Peace in the Great Lakes region now made possible

President William Ruto witnesses the historic signing of a peace deal between President Donald Trump, President Félix Tshisekedi of the DRC and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda at the Donald J. Trump United States Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C., the United States.[PCS]

When President Donald Trump invited President William Ruto to Washington to bear witness to the detente between two Great Lakes neighbours, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), marked by official signing of the Rwanda-DRC Peace agreement, the participation validated several incontrovertible premises and understandings.

First, it acknowledges that while Washington and Doha have recently played a significant role in nudging the two neighbouring countries to the negotiating table, any success would not have been possible without taking into account the heavy lifting by African actors. Among these regional actors, Kenya stands tall. Not only did the country deploy boots on the ground through the East African Community Regional Force (EACRF), it also invested heavily in mediation efforts to foster inter-Congolese dialogue between the DRC authorities and different armed groups including M23 within the aegis of the Nairobi process.