US Seeks a Peace Deal in Rwanda-Congo Conflict by July
By Michael J KavanaghJune 12, 2025 at 3:59 PM UTC
The US wants Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo to sign a peace deal by July, according to a top State Department official for Africa.
Technical teams from both countries will be in Washington next week to discuss ending a conflict between the two nations that has left more than a million people displaced, thousands dead and a large swath of mineral-rich eastern Congo under Rwanda-backed rebel control.
“If we’re going to do it, we do it now,” Ambassador Troy Fitrell, a senior official in the State Department’s African Affairs bureau said at the Atlantic Council in Washington Thursday. “We’re not going to wait six months for the next meeting — we’re going to get this done.”
Congo, the EU and the US accuse Rwanda of backing the M23 armed group, which relaunched a rebellion in eastern Congo in 2021. The group took two major cities earlier this year, causing widespread international condemnation of the group and Rwanda, which continues to deny backing the rebels.
The US is trying to broker a peace agreement along with multiple African nations and the government of Qatar, which will also send officials to Washington next week, Fitrell said.
The US is also discussing investment in minerals and physical and digital infrastructure, Fitrell said, to support Congo’s mining industry and develop the country’s agriculture. Fitrell positioned US and western investment in Congo as the better alternative to Chinese miners, which dominate the industry.
Congo is the world’s second-biggest producer of copper and the biggest source of key battery mineral cobalt.
