WASHINGTON — The presidents of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda are set to travel to Washington next week to sign a peace deal and meet with U.S. President Donald Trump, sources said. The meeting is scheduled for December 4, according to diplomatic sources and Tina Salama, spokesperson for Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi.
The session aims to reinforce a U.S.-brokered peace agreement reached in June and ratify a Regional Economic Integration Framework agreed earlier this month. Tshisekedi’s office said the president supports regional integration, provided national sovereignty is respected.
Eastern Congo has seen renewed violence this year after the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group seized the region’s two largest cities, displacing hundreds of thousands and killing thousands. Despite agreements, security measures such as neutralising the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) and the withdrawal of Rwandan troops have yet to show progress. Rwanda denies direct involvement with M23, though UN experts report command and control links.
The Trump administration has pushed for stability in the region while promoting Western investment in Congo’s mineral-rich east, which holds tantalum, gold, cobalt, copper, and lithium. Earlier this year, Qatar hosted separate talks between Congo and M23, resulting in a framework agreement, though many details remain unsettled.
Tshisekedi recently told members of the Congolese diaspora in Serbia that he would attend the Washington talks, stressing that the withdrawal of Rwandan forces is essential for meaningful regional economic integration.
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