Trump praises Congo and Rwanda as they sign US-mediated peace deal

(AP) — United States President Donald Trump praised the leaders of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda as they signed a deal aimed at ending a conflict and opening critical mineral reserves to the US American companies.

The moment offered Trump — who has repeatedly and with a measure of exaggeration boasted of brokering peace in some of the world's most entrenched conflicts — another chance to tout himself as a dealmaker extraordinaire on the global stage and make the case that he's deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize.

“It’s a great day for Africa, a great day for the world,” Trump said Thursday, shortly before the leaders signed the pact. He added, "Today, we’re succeeding where so many others have failed.”

Trump also announced the United States was signing bilateral agreements with the Congo and Rwanda that will unlock new opportunities for the United States to access critical minerals in the eastern Congo-- deals that will benefit all three nations’ economies.

“And we’ll be involved with sending some of our biggest and greatest US companies over to the two countries,” Trump said. He added, “Everybody’s going to make a lot of money.”

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Trump welcomed Presidents Felix Tshisekedi of Congo and Paul Kagame of Rwanda, as well as several officials from other African nations who traveled to Washington to witness the signing, in the same week he contemptuously derided the war-torn country of Somalia and said he did he did not want immigrants from the East African nation in the US.

Lauded by the White House as a “historic” agreement brokered by Trump, the pact between Tshisekedi and Kagame follows monthslong peace efforts by the US and partners, including the African Union and Qatar, and finalizes an earlier deal signed in June.

But the Trump-brokered peace is precarious.

The Central African nation of Congo has been battered by decadeslong fighting with more than 100 armed groups, the most potent being the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels.

The conflict escalated this year, with M23 seizing the region’s main cities of Goma and Bukavu in an unprecedented advance, worsening a humanitarian crisis that was already one of the world’s largest, with millions of people displaced.

Fighting, meanwhile, continued this week in the conflict-battered region with pockets of clashes reported between the rebels and Congolese soldiers, together with their allied forces. Trump, a Republican, has often said that his mediation has ended the conflict, which some people in Congo say isn't true.

Still, Kagame and Tshisekedi offered a hopeful tone as they signed on to the agreement.

“No one was asking President Trump to take up this task. Our region is far from the headlines,” Kagame said. “But when the president saw the opportunity to contribute to peace, he immediately took it.”

“I do believe this day is the beginning of a new path, a demanding path, yes. Indeed, quite difficult," Tshisekedi said. "But this is a path where peace will not just be a wish, an aspiration, but a turning point.”

Indeed, analysts say Thursday's deal also isn't expected to quickly result in peace. A separate peace deal has been signed between Congo and the M23.

“We are still at war,” said Amani Chibalonza Edith, a 32-year-old resident of Goma, eastern Congo's key city seized by rebels early this year. “There can be no peace as long as the front lines remain active."

But Trump predicted with the signing the countries would leave behind “decades of violence and bloodshed” and “begin a new year of harmony and cooperation.”

“They spent a lot of time killing each other,” Trump said. “And now they’re going to spend a lot of time hugging, holding hands and taking advantage of the United States of America economically like every other country does.”

Tshisekedi and Kagame did not shake hands and barely looked at each other during the roughly 50-minute signing ceremony.

Thursday’s pact will also build on a Regional Economic Integration Framework previously agreed upon that officials have said will define the terms of economic partnerships involving the three countries.

The region, rich in critical minerals, has been of interest to Trump as Washington looks for ways to circumvent China to acquire rare earths, essential to manufacturing fighter jets, cell phones and more. China accounts for nearly 70% of the world’s rare earth mining and controls roughly 90% of global rare earths processing.

Trump hosted the leaders on Thursday morning for one-on-one meetings at the White House as well as a three-way conversation before the signing ceremony at the Institute of Peace in Washington, which the State Department announced on Wednesday has been rebranded “the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace.”

In eastern Congo, meanwhile, residents reported pockets of clashes and rebel advances in various localities. Both the M23 and Congolese forces have accused each other of violating the terms of the ceasefire agreed earlier this year. Fighting has also continued in the central plateaus across South Kivu province.