Bulletin N°59 2025 Under the leadership of the United States and Qatar, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda appear poised to end a decades-long war. This agreement comes after the M23 military group's dramatic advance in eastern DRC in February 2025
The dramatic situation in the DRC stems, in addition to its own internal dynamics of dissension, from the terrible events in Rwanda. In 1994, groups of Rwandans responsible for the genocide or out of fear of reprisals fled before the Rwandan Patriotic Front army, led by Paul Kagame, and took refuge in neighboring DRC. The new Rwandan government has relentlessly pursued the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), made up of former mass murderers.
Rwanda has accused the DRC of integrating the FDLR into its own forces, while the DRC accuses Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebel group, which emerged from the ranks of the Congolese army and is made up of Congolese Tutsis, and has controlled North Kivu for many years... and its mineral wealth. Moreover, the DRC has filed a complaint against Apple, which allegedly benefits from a supply of raw materials from the M23 group.
The United States, concerned about its supply of strategic minerals, has decided, under the leadership of the new Trump administration, to end this conflict, perhaps before other powers become involved. Qatar will act as mediator between the DRC and the M23 group, a group believed to be Congolese.
Chapter 6 of the Washington Treaty, submitted for signature on June 27, is devoted to economic development. It provides for a separate subsequent agreement, the "Regional Economic Integration Framework." It provides that " the Parties [1] shall use this framework to expand foreign trade and investment from the region's critical mineral supply chains and introduce greater transparency, thereby blocking illicit economic channels and providing greater prosperity for both parties—particularly for the region's population—from the region's natural resources through mutually beneficial partnerships and investment opportunities." Further, regarding the development of Lake Kivu resources (under M23 control): " transparent and formalized end-to-end mining value chains (from mine to processed metal) that connect the two countries, in partnership, where appropriate, with the United States government and investors. "
Rwanda also has mineral wealth, however it is quite likely that its success in exporting minerals can be explained by the plundering of the neighboring DRC [2] .
While the end of hostilities should be welcomed with relief, for a conflict lasting more than 30 years and which is said to have caused 6 million victims, the fact remains that the Washington agreement officially places the DRC under the tutelage of the United States.
[* ]God comes out of the American machine
[1] The parties are the DRC and Rwanda