President Donald Trump is pursuing an ambitious bid to broker peace and draw billions of dollars of Western investment to a region rich in tantalum, gold, cobalt, copper, lithium and other minerals after Rwanda-backed M23 rebels seized two major cities in eastern Congo in January and February, posing the biggest threat to the government in Kinshasa in two decades.
Congo and Rwanda, which denies supporting M23, were expected to initial an agreement known as the Regional Economic Integration Framework (REIF) this week after a final round of negotiations in Washington.
The official and other sources spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive, ongoing diplomacy.
“They’re going to have to get Trump on the phone,“ the source said.
The U.S. is trying to get the process back on track, the Rwandan official said, but the initialing was not expected to take place on Friday.
“We believe in this agreement and in the approach of the US mediation, and hope that the economic agreement will eventually be signed. The peace process must succeed,“ the official added.
“The agreement has been finalized but the Congolese had never made any secret of the fact that they would not sign as long as the Rwandan army remained on their territory. So for us, it is not a surprise,“ an African diplomat said.
Congolese military operations targeting the FDLR, a Congo-based armed group that includes remnants of Rwanda’s former army and militias that carried out the 1994 genocide, are meant to conclude over the same timeframe.
Rwanda has sent at least 7,000 soldiers over the border, according to analysts and diplomats, in support of the M23 rebels.
Two sources familiar with the matter said that Trump’s senior advisor for Africa, Massad Boulos, had hoped that the economic framework and other agreements would be signed by heads of state on a visit to Washington by October 23.
Rwanda and Congo had agreed to the draft, which was then discussed by stakeholders, including the private sector, multilateral banks and others, before meeting this week for the final round of negotiations. - Reuters
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