US President Donald Trump welcomed the leaders of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to sign a peace deal that could end the conflict between the two countries.
President Trump on Thursday hailed the U.S.-brokered agreement as a new chapter for the region, although violence on the ground has not yet stopped.
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“This is a great day. A great day for Africa, a great day for the world, a great day for both countries,” President Trump said. “And they have a lot to be proud of.”
The agreement was originally reached in June. DRC President Felix Shisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame met in Qatar in March to begin talks leading to a deal.
The agreement will be finalized at a ceremony on Thursday.
The deal has raised hopes that the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo will end. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Rwandan-backed armed group March 23 Movement (M23) has advanced deep into the country’s resource-rich east.
The renewed violence has raised fears of a full-scale conflict similar to the war that the Democratic Republic of Congo endured in the late 1990s, involving African countries and killing millions of people.
Rwanda’s main grievances against the Democratic Republic of Congo center on accusations that the central African country harbors Hutu militias linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide that targeted the country’s Tutsi population.
The peace deal backed by President Trump stipulates that Rwanda will end support for M23 and that the DRC will help “neutralize” the Hutu militia, or Rwanda Democratic Forces.
Both countries are also required to respect each other’s territorial integrity.
On Thursday, the DRC’s Tshisekedi said the terms of the agreement marked a “turning point” for the region.
“They bring together, under a coherent structure, a declaration of principles for a peace agreement and a regional economic integration framework to offer new perspectives, new prospects to the peoples of the region,” Tshisekedi said.
He added that the agreement “starts a new era of friendship, cooperation and prosperity.”
Rwanda’s Kagame said the success of the agreement depended on both countries themselves.
“There will be ups and downs on the road ahead, there is no doubt about that,” Kagame explained. “Rwanda will not be in poverty, I guarantee you that.”
Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher, reporting from Washington, D.C., said the leaders of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda appear to accept that more than a signing ceremony is needed to make the deal stick.
Fisher explained that the conflict is “much deeper, more developed, and more aggressive than many imagined.”
“Therefore, the pressure is on the United States, African leaders, and of course both countries to make sure that what develops from here can evolve into lasting peace.”
DRC had signed a separate contract with M23 in July. Still, fighting continues in the east of the country.
“We are still at war,” Amani Chibaronza Edith, 32, a resident of the main city of Goma, which was captured by M23 earlier this year, told The Associated Press.
“There can be no peace as long as the front lines remain active.”
But on Thursday in Washington, D.C., President Trump sounded optimistic about the prospects for peace.
“We’ll see how everything goes, but I think it’s going to go very well,” the US president said.
President Trump also announced that the United States will enter into bilateral agreements with the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda to purchase rare earth minerals from both countries.
President Trump added: “We will be involved in sending some of our nation’s biggest and greatest companies to both countries.”
“And we’re going to take out some of the rare earths, we’re going to take out some of the assets and pay for it. Everybody’s going to make a lot of money.”
Rare earth minerals are used in emerging technologies, energy production, and medical devices.
Trump has openly campaigned for the Nobel Peace Prize and claimed to have resolved eight world conflicts, but that figure is disputed.
At a signing ceremony Thursday at the U.S. Institute of Peace think tank, he praised the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. But his hugs with the leaders of both countries stand in sharp contrast to his derogatory comments about Somalia, another war-torn African nation.
Two days before hosting the signing ceremony, President Trump insulted Somalia, describing it as “hell” and saying it “stinks.”
He also called the Somali community in the United States “trash.”
