President Donald Trump’s bid to make peace in the border regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo will reach a critical moment on Thursday when the Congolese and Rwandan presidents are due at the White House to sign an accord.
The run-up to what Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt said would be a “historic peace and economic agreement” has been rocky. On Tuesday M23 rebels — who have been consolidating control of a huge area of the mineral-rich east of Congo — and the Congolese army accused each other of violating an earlier ceasefire that has never fully taken effect.
A war of words has persisted between Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who blames the DR Congo for reneging on the terms of earlier accords, and Congo’s Félix Tshisekedi, who says Rwandan troops remain in DR Congo alongside allied M23 rebels despite agreeing to withdraw.