Washington DC Brokered Peace Deal

Introduction
The average media is reporting that or wants Africa to believe that Thursday 4 December 2025 was a great day for Africa and in particular for the Great Lakes Region... because in Washington DC, at the newly- named Donald Trump's Institution of Peace, the American President Donald Trump finally brokered peace between Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda to bring to an end decades long conflict especially in East DRC which has claimed 10 millions of lives. But the question is.. is it indeed a great day for Africa? or it is a great day for United States of America (U.S) companies coming to mine Critical Rare Metals (CRM) in the region? Should Africa have high hopes that finally this Great Lakes Region conflict is now a thing of the past.

Summoned
African leaders were summoned to meet (U.S) President Donald Trump at the newly named Donald Trump's Institution of Peace in Washington DC. These African leaders on the invitation of (U.S) President Donald Trump travelled to Washington DC to solve African problem.These African leaders consisted of William Ruto of Kenya, Evariste Ndaishimiye President of Burundi, Angolan President and African Union (AU) chair Joaou Lourenco joined Felix Tshisekedi of DRC and Paul Kagame of Rwanda for the high level peace summit in Washington DC.

Endorsement Of June 2025 Peace Accord
The biggest event was the endorsement of a Peace Accord first signed by foreign ministers of both DRC and Rwanda in June, 2025. The summit was building up on the (U.S) state brokered deal in June of 2025 and further negotiated and clarified in Qatar in November of 2025 where parties to the conflict (DRC and Rwanda) agreed to a broader framework to end the fighting between DRC government forces fighting rebel groups in East DRC. United Nations (UN) and DRC have long accussed Kigali (Rwanda) of supporting rebel forces of which Kigali has denied. At the beginning of the event at the newly-renamed Donald Trump Institute of Peace, Trump said the peace ceremony was a,

"great day"
for Africa and the world.
"I have a lot of confidence in both leaders,"

Trump added,
"We'll keep these commitments. I know they're going to keep them and follow through on the agreement and create a much brighter future for the people of their countries"

At the event, Kagame praised Trump as an,
"even-handed", leader who is,
"never taking sides".
Rwanda's president described Trump's approach as pragmatic and said that,

"as a result, we have the clearest and most viable path forward that we have ever had".

Tshisekedi expressed,
"deep gratitude and clear hope", while at the same time saying he hoped Rwanda would,

"respect the letter and spirit of the deal".

African Leaders Hail The Agreement
African leaders present at the ceremony hailed this US-led DRC-Rwanda peace deal as chance for lasting peace. Praising President Trump’s peace efforts, Rwandan President Paul Kagame said Trump,

“saw the opportunity to contribute to peace, (and) he immediately took it”.

“If this agreement falters and things do not work out as they are supposed to, the responsibility will not lie with President Trump, but with ourselves,” Kagame said.

“We now only want to look forward in a confident expectation of a prosperous and stable future”, Kagame added.

Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi, for his part, said the peace deal represents a,

“turning point,” adding that it is not just another document.

Tshisekedi said Congo,
“takes this solemn commitment to implement with complete sincerity all of our obligations that stem from this agreement,”

“These Washington agreements for peace and prosperity must be for our peoples, a symbol of an irreversible commitment to turn (the) page of confrontations and to open a new era of cooperation and sustainable peace throughout the region,” Tshisekedi added.

William Ruto, President of Kenya hailed the agreement as,

“a decisive act to end a devastating conflict that has scarred the region for decades”.

Ruto said what Trump,
“achieved is not only transformative, it is consequential and historic,”

"In conclusion, as we celebrate progress in the DRC, we must not look away from other crises. I want to ask you, respectfully, Mr. President, that in your quest for global peace, to support efforts to resolve the humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan,”, the Kenyan president urged.

Angolan President Joao Lourenco, thanked Trump and added,

“What comes next now is to appeal to the two parties, that is the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of Rwanda, to implement successfully this agreement for the benefit of their countries, their people, and including our continent of Africa.”

No M23 Representative In Sight
Worringly, M23 have said in the past that any agreement negotiated without their involvement does not concern the group. Earlier on the former president of the DRC, Joseph Kabila, had criticized the June agreement with Rwanda as a "diplomatic theater" due to the absence of M23 and other groups from eastern Congo.This Washington DC signing ceremony as it happened the M23 was not present,other groups from eastern Congo were not present- though it is believed M23 is in talks with DRC's government in a parallel peace process led by Qatar. Present were the foreign ministers of Qatar and the UAE (paradoxically, UAE has been singled out for sponsoring genocide in the Sudan)- so was (U.S) Secretary of State Marco Rubio.This agreement in Washington DC is coming amidst renewed fighting between Congolese forces and M23 rebels. DRC's army said rebels were trying to "sabotage the peace process" whilst the M23 claimed the army had breached a ceasefire.

Skepticism
At the signing ceremony on Thursday 4 December 2025, there was no public handshake between the pair, whose body language appeared frosty throughout. Analysts have pointed out that the signing ceremony was just the endorsement of an agreement reached in June 2025 that has already failed to end the fighting. Analysts are quite sceptical about whether the deal will lead to lasting peace. A DRC researcher with the South Africa-based Institute for Security Studies think-tank, Bram Verelst, told the BBC that there was,

"currently no ceasefire in place, and the M23 rebellion continues to expand and consolidate its control ".

"The signing ceremony is unlikely to alter this situation, though there is some small hope it could increase accountability on Congolese and Rwandan leaders to honour their commitments", Verelst said.

Winner Control All
The biggest winner in all this is not the conniving African leadership, or the suffering ordinary people caught up in this conflict in East DRC, or M23 which was concipicously absente, or any other group involve in the conflict in Eastern DRC, or Kagame or Tshisekedi who clearly refused hand- shaking each other at the signing ceremony, but rather Donald Trump and some of the "biggest" and "greatest " American companies as Trump described them. For at the signing, President Trump said the (U.S) would send,

"some of our biggest and greatest companies", to both countries to extract rare earth minerals adding,

"Everybody is going to make a lot of money",

"And we're going to take out the rare earth, take out some of the assets, and pay," Trump said.

Offcourse, everybody except Africa is going to make money from the deal. The (U.S) State Department said in 2023 that DRC has an estimated $25trn (£21.2trn) in mineral reserves.This includes cobalt, copper, lithium, manganese and tantalum - key ingredients needed to make the electronic components used in computers, electric vehicles, mobile phones, wind turbines and military hardware.This is another major sticking point in this Washington DC agreement. For it sounds like more interested in economics or sounds like business over dealing with the devastating conflict at hand, which makes it sounds more like resource exploitation.

Why Foreign Capital/s?
The big question is why African problems continue to be negotiated outside of Africa... in Washington DC, in Qatar, why not in Africa? why not in Addis Ababa (Africa political capital) or Johannesburg/ Pretoria (Africa's largest economy) or Abuja (Africa's most populous nation). Why can't some African countries host President Trump and other foreign presidents here on African soil, to discuss African issues and resolve African problems? Why Trump can't meet our African Heads of State at our African Union headquarters? Why has it always to be some foreign capital? Sadly, President Kagame on record for saying Africa don't need to rush to foreign lands to discuss and resolve her issues was there, on foreign land to resolve African problem. Does it mean President Trump has got more knowledge and wisdom than all the 54 presidents of Africa? Why not ask Professor Lumumba of Kenya to be mediator? This is a sad acknowledgement that Africa can't solve her own problems.

Conclusion
In as much as all efforts towards peace should be hailed. But this particular Washington DC endorsement of a peace accord sounds more like bent on economics, on resource exploitation to be precise. More of a business deal than a peace deal.This leaves one wondering whether this 4 December 2025, Washington DC signing was all about delivering peace to the Great Lakes region or it was about delivering rare earth minerals to American companies. So certainly it was a great day not for Africa but for President Trump and his greatest and biggest American companies. Africa surely cannot parrot this narrative of "foolishly saying it was a great day for Africa, yet all the minerals will end up in America". This signing endorsement of peace accord business looks like a chess played between Rwanda and DRC with (U.S) as a referee eying on the chessboard (mineral resources) of M23 soldiers and kings fighting. This agreement is simply beneficial to (U.S). Not to M23, not to DRC, not to Rwanda, not to people caught up in this conflict, not to Africa. In essence, it is an agreement for DRC, Rwanda and M23 not to disturb the "biggest" and "greatest" American companies as they mine rare earth minerals in both Rwanda and DRC, whilst the DRC, Rwanda and M23 are busy fighting each other. Remember the African proverb, "when brothers fight, a stranger steals their inheritance".

F. Madondo (African Teacher) fortmada123@gmail.compm

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