DRC and Rwanda Sign Peace Deal

The presidents of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo signed a peace agreement at the White House on June 27, an agreement that aims to end the thirty years of conflict. It calls for real efforts to integrate the disparate rebel forces into the Congolese Army and for a joint security mechanism to prevent future flare-ups.

The agreement also anticipates billions of dollars of western investment in mining and transport of the DRC’s mineral riches.

The DRC is rich in valuable minerals, with over 60% of the world’s supply of cobalt and coltan. Combined with copper and dozens of other precious metals, the total value of the intact underground reserves of minerals is estimated to be worth $24 trillion. These essential minerals are needed for the clean energy transition, as they are used in electronic equipment and batteries for electric vehicles, as well as 5G technology. At the White House signing of the peace agreement, President Trump touted that the agreement gave the U.S “a lot of the mineral rights” from Congo.

The U.S involvement in the peace negotiations mirrors a similar Trump Administration diplomatic initiative focused on mineral access in Ukraine. These agreements reflect President Trump’s transactional approach to foreign policy.

In the past, the presence of rare minerals in the Congo has been fuel for the conflict, with forces clashing over the wealth, and using proceeds from mineral sales to fund conflict. Attempts to forge a peace agreement in the past have not succeeded in the long term, despite efforts by other nations, and groups such as the East African Community, Angola and Qatar. The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) from South Africa both withdrew their forces from the region over the past year.

The First Congo War began two years after the Rwandan Genocide in 1994. Since the First Congo War, conflict in the DRC has claimed six million lives and displaced many more millions.

In the final months of 2024, more than 2.7 million people had been displaced in North Kivu province,138 killed, and hundreds kidnapped. In early January of this year, serious fighting erupted between government forces and M23 rebels in and around the city of Goma, the largest city in eastern Congo, causing more than 100,000 to flee after five days of fighting. As of the end of January, M23 was in control of the cities of Goma and Bukavu and was even setting up a semblance of civic authority. During and following the conflict, thousands were killed and hundreds of thousands had to flee from their homes.

The rebel group M23 is the latest ethnic Tutsi-led insurgency to take up arms against Congolese forces. The group takes its name from the March 23 accord of 2009 that ended a previous Tutsi-led revolt in eastern Congo. It launched its rebellion in 2022, accusing the government of Congo of not living up to the peace deal and failing to fully integrate Congolese Tutsis into the army and administration. It also vows to defend Tutsi interests, particularly against ethnic Hutu militias such as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), founded by Hutus who participated in the Rwandan genocide.

The DRC government accused Rwanda of supporting M23 and supplying it with heavy artillery, and Rwanda accused the DRC of supporting the FDLR rebels. Human Rights Watch reports that the Congolese army fought alongside the FDLR against M23. The UN, France, and the United States have stated that Rwanda was directly assisting M23 and at times even fighting alongside M23 forces, as a proxy war to gain control of the valuable mineral reserves in eastern Congo. Complicating matters was the sudden emergence of former president Joseph Kabila in Goma at the end of May, on the side of the M23 rebels. He is wanted for war crimes and overseeing a massacre of civilians.

Resource exploitation by foreign powers is a historically fraught topic in the DRC. During his 2023 trip to the country, Pope Francis insisted foreign countries should “Stop choking Africa: It is not a mine to be stripped or a terrain to be plundered.” 

The U.S involvement in the peace accord tied to access to valuable minerals has been criticized within the DRC, with one resident of Goma telling the AP, “The commitments to the United States must not jeopardize the future of our people.”