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".
