WASHINGTON: The US said that Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo promised to work to ease tensions and recommitted to a peace agreement that has failed to halt the violence.
The two neighbors signed an agreement in Washington in June after Rwandan-backed M23 rebels swept vast swaths of the mineral-rich and long-turbulent east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
But attacks have persisted on the ground, and Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi recently accused Rwanda of seeking to annex the east of his country.
FASTFACT
Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi recently accused Rwanda of seeking to annex the east of his country.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly boasted of the DRC-Rwanda agreement — counting the conflict as one of several wars he has “ended” — and said it opens the way for the United States to secure minerals critical in advanced technologies.
In a meeting in Washington, the two sides “recognized lagging progress and committed to redouble efforts to implement the Washington Peace Agreement,” said a joint statement issued by the US State Department.
The sides “agreed on specific near-term actions” on key parts of the agreement, including Rwanda’s key demand that Kinshasa neutralize the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, or FDLR, an ethnic Hutu group with links to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
Rwanda has made the end of its “defensive measures” contingent on action against the FDLR.
“The parties reaffirmed their commitment to refrain from hostile actions or rhetoric, particularly political attacks or language that would undermine or complicate the full implementation of the Peace Agreement, including in international fora,” the statement said.
It also said that the two countries had previously signed the full text of the economic agreement.
The M23, which has taken the two main eastern cities of Goma and Bukavu, has imposed several taxes to finance its parallel administration while urging residents to opt for mobile payment solutions.
And with police stations and courts abandoned since the armed group's arrival, there is no mechanism or authority to combat scams in the region.
From phishing to fake messages from relatives or international organisations, online scams have proliferated in DRC and its neighbors since before the resurgence of the M23, with several Ponzi schemes resulting in bankruptcies.
