US says Rwanda, DR Congo promise to ease tensions

US President Donald Trump speaks during a bilateral lunch with Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban in the Cabinet Room of the White House on Nov 7, 2025 in Washington, DC. [AFP]

The United States said Friday that Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo promised to work to ease tensions and recommitted to a peace agreement, which has failed to halt violence.

The two neighbors signed an agreement in Washington in June after Rwandan-backed M23 rebels swept vast swathes of the mineral-rich and long-turbulent east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

But attacks have persisted on the ground, and Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi recently accused Rwanda of seeking to annex the east of his country.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly boasted of the DRC-Rwanda agreement -- counting the conflict as one of several wars he has "ended" -- and said it opens the way for the United States to secure minerals critical in advanced technologies.

In a meeting in Washington, the two sides "recognized lagging progress and committed to redouble efforts to implement the Washington Peace Agreement," said a joint statement issued by the US State Department.

The sides "agreed on specific near-term actions" on key parts of the agreement, including Rwanda's key demand that Kinshasa neutralize the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an ethnic Hutu group with links to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

Rwanda has made the end of its "defensive measures" contingent on action against the FDLR.

"The Parties reaffirmed their commitment to refrain from hostile actions or rhetoric, particularly political attacks or language that would undermine or complicate the full implementation of the Peace Agreement, including in international fora," the statement said.

It also said that the two countries signed the full text of an economic agreement previously agreed upon.

The talks included Qatar, a key US partner that has mediated on the conflict, and the African Union.