Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo signed a peace agreement Friday in Washington to end fighting that has killed thousands, with the two countries pledging to pull back support for guerrillas 鈥 and President Donald Trump boasting of securing mineral wealth.鈥淭oday, the violence and destruction comes to an end, and the entire region begins a new chapter of hope and opportunity,鈥 Trump said as he welcomed the foreign ministers to the White House. 鈥淭his is a wonderful day.鈥
The agreement comes after the M23, an ethnic Tutsi rebel force linked to Rwanda, sprinted across the mineral-rich east of the DRC earlier this year, seizing vast territory including the key city of Goma.
The deal 鈥 negotiated through Qatar since before Trump took office 鈥 does not explicitly address the gains of the M23 in the area torn by decades of on-off war but calls for Rwanda to end 鈥渄efensive measures鈥 it has taken.
Rwanda has denied directly supporting the M23 but has demanded an end to another armed group, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), which was established by ethnic Hutus linked to the massacres of Tutsis in the 1994 Rwanda genocide.
The agreement calls for the 鈥渘eutralization鈥 of the FDLR, with Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe saying the 鈥渋rreversible and verifiable end to state support鈥 to the Hutu militants should be the 鈥渇irst order of business.鈥
The process would be 鈥渁ccompanied by a lifting of Rwanda鈥檚 defensive measures,鈥 Nduhungirehe said at a signing ceremony at the State Department.
But he added: 鈥淲e must acknowledge that there is a great deal of uncertainty in our region, and beyond, because many previous agreements have not been implemented.鈥
His Congolese counterpart, Therese Kayikwamba Wagner, highlighted the agreement鈥檚 call for respecting state sovereignty.
鈥淚t offers a rare chance to turn the page, not just with words but with real change on the ground. Some wounds will heal, but they will never fully disappear,鈥 she said.
The agreement also sets up a joint security coordination body to monitor progress and calls vaguely for a 鈥渞egional economic integration framework鈥 within three months.
Trump has trumpeted the diplomacy that led to the deal, and started his White House event by bringing up a journalist who said he deserved the Nobel Peace Prize.
Speaking to reporters earlier Friday, Trump said the United States will be able to secure 鈥渁 lot of mineral rights from the Congo.鈥
The DRC has enormous mineral reserves that include lithium and cobalt, vital in electric vehicles and other advanced technologies, with U.S. rival China now a key player in securing the resources.
Trump, in an uncharacteristic expression of modesty, said he had been unfamiliar with the conflict as he appeared to allude to the horrors of the 1994 Rwanda genocide, in which hundreds of thousands of people, mostly Tutsis, were killed in just 100 days.
鈥淚鈥檓 a little out of my league on that one because I didn鈥檛 know too much about it. I knew one thing 鈥 they were going at it for many years with machetes,鈥 Trump said.
The agreement drew wide but not universal praise.
Bintu Keita, a senior U.N. official in the DRC, said it 鈥渕arks a decisive step toward peace and stability,鈥 while Germany hailed the 鈥渆xcellent news鈥 and called for implementation.
French President Emmanual Macron also praised the 鈥渉istoric step forward,鈥 adding that 鈥減eace must hold.鈥
But Denis Mukwege, a gynecologist who shared the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end the DRC鈥檚 epidemic of sexual violence in war, voiced alarm about the agreement, saying it effectively benefited Rwanda and the United States.
The deal 鈥渨ould amount to granting a reward for aggression, legitimizing the plundering of Congolese natural resources, and forcing the victim to alienate their national heritage by sacrificing justice in order to ensure a precarious and fragile peace,鈥 he said in a statement ahead of the signing.
Physicians for Human Rights, which has worked in the DRC, welcomed the de-escalation but said the agreement had 鈥渕ajor omissions,鈥 including accountability for rights violations.