US-brokered accord between Rwanda and DRC set for signing at White House

United States President Donald Trump is set to host the leaders of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on December 4, the White House announced, marking what it describes as a pivotal moment in ongoing peace efforts.

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told reporters that DRC President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame will sign what she called a “historic peace and economic agreement that [Trump] brokered.”

This upcoming ceremony follows months of diplomatic engagement. In June, the foreign ministers of both countries signed an initial peace and economic accord during an event at the White House. Subsequent negotiations continued through the year, culminating in a meeting in Qatar in November, where the parties endorsed a framework aimed at ending years of bloodshed.

The conflict centres on the M23 rebel movement, which has battled the Congolese government in North Kivu province for more than ten years. The group’s origins trace back to the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan genocide; its fighters are predominantly ethnic Tutsi, who were targeted by Hutu extremists in Rwanda. M23 is one of more than 100 armed factions operating in eastern DRC.

After a period of relative dormancy, the group re-emerged in 2021. Kigali has been accused of supplying direct support to the rebels, allegations Rwanda rejects. Rwanda insists its military actions in the border region have been purely defensive, aimed at countering threats from the DRC army and Hutu militias.

The violence has been devastating. Thousands—many of them civilians—have lost their lives, including during a major escalation earlier this year when M23 forces captured two of the largest cities in the DRC. Sporadic fighting has persisted even as negotiations have advanced.

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights reported that at least 319 civilians were killed in North Kivu in July. According to the OHCHR, the killings were carried out by “M23 fighters, aided by members of the Rwanda Defence Force,” just weeks after the first agreement in Washington.

During the talks in Doha, the two sides agreed on two of eight implementation protocols: one focused on ceasefire monitoring and another outlining the process for prisoner exchanges. However, several key components of a comprehensive settlement remained unresolved. These include establishing a clear timeline for implementation, determining humanitarian aid logistics, ensuring the return of displaced residents, restoring government authority in affected areas, pursuing economic reforms, integrating armed groups into state structures, and eliminating foreign militant factions.

A spokesperson for the DRC presidency told US media in November that any future accord must guarantee the country’s “territorial integrity.”

Even with major issues still pending, Trump has repeatedly cast the reconciliation effort as one of several conflicts he claims to have helped resolve during his presidency, which began in January.

By Tamilla Hasanova