President Donald Trump lauded the leaders of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda on Thursday for their “courage” in signing a deal aimed at ending the conflict in eastern Congo and opening the region’s vital mineral reserves to the U.S. government and American companies.
The signing offered Trump – who has repeatedly, and often with some exaggeration, claimed credit for resolving some of the world’s most entrenched conflicts – another platform to present himself as a master dealmaker on the global stage and bolster his long-expressed hope of winning a Nobel Peace Prize.
“It’s a great day for Africa, a great day for the world,” Trump declared just before the leaders put pen to paper. “Today, we’re succeeding where so many others have failed.”
The U.S. president welcomed Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame, along with officials from several other African nations who traveled to Washington for the ceremony. The event came the same week Trump disparaged Somalia, calling it war-torn, and reiterated that he did not want immigrants from the East African nation entering the United States.
Lauded by the White House as a "historic" agreement brokered by Trump, the pact between Tshisekedi and Kagame follows months-long peace efforts by the U.S. and partners, including the African Union and Qatar, and finalizes an earlier deal signed in June.
But the Trump-brokered peace remains precarious.
The Central African nation of Congo has been battered by decades-long fighting involving more than 100 armed groups, the most potent being the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels. The conflict escalated this year, with M23 seizing the region’s main cities of Goma and Bukavu in an unprecedented advance, worsening a humanitarian crisis that was already one of the world’s largest, with millions of people displaced.
Fighting continued this week in the conflict-battered region, with pockets of clashes reported between the rebels and Congolese soldiers and their allied forces. Trump, a Republican, has often said that his mediation has ended the conflict, which some residents in Congo dispute.
Still, Kagame and Tshisekedi struck a hopeful tone as they signed the agreement.
"No one was asking President Trump to take up this task. Our region is far from the headlines,” Kagame said. "But when the president saw the opportunity to contribute to peace, he immediately took it.”
"I do believe this day is the beginning of a new path, a demanding path, yes. Indeed, quite difficult," Tshisekedi said. "But this is a path where peace will not just be a wish, an aspiration, but a turning point.”
Analysts say Thursday's deal is not expected to quickly bring peace. A separate peace deal has already been signed between Congo and the M23.
"We are still at war,” said Amani Chibalonza Edith, a 32-year-old resident of Goma, eastern Congo's key city seized by rebels earlier this year. "There can be no peace as long as the front lines remain active."
Trump predicted that with the signing, the countries would leave behind "decades of violence and bloodshed” and "begin a new year of harmony and cooperation.”
"They spent a lot of time killing each other,” Trump said. "And now they’re going to spend a lot of time hugging, holding hands, and taking advantage of the United States of America economically like every other country does.”
Tshisekedi and Kagame did not shake hands and barely looked at each other during the roughly 50-minute signing ceremony.
Thursday’s pact will also build on a Regional Economic Integration Framework previously agreed upon, which officials said will define the terms of economic partnerships involving the three countries.
Trump also announced that the United States was signing bilateral agreements with Congo and Rwanda to unlock new opportunities for the U.S. to access critical minerals – deals that will benefit all three nations’ economies.
"And we’ll be involved with sending some of our biggest and greatest U.S. companies over to the two countries,” Trump said. He added, "Everybody’s going to make a lot of money.”
The region, rich in critical minerals, has drawn U.S. interest as Washington seeks to circumvent China in acquiring rare earths essential to manufacturing fighter jets, cell phones, and other technology. China accounts for nearly 70% of the world’s rare earth mining and controls roughly 90% of global rare earth processing.
Trump hosted the leaders Thursday morning for one-on-one meetings at the White House, as well as a three-way discussion before the signing ceremony at the Institute of Peace in Washington, which the State Department said has been rebranded the "Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace.”
In eastern Congo, residents reported pockets of clashes and rebel advances in various localities. Both the M23 and Congolese forces have accused each other of violating the terms of the cease-fire agreed upon earlier this year. Fighting has also continued in the central plateaus across South Kivu province.
The hardship in the aftermath of the conflict has worsened following U.S. funding cuts that were crucial for aid support.
In rebel-held Goma, which was a regional hub for security and humanitarian efforts before this year’s escalation, the international airport remains closed. Government services such as banks have yet to resume, and residents report a surge in crime and prices.
The conflict traces back to the aftermath of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, when Hutu militias killed between 500,000 and 1 million ethnic Tutsi, as well as moderate Hutus and Twa, the Indigenous population. When Tutsi-led forces fought back, nearly 2 million Hutus fled to Congo, fearing reprisals.
Rwandan authorities have accused the fleeing Hutus of participating in the genocide and alleged that elements of the Congolese army protected them. They argue that militias formed by a small fraction of Hutus threaten Rwanda’s Tutsi population.
Congo's government has said there cannot be permanent peace if Rwanda does not withdraw its support for M23, including troops and other assistance. Rwanda has conditioned a permanent cease-fire on Congo dissolving a local Hutu militia that it says is fighting alongside the Congolese military.
U.N. experts estimate that 3,000 to 4,000 Rwandan government forces are deployed in eastern Congo alongside M23. Rwanda denies such support but says any actions in the conflict are to protect its territory.
