate from managing you people," he said, to laughter. "What is the problem? What would people want me to account for? That I am not human?" added the president who showed no signs of being unwell during the press conference. Congo's government and M23 said on Thursday they would send delegations back to Qatar for parallel talks aimed at ending the conflict. The Trump administration has dangled the possibility of a separate investment deal that could unlock Western investment in regional supply chains for minerals such as tantalum, gold and copper as an incentive for all sides to make peace.
Associated Press
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Rwanda's Kagame gives cautious welcome to U.S.-brokered peace deal with Congo
KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) — Rwanda's President Paul Kagame said Friday he was 'thankful' for U.S. mediation in his country's conflict with neighboring Congo following last week's agreement in Washington. But he warned that the success of the peace deal depends on goodwill from the warring parties. American mediators 'are not the ones to implement what we have agreed,' Kagame told reporters in the capital, Kigali. 'You will never find Rwanda at fault with implementing what we have agreed to do,' he said. 'But if the side we are working with plays tricks and takes us back to the problem, then we deal with the problem like we have been dealing with it.' The comments were Kagame's first public reaction to the peace deal facilitated by the U.S. to help end the decades-long deadly fighting in eastern Congo. The deal will also help the U.S. government and American companies gain access to critical minerals in the region. The agreement was signed at the State Department, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio standing between the foreign ministers of Rwanda and Congo. Rubio called it 'an important moment after 30 years of war.' The agreement has provisions on territorial integrity, prohibition of hostilities and the disengagement, disarmament and conditional integration of non-state armed groups. While the deal is seen as a turning point, analysts don't believe it will quickly end the fighting because a major belligerent in the conflict — the Rwanda-backed M23 — says it does not apply to it. M23 is the most prominent armed group in the conflict in eastern Congo, and its major advance early this year left bodies on the streets. With 7 million people displaced in Congo, the United Nations has called it 'one of the most protracted, complex, serious humanitarian crises on Earth.' M23 hasn't been directly involved in the U.S.-mediated peace deal, although it has been part of other peace talks. The group's spokesman, Lawrence Kanyuka, said it was 'fully committed' to a separate peace process mediated by Qatari officials. Congo hopes the U.S. will provide it with the security support needed to fight M23 rebels and possibly get them to withdraw from the key cities of Goma and Bukavu, and from the entire region where Rwanda is estimated to have up to 4,000 troops. Rwanda has said that it's defending its territorial interests and not supporting M23 despite multiple reports by U.N. experts who cite Rwanda's military activities in eastern Congo. Kagame maintains a hardline stance on national security, saying his country will always do what's necessary to protect itself from rebels it says are embedded within Congo's army. 'Rwanda cannot live on the whims of others,' he said Friday. ___ Associated Press writer. Wilson McMakin contributed from Dakar, Senegal. Muhumuza reported from Kampala, Uganda.
Wall Street Journal
27-06-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Congo and Rwanda Sign a Peace Accord in Washington
WASHINGTON—Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo signed a U.S.-brokered peace deal, aiming to end one of the world's most pernicious conflicts and open their shared stretch of East African mineral wealth to U.S. investment. Rwanda and Congo on Friday agreed to 'immediately and unconditionally cease any state support to nonstate armed groups' in eastern Congo, and to work for their 'disengagement, disarmament, and integration.'
Irish Times
27-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Rwanda and Congo sign peace deal in Washington to end fighting and attract investment
Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo signed a US-brokered peace agreement on Friday, raising hopes for an end to fighting that has killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands more this year. The agreement marks a breakthrough in talks held by US president Donald Trump's administration and aims to attract billions of dollars of Western investment to a region rich in tantalum, gold, cobalt, copper, lithium and other minerals. At a ceremony with US secretary of state Marco Rubio in Washington, the two African countries' foreign ministers signed the agreement pledging to implement a 2024 deal that would see Rwandan troops withdraw from eastern Congo within 90 days, according to a version initialled by technical teams last week and seen by Reuters. Kinshasa and Kigali will also launch a regional economic integration framework within 90 days, the agreement said. READ MORE On Friday, ahead of the signing of the deal in Washington, Mr Trump said: 'They were going at it for many years, and with machetes - it is one of the worst, one of the worst wars that anyone has ever seen. And I just happened to have somebody that was able to get it settled.' 'We're getting, for the United States, a lot of the mineral rights from the Congo as part of it. They're so honored to be here. They never thought they'd be coming,' he said. Mr Trump was due to meet the foreign ministers in the Oval Office later on Friday. Rwanda has sent at least 7,000 soldiers over the border, according to analysts and diplomats, in support of the M23 rebels who seized eastern Congo's two largest cities and lucrative mining areas in a lightning advance earlier this year. The gains this year by M23— the latest cycle in a decades-old conflict with roots in the 1994 Rwandan genocide— sparked fears that a wider war could draw in Congo's neighbours. Rwandan foreign minister Olivier Nduhungirehe called the deal a turning point. Congo foreign minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner said the agreement must be followed by disengagement. The US state department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the initialled version of the agreement. —Reuters Massad Boulos, Trump's senior adviser for Africa, told Reuters in May that Washington wanted the peace deal and accompanying minerals deals to be signed simultaneously this summer. Mr Rubio said on Friday that heads of state would be 'here in Washington in a few weeks to finalise the complete protocol and agreement'. However, the agreement signed on Friday gives Congo and Rwanda three months to launch a framework 'to expand foreign trade and investment derived from regional critical mineral supply chains', according to the initialled version seen by Reuters. A source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday that another agreement on the framework would be signed by the heads of state at a separate White House event at an unspecified time. There is an understanding that progress in ongoing talks in Doha - a separate but parallel mediation effort with delegations from the Congolese government and M23 - is essential before the signing of the economic framework, the source said. The agreement signed on Friday was set to voice 'full support' for the Qatar-hosted talks, according to the initialled version. It also says Congo and Rwanda will form a joint security coordination mechanism within 30 days and implement a plan agreed last year to monitor and verify the withdrawal of Rwandan soldiers within three months. Congolese military operations targeting the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, a Congo-based armed group that includes remnants of Rwanda's former army and militias that carried out the 1994 genocide, are meant to conclude over the same timeframe. Congo, the United Nations and Western powers say Rwanda is supporting M23 by sending troops and arms. Rwanda has long denied helping M23, saying its forces are acting in self-defence against Congo's army and ethnic Hutu militiamen linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide. —
South China Morning Post
27-06-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Rwanda and DR Congo sign peace deal, as Trump cheers mineral rights for US
Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo signed a US-brokered peace agreement on Friday, raising hopes for an end to fighting that has killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands more this year. Advertisement The agreement marks a breakthrough in talks held by US President Donald Trump's administration and aims to attract billions of dollars of Western investment to a region rich in tantalum, gold, cobalt, copper, lithium and other minerals. At a ceremony with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington, the two African countries' foreign ministers signed the agreement pledging to implement a 2024 deal that would see Rwandan troops withdraw from eastern Congo within 90 days, according to a version initialled by technical teams last week and seen by Reuters. Kinshasa and Kigali will also launch a regional economic integration framework within 90 days, the agreement said. 'They were going at it for many years, and with machetes – it is one of the worst, one of the worst wars that anyone has ever seen. And I just happened to have somebody that was able to get it settled,' Trump said on Friday, ahead of the signing of the deal in Washington. Advertisement 'We're getting, for the United States, a lot of the mineral rights from the Congo as part of it. They're so honoured to be here. They never thought they'd be coming.'
