With the Trump administration seeking resource wealth in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, the agreement is criticized for its vagueness.
Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are due to sign a peace treaty in Washington later on Friday to halt hostilities in eastern DRC, despite ambiguity about what the accord entails and who would gain.
On Wednesday, US State Department spokeswoman Tommy Pigott said that the two countries’ foreign ministers would sign the agreement in the presence of Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The White House announced that President Donald Trump would meet with foreign ministers in the Oval Office.
The accord, brokered by Qatar and the United States, attempts to settle a decades-long conflict stemming from the 1994 Rwandan genocide. In a dramatic escalation this year, the M23 rebel group advanced quickly against the Congolese military and its allies in eastern DRC, killing thousands and displacing hundreds of thousands of people.
M23 is one of more than 100 armed factions fighting Congolese forces in the mineral-rich eastern DRC. The Tutsi-led group claims to exist to protect the interests of minorities, notably the Tutsis, including their protection from Hutu rebel groups who fled to the DRC after participating in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis.
The DRC, the UN, the United States, and other nations allege that Rwanda supports the militia, which UN experts claim is used to collect and export rich minerals. Rwanda denies it.
Rwanda has also denied personally assisting the rebels and has urged the disbandment of another armed group, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), which was founded by ethnic Hutus and is tied to Tutsi atrocities during the genocide.
Before the signing, the three countries stated in a joint statement that the agreement would include “respect for territorial integrity and a prohibition of hostilities” as well as the disarmament of all “non-state armed groups”.
The statement also mentioned a “regional economic integration framework” and a forthcoming summit in Washington featuring Trump, Rwandan President Paul Kagame, and DRC President Félix Tshisekedi.
The contract has been criticized for its ambiguity, particularly about the economic component, with the Trump administration seeking to profit from the enormous mineral resources in eastern DRC.
The deal aims to encourage Western investment in the two countries’ mining sectors, which contain tantalum, gold, cobalt, copper, and lithium deposits, while also providing the United States with access to crucial minerals.
Last week, technical experts from the two countries signed a draft peace accord that stated it addressed problems such as territorial integrity, “a prohibition of hostilities,” and the disengagement, disarmament, and conditional absorption of non-state armed organizations.
It also mentioned a structure established as part of an earlier Angolan-backed peace initiative to monitor and verify the departure of Rwandan soldiers and Congolese military operations against the FDLR.
However, it is unclear how much the agreement, which is due to be inked on Friday, would go beyond the declaration of principles reached in April.
Denis Mukwege, a gynecologist who won the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to eradicate the DRC’s scourge of sexual abuse in war, said last week that the mediation process was “opaque,” failed to address justice and reparations, and avoided “recognition of Rwanda’s aggression against the DRC.”
He called for reparation and justice on social media: “In its current state, the emerging agreement would 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.”