U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to host the heads of state of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda in the “coming weeks” to sign a peace agreement aimed at ending the decades-long conflict in eastern Congo, his senior Africa adviser said on Tuesday.
The foreign ministers of both countries will also be in Washington on June 27 for a signing ceremony after the text of the agreement was agreed last week, said Massad Boulos, News.Az reports citing foreign media.
Boulos, who was speaking at the US-Africa Business Summit in Luanda, Angola, championed the prospect of lasting peace creating an environment where US businesses would be more willing to invest. He said conflict had hindered the Great Lakes region from unlocking the “full potential of its people and natural resources.”
The eastern Congo region in particular has many valuable resources, including rare minerals such as tantalum and tungsten. Access to those minerals has driven some of the conflict, which has displaced millions of people and killed thousands of others. The Trump administration has dangled the prospect of a minerals deal with Kinshasa as part of its push for peace in the region.
