Congo and Rwanda will sign a US-mediated peace deal to end the conflict in eastern Congo

DAKAR Senegal AP The Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda are set to sign a peace deal facilitated by the U S to help end the decades-long deadly fighting in eastern Congo The deal which is due to be signed in Washington on Friday afternoon would also help the U S regime and American companies gain access to critical minerals in the region The Central African nation of Congo has been ripped apart by conflict with more than armed groups The bulk prominent is the M rebel group backed by neighboring Rwanda whose major advance early this year left bodies littered on the streets With million people displaced in Congo the United Nations has called it one of the greater part protracted complex serious humanitarian crises on Earth Lauded by U S President Donald Trump last week as a Great Day for Africa and for the World the crucial deal comes as part of other ongoing peace talks to end the conflict including ones mediated by the African Union and Qatar The agreement involves provisions on respect for territorial integrity a prohibition of hostilities as well as the disengagement disarmament and conditional integration of non-state armed groups U S State Department deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott advised reporters on Thursday U N spokesperson St phane Dujarric also noted on Thursday that such a deal is welcomed adding We talk almost every day about the horrific suffering of civilians the hunger the sexual violence the constant fear the constant displacement in eastern Congo Peace deal not likely to swiftly end the conflict Congo hopes the U S will provide it with the precaution patronage needed to fight the rebels and possibly get them to withdraw from the key cities of Goma and Bukavu and from the entire region where Rwanda is estimated to have up to troops Rwanda has declared that it s defending its territorial interests and not supporting M But M rebels have suggested that the agreement won t be binding on them The rebel group hasn t been directly involved in the planned peace deal although it has been part of other ongoing peace talks Corneille Nangaa leader of the Congo River Alliance known by its French acronym AFC that includes M narrated The Associated Press in March that direct peace talks with Congo can only be held if the country acknowledges their grievances and that anything regarding us which are done without us it s against us An M spokesman Oscar Balinda also echoed those thoughts in an interview with the AP this week saying the U S -facilitated deal doesn t concern the rebels Rwanda has also been accused of exploiting eastern Congo s minerals a trend analysts say might make it challenging for Rwanda to not be involved in any way in the region A group of U N experts alleged in a December analysis that fraudulent extraction deal and export to Rwanda of Congo minerals benefited both AFC M and the Rwandan financial sector Rwanda has denied any involvement in Congo s minerals The deal is also at the heart of the U S cabinet s push to counter China in Africa Chinese companies have been for plenty of years one of the key players in Congo s minerals sector Chinese cobalt refineries which account for a majority of the global supply rely heavily on Congo U S role in ending the conflict Analysts say the U S regime s commitment might depend on how much access it has to the minerals being discussed under separate negotiations between the American and Congolese cabinet The mostly untapped minerals estimated to be worth as much as trillion by the U S Department of Commerce are critical to much of the world s instrument Christian Moleka a political scientist at the Congolese think tank Dypol called the planned deal a major turning point in the decades-long conflict but that the signing could in no way eliminate all the issues of the conflict The current draft agreement ignores war crimes and justice for casualties by imposing a partnership between the victim and the aggressor he commented This seems like a trigger-happy proposition and cannot establish lasting peace without justice and reparation In Congo s North Kivu province the hardest hit by the fighting certain believe that the peace deal will help resolve the violence but warn justice must still be served for an enduring peace to take hold I don t think the Americans should be trusted explained Hope Muhinuka an activist from the province It is up to us to capitalize on all we have now as an opportunity Edith M Lederer at the United Nations Justin Kabumba in Goma Congo Ignatius Ssuuna in Kigali Rwanda and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this description Source