• Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) signed a US-brokered peace agreement on June 27.

• The agreement marks a breakthrough in talks held by the administration of US President Donald Trump, which also aim to attract billions of dollars of Western investment to a region rich in tantalum, gold, cobalt, copper, lithium and other minerals.

• The situation in the eastern DRC has deteriorated since January as M23 fighters advanced across North and South Kivu provinces, with the crisis spreading to Ituri.

• They captured the regional capital Goma and the second city, Bukavu. Thousands of people were killed and even more displaced, including to neighbouring countries such as Burundi.

• At a ceremony with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington, the two African countries’ foreign ministers signed the agreement pledging to implement a 2024 deal that would see Rwandan troops withdraw from eastern Congo within 90 days.

• The ministerial signing of the peace agreement marks a historic milestone in the pursuit of peace and prosperity for the DRC, Rwanda, and the broader Great Lakes region of Africa. 

• The peace agreement entered into force upon signature, and the United States reaffirms its commitment to supporting its full and timely implementation.

• In close coordination with the African Union, Qatar, and Togo, the United States will continue to engage both parties to ensure implementation of the obligations laid out in the agreement.

• UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the signing of the peace agreement.

Root cause of the conflict

• The M23 rebel group in late 2021 launched an attack that escalated sharply early this year, seizing broad swathes of territory including the key eastern DRC city of Goma.

• The Congo government has long alleged that M23, consisting mostly of ethnic Tutsis, receives military support from Rwanda. 

• Rwanda has denied directly supporting the rebels but has demanded an end to another armed group, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), which was established by ethnic Hutus linked to the massacres of Tutsis in the 1994 Rwanda genocide.

• The clashes in the east date back to the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis in neighbouring Rwanda.

• UNESCO commemorates the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda on April 7.

• The date marks the beginning of the genocide perpetrated against members of the Tutsi minority by the Hutu extremist-led government. 

• Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda was one of the darkest chapters in human history. 

• More than one million people — mostly Tutsis, Hutus and others who opposed the genocide — were  killed in less than three months.

Current situation in eastern Congo

• With seven million people currently displaced across the country, 27.8 million people facing food insecurity and almost 1.4 million children in acute malnutrition, the humanitarian situation is dire. 

• The security crisis in the east of the country has worsened the humanitarian situation.

• Violence in the east of the country continues to disproportionately affect women, boys, and girls, notably as rape and other forms of sexual violence are still being systematically used as weapons of war.

• Men and boys accused of links with opposing forces are at risk of abduction, while women and girls who have survived sexual violence face severely limited access to healthcare, as healthcare facilities are often targeted by attacks. 

• In 2025, over 290 schools were destroyed, with ongoing cycles of violence keeping 1.3 million children out of the education system in Ituri, in the east of the country.

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