DRC and Rwanda to strike Trump-brokered peace deal: All to know | Armed Groups News

Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo should sign a mediated peace agreement by the United States on Friday after several months of conflicts that killed thousands of people and moved millions of eastern DRCs rich in resources.

Neither of the two countries is officially at war, but the DRC accuses its neighbor, Rwanda, of supporting the rebellious group M23, which waged war in the eastern DRC. Rwanda denies this accusation.

In January, a fatal offensive of the rebels – helped by Rwandan forces, according to a panel of United Nations experts – increased a conflict of several decades in the DRC of the East. The M23 has since seized the strategic cities of Goma and Bukavu, and its attacks have raised fears of a regional war.

The peace agreement is involved in the midst of reports that the United States is considering investments in the region rich in minerals in exchange for security and calm in an area where dozens of militias in the running for the control of resources have worked since the mid-1990s.

Here is what we know about the peace agreement to announce:

What is the context of the crisis?

The conflict of the DRC and Rwanda go back to the Rwandan genocide of the Tutsis and the Hutus Centrists in 1994.

After the reversal of the genocidal government by the Rwandan defense forces, the Hutu genocidaires fled in the poorly governed eastern region of the neighboring DRC. They hid among civil refugees and continued to launch attacks against Rwanda.

Kigali’s attempts to attack these forces led to the first and second Congo Wars (1996-1997 and 1998-2003). Rwanda and Uganda have been accused of having targeted Hutu civilians and looting and switching from the smuggling of coffee, diamonds, wood, coltan and gold from the DRC. Other neighbors have also interfered, by choosing Rwanda or the side of the DRC.

Since then, the eastern DRC has been prey to low -level conflicts. More than six million people were killed and millions were moved. At least 100 armed groups enjoying a security vacuum operates in the region and controlling lucrative mines. The DRC has one of the world’s largest reserves in Coltan and Cobalt. It is also rich in gold, tantalum, tin and tungsten, which are essential for technological gadgets.

M23, which emerged for the first time in 2012, is one of these forces. The group mainly includes Congolese Tutsi soldiers who fought during the war and had to be integrated into the army. In 2011, they revolted, claiming ethnic discrimination in force. M23 now says that he defends the rights of the Congolese Tutsis. However, criticisms accuse the group of being a front for Rwanda’s ambitions of controlling the region – an accusation that Kigali rejects. President Felix Tshisekedi has also accused the Rwandan chief longtime Paul Kagame of supporting the group.

A United Nations expert in 2022 report Note that Rwanda actively supports the M23 and that around 3,000 to 4,000 Rwandan soldiers are on the ground in the DRC. The United States also said Rwanda supported the group. Rwanda thwarts allegations by accusing the DRC of working with other armed groups such as Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), Hutu Rebel outfit. Kinshasa insists that he does not work with the group.

Why did the conflict resurface?

M23, which was initially postponed using a UN force, resurfaced in 2022 with a series of violent sporadic attacks. In January 2025, he launched a lightning offensive, a heavy artillery army, seizing cities in rapid succession and promising to walk on Kinshasa.

An alliance of the Congolese defense forces, the FLDR and a force of the Development Community of Southern Africa (SADC) tried to repel the group. In May, the SADC forces withdrew.

Attempts at mediation led by African unions such as Luanda’s peace process (2022) and the Nairobi peace process (2023) have not ended violence, because each party blames the other to have violated ceases. In March, President Joao Lourenco of Angola, who tried to conclude an agreement for months, resigned from its official mediator.

Meanwhile, the European Union has reduced military aid to Rwanda and The United States has imposed sanctions On the main leaders of the Rwandan army for their involvement in the conflict.

In April, the US Secretary of Defense Marco Rubio began negotiations with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the DRC, Therese Kayikwamba Wagner, and his Rwandan counterpart, Olivier Nduhungirehe.

Qatar is also involved in mediation. Tshisekedi and Kagame met the Emir of Qatar in Doha in rare first talks opposite in March.

What is in the peace agreement?

A complete project of the agreement to be signed on Wednesday was not made available.

The versions prior to the negotiation process included standard provisions such as:

• Respect for each party for territorial integrity and a cessation of hostilities.
• Extending, disarmament and conditional integration of non -state armed groups.
• The return of refugees and displaced people.

Earlier in April, the US State Department published conditions that would guide negotiations, although it was not confirmed if they were included in the final agreement. They were classified as such:

• Sovereign: the two parties agreed to recognize themselves and respect the territorial borders of the other.
• Security: Both have undertaken to support no armed group and establish a joint security mechanism to target the militias.
• Economic problems: the two countries have agreed to use existing regional framework structures, such as the Eastern African Community, to extend commercial and transparent investment opportunities, including those that will be facilitated by “the American government or American investors” in mineral supply chains, the development of hydroelectricity and the management of national parks.

Is the agreement a negotiation chip for the DRC minerals?

Some criticisms have raised fears that the United States can use the agreement as a leverage for better access to the DRC minerals. Such a scenario, they warn, could cause a replay of violence in recent decades, when minerals in the DRC have been a major attraction to interfere foreign governments.

These fears are rooted in a February field of the Tshikekedi government in the United States. The DRC offered a mineral agreement for security in Washington, essentially asking the United States government to supervise the stability of the eastern DRC in exchange for minerals.

The American envoy to Africa Massad Boulos confirmed during a trip to the DRC in April that Washington was interested in a mineral agreement. The talks continued in parallel with the Rwanda-DRC peace agreement, according to some reports, although there are not yet details.

Under President Donald Trump, Washington Coure to obtain mineral supplies used to make gadgets and high -tech weapons.

“The intervain of the interests of peace and minerals is deeply alarming, echoing a tragic and persistent scheme in the history of the DRC,” said analyst Lindani Zungu wrote in an opinion article for Al JazeeraRecalling how colonial leaders have exploited the resources of the DRC and how its neighbors did the same during the Congo wars.

“This peace agreement” risks becoming another instrument of neocolonialism, “said Zungu. “In this context, foreign capital is used not to build, but to extract – deepen the fracture between the African nations rich in resources and rich consumption economies.”

Will this resist the DRC crisis?

Questions remain on how this agreement will summarize a myriad of tensions in the DRC. The projects of agreements do not mention the sanitation or resolution processes.

According to analysts, the main analysts are the weakness of the governance and the country’s judicial system which historically sees corrupt officials and the perpetrators of injustice without Scottish. Analysts highlight certain politicians from the country who were part of the Congo wars and who did not face trials.

The M23 and the Congolese armed forces have been accused of atrocities, including extrajudicial murders and sexual assault. A rebellious leader of the M23, Corneille Nangaa, was the head of the country’s electoral commission before detaching himself with the president Tshisekedi for alleged “backstage transactions” linked to the disputed general elections of 2018. In December 2023, he announced that his Congo River Alliance joined M23.

Another cause of tension is the discrimination that Congolese Tutsis say that they are confronted in the DRC, in the form of ethnic killings and discrimination in the workplace, among others. The minority group is largely associated with Rwanda, and hatred speech by politicians who stimulates votes often ignites tensions to local Congolese. The M23 claims to fight for this group, although criticism say that it is a pretext to justify its violence.