Rwandan President Paul Kagame has cautiously welcomed a United States-brokered peace deal with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), while suggesting Kigali will retaliate if provoked. Speaking at a news conference in Kigali on Friday, Kagame said Rwanda remained committed to the agreement but questioned whether Kinshasa would uphold its part of the deal.
The agreement, backed by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, was signed last week and calls for Rwandan troops to withdraw from eastern DRC within 90 days. The region has seen intense fighting this year, with M23 rebels seizing major towns. The United Nations has accused Rwanda of backing the group with thousands of troops—an allegation Kigali denies. While the peace deal is seen as a turning point, analysts do not believe it will quickly end the fighting because M23—a major belligerent in the conflict—says the agreement does not apply to it.
Rwanda insists its military presence in eastern DRC is a response to threats from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an armed group made up of ethnic Hutu fighters linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Kagame said Kinshasa must act to dismantle the FDLR if the deal is to succeed. There has been no official response from Kinshasa, which has consistently accused Rwanda of fuelling the conflict.
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