The Japan Times - Trump to sign Rwanda, DR Congo accord even as violence rages

Trump hopes the agreement will pave the way for the United States to gain control over critical minerals in the eastern DRC, a violence-torn region home to many of the key ingredients in modern technologies such as electric cars.

Paul Kagame, the longtime president of Rwanda -- which has taken a decisive edge on the ground against its turbulent neighbor -- will meet alongside Trump with DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi in the striking modern building of the US Institue of Peace, which Trump shuttered as part of sweeping government cost-cutting.

The White House said that the two leaders would sign a peace agreement, more than five months after the countries' foreign ministers also met Trump and announced another deal to end the conflict.

On the eve of Trump's latest meeting, intense fighting raged in the eastern DRC, where the Rwandan-backed armed group M23 has been gaining ground in recent weeks against Kinshasa's forces.

"Many houses have been bombed, and there are many dead," said Rene Chubaka Kalembire, an administrative official in Kaziba, a town under M23 control.

The long-simmering conflict exploded in late January as the M23 captured the major cities of Goma and Bukavu.

After the June agreement, the M23 -- which denies links to Rwanda -- and the Kinshasa government pledged a ceasefire following mediation by US partner Qatar, but both sides have since accused the other of violations.

- Mineral riches -

Trump has boasted that DR Congo, where hundreds of thousands of people have died over several decades, is among a long list of wars he has ended since he returned to office in January.

He has voiced hope that the United States can exploit minerals in the country that otherwise could head to China.

DR Congo is home to the majority of the world's cobalt, a critical mineral in batteries for electric vehicles, as well as other key minerals such as copper.

DR Congo said that the agreement with Trump would include a peace agreement, regional economic integration framework and a "strategic partnership" on natural resources.

Presidential spokeswoman Tina Salama said Kinshasa had been adamant at peace on the ground before proceeding to a second stage of economic development.

"This isn't selling out on minerals to the Americans," she told reporters in Washington.

"It's not peace for minerals as has been said."

Rwanda has made the end of its "defensive measures" contingent on Kinshasa neutralizing the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an ethnic Hutu group with links to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

Kagame, who unlike Tshisekedi is also expected to meet separately with Trump, last week publicly accused the DRC of delaying the signing of an agreement.

DRC Communication Minister Patrick Muyaya in turn said that the fighting on the ground showed a lack of seriousness by Rwanda.

"It just proves that Rwanda doesn't want this," he said.

Both countries have been in talks with the US administration on its top priority of taking in migrants as Trump carries out a sweeping deportation drive.

Rwanda had earlier signed up to take in migrants from Britain until Prime Minister Keir Starmer took office and canceled the plan.

H.Hayashi--JT