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Lula Meets Blinken after Gaza Comments Spark Diplomatic Rift

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (R) receives US Secretary of State Antony Blinken for a meeting at Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, 21 February 2024. (EPA)
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (R) receives US Secretary of State Antony Blinken for a meeting at Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, 21 February 2024. (EPA)
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Lula Meets Blinken after Gaza Comments Spark Diplomatic Rift

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (R) receives US Secretary of State Antony Blinken for a meeting at Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, 21 February 2024. (EPA)
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (R) receives US Secretary of State Antony Blinken for a meeting at Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, 21 February 2024. (EPA)

US top diplomat Antony Blinken met President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Wednesday, as the Brazilian leader was in the middle of a diplomatic spat with Israel over comments in which Lula likened that country's war in Gaza to the Nazi genocide during World War Two.

In brief remarks in front of reporters as they met at Brasilia's presidential palace, Lula remarked that US presidential elections are coming up in November.

Secretary of State Blinken responded that politics in the US were "so polarized" and the election would come down to six or seven battleground states including Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Nevada.

"There are fewer and fewer undecided voters," Blinken said. "There's a battle for a very thin segment of the electorate."

In a statement after the meeting, which lasted almost two hours, the Brazilian presidential office said that Lula and Blinken had discussed several topics ranging from the G20 summit to peace efforts in Gaza and Ukraine.

"President Lula reaffirmed his wish for peace and an end to the conflicts in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip," the Brazilian government said. "Both agreed on the need for the creation of a Palestinian State."

US officials had previously said they expected Lula and Blinken to have a robust conversation on issues of global security, including the conflict in Gaza sparked by attacks in southern Israel by Hamas militants on Oct. 7.

Israel said on Monday that Lula is not welcome in Israel until he takes back the comments.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Tuesday that Washington disagreed with Lula's comments, but declined to preview what Blinken would say in the meeting on the issue.

Lula's comments came after he visited the Middle East last week and just ahead of a meeting of foreign ministers in Rio de Janeiro as part of Brazil's presidency of the G20 group of advanced economies.

Washington, which provides Israel with military and diplomatic support, has urged Israel to protect civilians but defended Israel's right to target Hamas militants in the Gaza strip.

Ahead of Blinken's travel to South America, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian Nichols told reporters that sharing ideas on the conflict in Gaza would be "crucial to the conversation" between Lula and Blinken.

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Congo and Rwanda Submit Draft Peace Proposal, Trump Adviser Says

A charcoal street vendor waits for customers at Kituku market on the bank of Lake Kivu, in Goma, which is controlled by M23 rebels, in North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, March 25, 2025. (Reuters)
A charcoal street vendor waits for customers at Kituku market on the bank of Lake Kivu, in Goma, which is controlled by M23 rebels, in North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, March 25, 2025. (Reuters)
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Congo and Rwanda Submit Draft Peace Proposal, Trump Adviser Says

A charcoal street vendor waits for customers at Kituku market on the bank of Lake Kivu, in Goma, which is controlled by M23 rebels, in North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, March 25, 2025. (Reuters)
A charcoal street vendor waits for customers at Kituku market on the bank of Lake Kivu, in Goma, which is controlled by M23 rebels, in North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, March 25, 2025. (Reuters)

Congo and Rwanda have submitted a draft peace proposal as part of a process meant to end fighting in eastern Congo and attract billions of dollars of Western investment, US President Donald Trump's senior adviser for Africa said on Monday.

It is the latest step in an ambitious bid by the Trump administration to end a decades-long conflict in a region rich in minerals including tantalum, gold, cobalt, copper and lithium.

The two countries' foreign ministers agreed last month, at a ceremony in Washington alongside US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, to submit the draft proposal by May 2.

But neither Kinshasa nor Kigali has publicly confirmed doing so, and Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe said on Saturday on X that the two sides' contributions "have not yet been consolidated."

Massad Boulos, who is Trump's senior adviser for Africa and the Middle East, said on X on Monday that he welcomed "the draft text on a peace proposal received from both DRC and Rwanda," describing it as "an important step" towards peace.

Washington wants to move quickly. In an interview with Reuters last week, Boulos said the plan was for Rubio to meet in mid-May in Washington with his Rwandan and Congolese counterparts in an effort to agree on a final draft peace accord.

Before that accord can be signed, Boulos said, Rwanda and Congo must finalize bilateral economic agreements with Washington that will see US and Western companies invest billions of dollars in Congolese mines and infrastructure projects to support mining in both countries, including the processing of minerals in Rwanda.

The hope is that all three agreements can be signed in about two months, and on the same day, at a ceremony attended by Trump, Boulos said.

FIGHTING CONTINUES

The diplomacy comes amid an advance by Rwandan-backed M23 rebels in eastern Congo that has killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands more.

The United Nations and Western governments say Rwanda has provided arms and troops to M23. Rwanda denies backing M23 and says its military has acted in self-defense against Congo's army and a militia founded by perpetrators of the 1994 genocide.

Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi's government is engaged in separate talks with M23 facilitated by Qatar.

Last month Congo and the rebels agreed to work towards peace, but sources in the two delegations have expressed frustration with the pace of negotiations.

M23 is not involved in the talks in Washington, though Lawrence Kanyuka, spokesperson for the rebel alliance that includes M23, told Reuters last week that "we encourage any peace initiative."

Meanwhile, fighting in eastern Congo continues. Mak Hazukay, a spokesperson for Congo's army, on Saturday accused M23 of seizing the town of Lunyasenge on Lake Edward and said Congo "reserves the right to retaliate".