President Donald Trump boasts of securing mineral wealth while Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda signed a peace agreement on Friday in Washington to put an end to the thousands of fatalities.
Trump addressed the two countries’ foreign ministers to the White House, saying, “Today, the violence and destruction come to an end, and the entire region begins a new chapter of hope and opportunity.” “This is a wonderful day,” the message continued.
The agreement comes after the M23, a rebel force that is related to Rwanda, invaded the mineral-rich east of the DRC this year, seizing vast land, including Goma, a crucial city.
The agreement, which has been negotiated through Qatar since before Trump took office, calls for Rwanda to take action to put an end to “defensive measures” it has taken, does not explicitly address the gains of the M23 in the region torn by decades of on-off war.
Rwanda has pleaded with ethnic Hutus to end the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), which was established in response to the 1994 Rwanda genocide.
The “neutralization” of the FDLR is stated in the agreement, with Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe calling for the “first order of business” to be the “irreversible and verifiable end of state support for the Hutu militants.
At a signing ceremony held at the State Department, Nduhungirehe said, “the process will be accompanied by a lifting of Rwanda’s defensive measures.”
He continued, “We must acknowledge that there is a great deal of uncertainty in our region and beyond, because many previous agreements have not been put into action.”
Therese Kayikwamba Wagner, his Congolese counterpart, made a point about the state’s obligation to respect state sovereignty.
It offers a rare opportunity to turn the page with profound change occurring on the ground, not just in words. Some wounds can heal, but they never completely vanish,” she said.
A joint security coordination body will be established to track progress, as well as a vague call for a “regional economic integration framework” within three months.
Trump accepts credit;
Trump has praised the diplomatic maneuver that led to the agreement and introduced a journalist who claimed he merited the Nobel Peace Prize at his White House event.
Trump stated earlier on Friday that the United States would be able to “award a lot of mineral rights from the Congo”.
With US rival China now playing a key role in securing the resources, the DRC has vast mineral reserves, including lithium and cobalt, which are important for electric vehicles and other cutting-edge technologies.
Trump appeared to make reference to the horrors of the 1994 Rwanda genocide, which saw the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, mostly Tutsis, in just 100 days. He claimed he had been unaware of the conflict.
“I didn’t know too much about that one, so I’m a little out of my league.” They had been using machetes for many years, according to Trump, and I was aware of this.
Read more about the California governor’s $787 million defamation lawsuit against Fox News.
Although not widely praised, the agreement was nonetheless notable.
The deal, according to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, represents “a significant step toward de-escalation, peace, and stability” in the region’s eastern DRC and the Great Lakes region.
In a statement, Guterres urged the parties to fully fulfill their obligations under the Peace Agreement, including ending hostilities and all other agreed actions.
Germany praised the “excellent news” and demanded that it be implemented.
Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, praised the “historical step forward” and said that “peace must hold.”
Denis Mukwege, a gynecologist who received the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to stop the DRC’s epidemic of sexual violence in conflict, expressed concern about the agreement, saying it had had a positive impact on Rwanda and the United States.
The signing of the agreement would result in the victim “invoking the legal system to punish their aggression, legitimizing the plundering of Congolese natural resources, and imposing on them the victim to alienate their national heritage,” he said in a statement prior to signing the agreement.
Physicians for Human Rights, a group that has worked in the DRC, applauded the de-escalation, but claimed there were “major omissions” in the agreement, including accountability for rights violations.