Representatives of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda have initialled a peace agreement aimed at ending the conflict in eastern DRC – a document to be formally signed on 27 June in Washington, a joint statement said.
The text builds on a declaration signed in April and includes commitments to respect borders and stop hostilities in the region, according to the statement released by the two nations, as well as the United States and Qatar, which acted as mediators.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will witness the signing in Washington.
The deal was reached during three days of constructive dialogue regarding political, security, and economic interests between DRC and Rwandan officials in the US capital, it said.
Peace deal between DR Congo and Rwanda in progress, US says
The text also includes provisions on disengagement, disarmament, and conditional integration of non-state armed groups and the establishment of a joint security coordination mechanism.
It also takes into account the return of refugees and internally displaced persons, as well as humanitarian access.
The anti-government M23 armed group – which US and UN experts say receives military backing from Kigali – launched a lightning offensive at the start of the year in eastern DR Congo.
Decades of violence
It took control of Goma in late January followed by the city of Bukavu, and has set up governing structures in the regions under its control. Thousands of people have been killed.
The resource-rich eastern DRC, which borders Rwanda, has been plagued by violence for three decades, with a resurgence since the M23 went on a renewed offensive at the end of 2021.
Rwanda had said last month that a definitive peace agreement to end the crisis with its neighbor would be signed in mid-June in Washington.
Kigali denies it offers any military support to the M23 but says its security has long been threatened by armed groups in eastern DRC, notably the FDLR, a group created by ethnic Hutus who massacred Tutsis during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch accused the M23 of forcibly rounding up more than 1,500 people and sending them to neighbouring Rwanda, which according to UN experts backs the anti-government armed group.
The deportations, which targeted suspected members of the FDLR, Congolese nationals and Rwandan refugees, violated the 1949 Geneva Conventions, which ban forcible transfers of people in conflict zones, the group said.
(with AFP)
