After more than a decade of Rwandan support for armed conflicts in the DRC, governments of both countries signed a peace agreement In Washington, DC aimed on Friday to end the brutality continues in one of the most violent corners of the world.
According to an overview of the language published jointly on June 18 by the United States Department of State, the DRC and Rwanda, the terms of the agreement include respect for territorial integrity, a ban on hostilities, disengagement and disarmament and conditional integration of non-state armed groups. The terms also include facilitation of the return of refugees and displaced people internally. These terms, previously initialed by the teams of African nations before the signing of Friday ceremony, built on a declaration of principles accepted on April 25.
A press release published on Friday on the DRC government website said that the agreement “provides for the withdrawal of Rwandan troops” – highlighting the use of the word “disengagement” as a more complete term which includes “cessation of fights”.
The mobilization of the safeguard of Congolese sovereignty and autonomy, a coalition of 80 Congolese organizationspublished an appeal concerning the terms of the peace agreement and what it considers a lack of transparency.
The call indicates the following: “This secret agreement, which was not shared with the Congolese people, will eventually reduce the DRC’s sovereignty on its own lands, resources, governance, economy and military.” The appeal also indicates that the framework could “normalize current illicit resources and the captures of power in progress by Rwanda … and their other allies, including the Western powers that covet minerals from the DRC and support Rwanda with financial aid.”
During the signing of Friday, Massad Boulos, the main advisor for Africa of the American president of the American president Donald Trump, added that the government of Qatar, who helped to negotiate the agreement, “led to a parallel agreement” between the government of the DRC and the armed group M23, supported by Rwanda, which brutalized the East DRC for more than a decade.
M23 emerged first In 2012 and masked violence in waves. Since the end of 2021, he has terrorized people in a huge band of eastern DRC, moving around 1.2 million people At the end of March, and kill several thousand This year only in order to guarantee the Rwanda interest region. This brutality included the summary Children’s executionwidespread sexual violence And massacres through the region. The region is among the most violent in the world; approximately 6 million people died Due to several conflicts since 1996.
In addition to around 6,000 M23 fighters, around 4,000 Rwandan soldiers are present in the DRC. After having seized two provincial capitals, Goma and Bukavu, at the beginning of this year, M23 renewed his call for the change of regime in Kinshasa, promising to “overthrow” the Congolese government.
Global Press Journal has largely covered the conflict in eastern DRC for more than a decade. For more context, read our previous coverage:
“Hunger never leaves us”: the conflict leads to famine in the DRC
The clashes between the M23 armed group supported by Rwanda and the DRC soldiers quietly sag a generation.
Closed clinics, empty shelves: patients fight while war takes place
Violence and road blockages have made it impossible to transport people and vital supplies in medical establishments.
25 years old, 224 allegations of abuse, no peace: a calendar of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the DRC
The long -standing mission leaves a complex heritage, offering security to the displaced populations even if some peacekeepers were accused of sexual abuse. While some celebrate their departure, others predict a dangerous security vacuum.
“I will not leave this place”
Refuse to become a refugee and other reflections of the heart of the Congo’s current conflict
The DRC travel camps face critical water shortages
“We end up dying slowly,” say people in the camps.
“ I look at my children starving: the conditions deteriorate at the travel camp
Many families expected a short stay, but the days have been transformed in months, and there is not enough food to go around.
The food crisis in Goma while the M23 fight intensifies
The Congolese army clashed with M23, an armed group, in the northern province of Kivu, where residents are faced with the food shortage and at high prices.
“Nothing has changed”: faced with a state of perpetual emergency
Residents of the country’s eastern regions argue that months of martial law have not done much to stop violence.
Mental disease: the vast hidden toll of armed conflicts of the DRC
The current violence has left thousands of rural Congolese desperate from the aid. But cultural stigma, superstition and poverty prevent a lot from looking for treatment.