Qatar, the United States, Qatar, and the African Union all gathered on Thursday for the committee meeting in Washington.
According to a joint statement released by Rwanda and the DRC on Friday, the committee “discussed progress on implementing the agreement” among other things.
The Rwanda-DRC agreement in June marked a breakthrough in negotiations between US President Donald Trump’s administration, which aims to end fighting that has resulted in the deaths of thousands of people and attracted billions of dollars in Western investment.
The agreement specifies requirements for “respect for territorial integrity and halting hostilities” in eastern DRC, but they have not yet been put into effect.
It provides few details, but it also includes economic measures.
The two African nations pledged to put a 2024 agreement into place so that Rwandan troops could leave the eastern DRC in 90 days.
Additionally, the agreement stated that DRC and Rwanda would establish a joint security coordination system within 30 days and implement a strategy put forth last year to monitor and verify the withdrawal of Rwandan soldiers within three months.
The Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an armed group based in the DRC and whose remnants were part of Rwanda’s former army and fighter groups that carried out a genocide in 1994, are expected to be the focus of Congolese military operations that will come to an end in the same year.
However, the joint security coordination mechanism hasn’t met in 30 days since the signing, and operations against the FDLR and the withdrawal of Rwandan soldiers haven’t yet begun.
Deal not off track, really?
The joint oversight committee was established as a forum to discuss the peace agreement’s implementation and resolution of disagreements.
The committee’s meeting was scheduled and was scheduled to occur 45 days after the signing.
Massad Boulos, Trump’s senior advisor for Africa, stated to reporters on Wednesday that the deal was on track and that a meeting of the security mechanism was set to be held soon.
When asked about the FDLR’s ongoing operations and the Rwandan soldiers’ withdrawal, Boulos responded, “There was no timeline for that. If you look at the chronology of what we’ve been able to do since April, it’s been very on point and very much in line with our aspirations.” Therefore, there is no deviation from the plan.
Sources with knowledge of the negotiations acknowledged the negotiations’ delays in passing the deal, but added that they were not yet threatening it as a whole.
Source: Aljazeera
Leave a Reply