President Donald Trump will host Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) President Felix Tshisekedi at the White House on Thursday to sign a historic peace and economic agreement, the White House announced.
Spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said the agreement was brokered by Trump and follows a preliminary pact signed by the nations’ foreign ministers at the White House in June. After months of negotiations, the leaders met in Qatar in November to establish a framework aimed at ending years of conflict in eastern DRC.
The agreement seeks to address the longstanding violence involving the M23 rebel group, which has clashed with the DRC government in North Kivu province for over a decade. Rooted in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, the M23, primarily composed of ethnic Tutsis, resurfaced in 2021 amid allegations of Rwandan support—a claim Kigali denies, citing self-defence operations against DRC forces and ethnic Hutu fighters near the border.
The conflict has claimed thousands of lives, with civilians heavily affected during a 2025 offensive that saw M23 seize two major DRC cities. Sporadic fighting continued even as truce talks advanced. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights reported that at least 319 civilians were killed in North Kivu in July, shortly after the initial White House agreement.
In Qatar, the two sides signed two of eight implementation protocols, covering ceasefire monitoring and prisoner exchanges. Other issues, including timelines, humanitarian aid delivery, the return of displaced persons, restoring state authority, economic reforms, and reintegration of armed groups, remain under negotiation. A DRC presidential spokesperson emphasized that any agreement must safeguard the country’s territorial integrity.
Despite these unresolved matters, Trump has repeatedly cited the deal as a significant achievement in ending longstanding conflicts since taking office in January.
