U.S. President Donald Trump arrives for a signing ceremony with Rwanda's President Paul Kagame and Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix-Antoine Tshisekedi at the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace, on Thursday.Evan Vucci/The Associated Press
U.S. President Donald Trump predicted a surge of wealth and joyful hugging in Rwanda and Congo after the leaders of the two countries signed a peace deal in Washington, but fierce fighting continued to rage near their shared border as the ceremony took place.
Mr. Trump brought the two presidents to a signing ceremony on Thursday at the former headquarters of the U.S. Institute of Peace, which his administration seized and left vacant earlier this year. On the eve of the ceremony, the State Department abruptly reopened the building and renamed it the “Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace.”
Rwandan President Paul Kagame and his long-time rival, Democratic Republic of the Congo President Felix Tshisekedi, sat stone-faced for most of the ceremony, declining to talk to each other or even to shake hands while the television cameras were rolling. But their obvious discomfort with each other failed to deter Mr. Trump’s optimism.
“They’ve spent a lot of time killing each other, and now they’re going to spend a lot of time hugging, holding hands and taking advantage of the United States economically,” Mr. Trump told the ceremony.
What to know about the Rwanda and DRC peace deal
The peace deal will allow some of the “biggest and greatest companies” in the United States to extract minerals from the resource-rich African region in transactions that will benefit all sides, he said.
“Everybody is going to make a lot of money,” Mr. Trump said. “There’s tremendous wealth in that beautiful earth, but it was stained badly with blood – tremendous amounts of blood.”
Shortly after the signing ceremony, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce called a meeting of investors to “showcase commercial opportunities in the DRC and Rwanda – particularly in the critical-minerals, energy, transportation, tourism and public-health sectors.”
Mr. Trump, who has openly campaigned for a Nobel Peace Prize, said his efforts have ended the conflict between Congolese forces and the Rwandan-backed M23 rebel militia in eastern Congo. But after nearly eight months of broken ceasefires and relentless fighting on the ground, few observers are expecting peace to break out in the near future.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame (L) and Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi at the peace accord signing ceremony.Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Clashes between the two warring sides erupted again on Thursday for the fourth consecutive day in the South Kivu region, with young children among the victims. In one video on social media, several bloodied children were awaiting treatment from a health worker in a clinic. In another video, dozens of children huddled in fear on the floor of their classroom, with artillery shells reportedly landing nearby.
In the war zone, Congolese warplanes have targeted M23 positions. Fighting was also continuing in another province, North Kivu, where a number of families have been forced to flee from their homes in recent days, according to Congolese media reports.
A spokesperson for Congo’s army, General Sylvain Ekenge, accused M23 of deliberately sabotaging the peace negotiations by launching attacks on Congolese military positions.
The M23 militia, which captured a vast swath of eastern Congo early this year, including the region’s two biggest cities, has increasingly entrenched its power and widened its territorial control in recent months.
The White House has envisioned business deals in which minerals from Congo could be taken across the border into Rwanda for processing. But Congo’s government has repeatedly insisted that there cannot be any commercial agreements between the two countries until there is a full withdrawal by the M23 insurgents and Rwandan troops in the region.
The rebels are not a party to the Washington peace accord, and their own negotiations with Congo – mediated by Qatar – have stalled.
“Months of discussions and the signing of multiple agreements in Washington and Doha have had no tangible impact on the lives of Congolese civilians,” said Tigere Chagutah, a regional director at Amnesty International, in a report on Thursday.
Denis Mukwege, a Congolese physician and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, alleges that the peace processes in Washington and Qatar are 'driven primarily by foreign economic and financial interests.'Stephanie Lecocq/Reuters
Tens of thousands of civilians in eastern Congo were displaced in October alone, and many have fled into forests for fear of attacks by M23 and the pro-army Wazalendo militia, he said.
“Congolese are fed up with lofty rhetoric and diplomatic language,” Mr. Chagutah said. “Thousands of civilians are caught between two brutal forces. On one side, they face summary killings, torture, gang rape and abductions by Rwandan-backed M23. On the other side, they are killed, ill-treated, abducted and raped by members of the Wazalendo.”
Thursday’s peace agreement has formalized an earlier deal in June, but the agreement is weakened by loopholes and a lack of clear timing.
Rwanda has sent thousands of troops across the border into Congo and has effective control of M23, according to United Nations reports.
But the Rwandan government says its troops are merely “defensive measures” and refuses to withdraw them until Congo has dismantled an anti-Rwanda rebel group known as the FDLR. This, in turn, is difficult for Congo to achieve because many of the FDLR are based in M23-controlled territories.
Denis Mukwege, a Congolese physician and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has alleged that the peace processes in Washington and Qatar are “driven primarily by foreign economic and financial interests.” They provide “the illusion of diplomatic progress but do nothing to change the daily reality of millions of Congolese people displaced, starving, and deprived of their most fundamental rights,” he said in a statement last week.