" Trump eyes mineral wealth as Rwanda and DRC sign controversial peace deal in US " 27 June 2025

Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have signed a peace deal in Washington to end fighting in eastern DRC, although questions remain over what the agreement means and who stands to benefit – with Donald Trump using the occasion to boast that the US had secured lucrative mineral rights.

At a ceremony with US secretary of state Marco Rubio in Washington, the two African countries’ foreign ministers signed the agreement pledging to implement a 2024 deal that would see Rwandan troops withdraw from eastern Congo within 90 days. [...] Rubio acknowledged there was “more work to be done” but said the deal will let people “now have dreams and hopes for a better life”.

The agreement, mediated by Qatar and the US, aims to end a decades-old conflict that is rooted in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. In a major escalation this year, the M23 rebel group made a rapid territorial advance against the Congolese military and its allies in eastern DRC in fighting that killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands.

“They were going at it for many years, and with machetes – it is one of the worst, one of the worst wars that anyone has ever seen,” Trump said before the signing ceremony.

He went on to say: “We’re getting, for the United States, a lot of the mineral rights from the Congo as part of it. They’re so honoured to be here. They never thought they’d be coming.” Congo’s foreign minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner highlighted the agreement’s promises of a respect for sovereignty. “By signing this agreement, we reaffirm a simple truth. Peace is a choice, but also a responsibility to respect international law, to uphold human rights and to protect sovereignty of states,” she said.

The deal has come under scrutiny for its vagueness, including on the economic component, with the Trump administration eager to profit from abundant mineral wealth in eastern DRC. The agreement aims to attract western investment to the two countries’ mining sectors, which contain deposits of tantalum, gold, cobalt, copper and lithium, while giving the US access to critical minerals.

Denis Mukwege, a gynaecologist who shared the 2018 Nobel peace prize for his work to end the DRC’s epidemic of sexual violence in war, last week said the mediation process was “opaque”, failed to talk about justice and reparations and avoided “recognition of Rwanda’s aggression against the DRC”.