M23 Rebels in Rwanda Vow to Take Congo, As Troops Defect
- Thread starter Techniec
- Start date
Secure Da Bag
Veteran
I'd like to know what was the differences between Doha, Luanda, and Nairobi agreements.
Was this really better negotiations? Or two countries who would bow down before Arab interests much sooner than African interests? Or is this not wanting conflict with Trump?
Qatar is trying to take the role of mediator for this, Gaza, and other conflicts (Afghanistan pullout by U.S. was negotiated with Taliban in.. Doha).
Trump wants rare earths.
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Fast Money & Foreign Objects
Congo Wants Deal With Rwanda-Backed Rebels Before Trump Meeting
Summarize
Michael J KavanaghJune 30, 2025 at 10:17 AM EDT
Democratic Republic of Congo Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner.
Photographer: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
The Democratic Republic of Congo wants a peace agreement with Rwanda-backed M23 rebels before a planned summit next month between the leaders of the two nations and US President Donald Trump.
The countries signed a deal Friday in Washington where they pledged to support ongoing negotiations in Qatar between Congo and the M23, which occupies a large swath of mineral-rich eastern Congo including its two largest cities. While the rebels wouldn’t necessarily need to withdraw before the presidential meeting, Congo wants “an agreement” in place that they will, Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner told Bloomberg in an interview on Saturday.
Read More: Congo, Rwanda Sign US-Backed Peace Deal to End Years of War
“I want to be confident that before then we would have something tangible,” Kayikwamba said. “For us it’s extremely important to make sure that we have the commitment at the state level of Rwanda, but also that we have commitments at the level of the M23.”
The US-brokered deal marks Trump’s latest attempt at forging peace, after he claimed he would resolve the Russia-Ukraine conflict and Israel’s war in Gaza soon after taking office. It’s far from a sure thing: along with the M23, which isn’t party to the deal, the Congolese government will still need to negotiate with scores of other armed rebel groups that operate in eastern DRC.
Read More: Trump Looks to Africa Next for Diplomatic Win: Balance of Power
M23 re-launched a rebellion in 2021 saying it was protecting the rights of ethnic Tutsis and other speakers of the Rwandan language in Congo.
Rwanda denies supporting the M23 but has backed proxy armed groups in eastern Congo for decades, citing security concerns, particularly the continued existence of a rebel group known as the FDLR with links to the perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The “neutralization” of the FDLR is one of the first priorities of Friday’s US-brokered agreement.
Read More: Why Congo, Rwanda Agreed to End Three Decades of War: QuickTake
Kayikwamba said the government is ready to begin that process through a sensitization campaign in the communities where the FDLR have lived for years “in order to offer to them the opportunity to withdraw, to surrender, and to be repatriated in their country.”
Multiple military campaigns over the past two decades have decimated the group, but some parts of Congo’s army have continued to work with FDLR forces against the M23, according to United Nations experts.
M23’s military and political leadership did not respond to multiple emails and text messages requesting comment.
Rwanda’s disengagement “includes the movement of troops, the movement of equipment, the movements of infrastructures and so on,” Kayikwamba said. “That has to follow a certain sequence, right? You cannot just do that from one day to another.”
“These are the little incremental steps” both sides need to implement successfully to build trust, she said.
Economic Integration
As the violence subsides, the countries are planning a regional economic integration pact that could include joint ventures to mine and process eastern Congo’s vast mineral resources, which include gold, tin and tantalum.
The subject is a sensitive one for the country, Kayikwamba said. Congo, US, European Union and United Nation experts have long accused Rwanda and other neighbors of stealing Congo’s natural resources.
A $760 million hydropower plant on the Ruzizi river that will provide power to Rwanda, Congo and Burundi is the first priority, Kayikwamba said.
“I think that is a project that is emblematic for regional integration,” she said.
The commitment of the Trump administration could help the detente succeed where so many others have failed, Kayikwamba said.
“What’s different now is that we have an agreement with a level of buy-in and of political commitment that we haven’t had in a very, very long time in the DRC or in the Great Lakes region,” she said. “It also shows a paradigm shift on the side of the US, which means that they would rather invest in peace in order to invest further.”
Congo is also nearing a separate strategic minerals deal with the US focused on the country’s world-class deposits of copper, cobalt and lithium, which are south of the conflict zone, President Felix Tshisekedi said in a nationally broadcast independence day speech on Monday.
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