Trump hosts Congo, Rwanda leaders in new push for regional peace
U.S. President Donald Trump is set to host the leaders of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda in Washington on Thursday, aiming to revive stalled efforts to stabilise eastern Congo and attract Western investment to the mineral-rich region.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi are expected to reaffirm commitments to a U.S.-brokered peace deal reached in June—still not implemented—as well as an economic integration framework agreed last month. Analysts say U.S. diplomacy has helped slow the escalation of hostilities but has yet to address the underlying drivers of the conflict, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.
Eastern Congo has endured decades of violence. Earlier this year, the M23 rebel group—backed by Rwanda, according to UN experts—captured the region’s two largest cities in a rapid offensive that raised fears of a broader regional war. M23 will not attend the Washington meeting and is not bound by any bilateral agreement.
Trump has increasingly sought to highlight his diplomatic role on the global stage, intervening in crises from the Middle East to Ukraine. These efforts have produced mixed outcomes, drawing both praise for progress in Gaza and criticism from voters focused on domestic cost-of-living concerns.
The signing ceremony is expected to take place at the United States Institute of Peace, whose signage was recently updated to include Trump’s name after an earlier dispute over control of the organisation. Yet the agreement is unlikely to bring immediate relief to civilians on the ground. Fresh accusations of ceasefire violations emerged this week from both Congo’s army and M23.
The conflict, rooted in long-running ethnic tensions between Congolese communities and groups linked to Rwanda, has killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands. Between 1996 and 2003, two major wars in the Great Lakes region claimed millions of lives.
Washington is also positioning itself to support billions of dollars in Western investment across a region rich in cobalt, copper, gold, lithium, tantalum and other critical minerals. The U.S. aims to counter China’s dominance over global mineral supply chains.
Under the Trump-backed plan, Congo must act against the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), while Rwanda must withdraw its forces from Congolese territory. Progress on both fronts has been limited since June.
“We hope that, after the signing, we will see improvement on the ground,” Rwanda’s Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe told Reuters.
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