Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi will travel to the US next week to sign a final agreement with his Rwandan counterpart aimed at securing peace in eastern Congo, the Congolese government said on Friday, capping months-long diplomatic efforts spearheaded by US President Donald Trump.
Congo’s government has often said its signing of the deal will be conditioned on Rwanda’s withdrawal of support for the M23 rebels in the conflict-battered east.
Tshisekedi’s confirmation of the December 4 signing comes a day after Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame expressed optimism over the deal, but cautioned that lasting peace in Congo’s eastern region could only be achieved if “people directly concerned are committed to achieve results”.
Eastern Congo has been battered by fighting between government forces and more than 100 armed groups, the most potent being the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels. The conflict escalated this year, with the M23 seizing the region’s main cities of Goma and Bukavu, worsening a humanitarian crisis that was already one of the world’s largest.
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UN experts have said that between 3,000 and 4,000 Rwandan government forces are deployed in eastern Congo, operating alongside the M23. Rwanda denies such support but has said that any action taken in the conflict is to protect its territory.
In an interview on Friday, Tina Salama, a spokeswoman for Tshisekedi, said a peace deal must be reached with “no mixing or integration of M23 fighters”. She said the withdrawal of Rwandan troops had already been agreed to in an earlier agreement signed in June by both Congolese and Rwandan foreign ministers.
“We are seeking peace within the framework of regional integration,” Salama said. “What is non-negotiable for us is the territorial integrity of the DRC.”