(Bloomberg) — Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo committed to drafting a peace agreement aimed at ending decades of conflict between the two countries in a ceremony at the US State Department Friday.
Congo’s Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner and her Rwandan counterpart, Olivier Nduhungirehe, signed the “declaration of principles” with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio as a witness. The two sides committed to drafting an initial peace agreement no later than May 2, according to the declaration.
“It’s a declaration that establishes a fundamental understanding of regional governance, security, economic frameworks, to end the fighting,” Rubio told reporters.
The US and Congo accuse Rwanda of backing a rebel group known as the M23 that has occupied a large portion of Congo’s mineral-rich east, displacing more than a million people and taking over lucrative mining areas for gold, tantalum, tungsten and tin ore.
Rwanda has denied backing the M23, which says it’s protecting the rights of Tutsis and other speakers of the Rwandan language in Congo and fighting a Congolese-backed armed group with links to the perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi earlier this year reached out to the US to ask for military support in exchange for access to the country’s minerals, which include some of the world’s richest deposits of copper and key battery mineral cobalt. Talks between the two countries are ongoing.
Peace “will open the door for greater US and broader Western investment, which will bring about economic opportunities and prosperity,” Rubio said.
Kayikwamba and Nduhungirehe committed to a “mutual recognition of sovereignty and territorial integrity” and agreed to address security concerns, promote regional economic integration, facilitate the return of displaced people, and support the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo, according to the State Department.
“The good news is there is hope for peace,” Kayikwamba said. “The real news: peace must be earned, and it will require seriousness, transparency and sincerity.”
The declaration “opens the door to a definitive peace agreement” Nduhungirehe said, in part by throwing US support behind ongoing peace talks overseen by regional African bodies and the government of Qatar.
Read: Surprise Meeting in Qatar Spurs Rwanda, Congo Ceasefire Vow
“The agreement is a step in the right direction but must be leveraged with sanctions for the illicit behavior that helped cause the crisis,” said Sasha Lezhnev, a Senior Policy Advisor for Washington DC-based The Sentry.
Without consequences for backing armed groups or for smuggling gold and other minerals “what incentive would Rwanda or the DRC government have to behave any differently going forward?” he said in a text message Friday.
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