-The presidents of Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda will travel to Washington next week to sign a peace deal and meet with U.S. President Donald Trump, three sources told Reuters, as the U.S. tries to broker peace in war-hit eastern Congo and attract Western mining investments to the region.
Two diplomatic sources and Tina Salama, spokesperson for Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi, told Reuters the meeting would take place on December 4.
A spokesperson for Rwandan President Paul Kagame and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday.
A White House official told Reuters last week that the Trump administration “continues to work with both parties, and looks forward to welcoming them to the White House at the appropriate time.”
The Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group staged a lightning advance in eastern Congo this year, seizing the region’s two largest cities and raising fears of a wider war that could draw in more of Congo’s neighbours. The latest cycle of fighting has killed thousands of people and displaced hundreds of thousands more.
LITTLE PROGRESS ON GROUND DESPITE DEALS
The meeting next week is expected to build on a U.S.-brokered peace deal reached in June and signed by the two countries’ foreign ministers, and a Regional Economic Integration Framework agreed earlier this month.
The heads of state are expected to ratify both, Salama said.
“The president has always desired regional integration, but respect for sovereignty is non-negotiable and a prerequisite for regional integration,” she said.
The Trump administration has talked of facilitating billions of dollars of Western investment in a region rich in tantalum, gold, cobalt, copper, lithium and other minerals.
In September, Congo and Rwanda agreed to implement security measures outlined in the June deal by the end of the year.
These include operations to eliminate the threat from Congo-based armed group Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) and facilitate the withdrawal of Rwandan troops.
So far there has been no significant progress on the ground.
Rwanda denies backing M23, but a group of United Nations experts said in a July report that Rwanda exercises command and control over the rebels.
Qatar has hosted separate talks between Congo and M23, and this month the two sides signed a framework agreement for a peace deal, but many details have yet to be negotiated.
Tshisekedi told members of the Congolese diaspora in Serbia that he would go to Washington, according to a post on X published on Friday by his office.
But he also said Rwandan troops must withdraw from eastern Congo for there to be true regional economic integration.
(Reporting by Ange Adihe Kasongo and Giulia Paravicini; Additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Writing by Robbie Corey-Boulet; Editing by Nia Williams)
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