US pushes peace plan for DRC and Rwanda

Congo and Rwanda have submitted a draft peace proposal as part of a process aimed at ending the fighting in eastern Congo and attracting billions of dollars in Western investment, reports RFI. The deal is the latest step in an ambitious bid by the Trump administration in the US to end a decades-long conflict in the central Africa region, rich in minerals including tantalum, gold, cobalt, copper and lithium. The two countries' Foreign Ministers had agreed last month in Washington to submit the draft proposal by 2 May. Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe told France 24 that the peace agreement talks are moving forward smoothly and on time, as the Congolese authorities are now fully involved in the discussions. Trump's new senior adviser for Africa and the Middle East, Massad Boulos, welcomed ‘the draft text on a peace proposal ...’, describing it as ‘an important step’ towards peace. Boulos said Washington wanted to move quickly, and that the plan was for US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to meet again with his Rwandan and Congolese counterparts in mid-May in Washington, to agree on a final draft peace accord. But Rwanda and Congo must finalise bilateral economic agreements with Washington before the accord can be signed, Boulos added. US and Western companies thus plan to invest billions of dollars in Congolese mines and infrastructure projects to support mining in both countries, including the processing of minerals in Rwanda. The hope is that all three agreements can be signed in about two months, and on the same day, at a ceremony attended by Trump, according to Boulos.