The Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda will likely sign a peace agreement in the coming months, along with bilateral mineral deals with the United States, but even if both sides reach a peace deal, its implementation would face major challenges, thus sustaining the prospect of a new military escalation in eastern Congo. On May 21, Senior Adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, Massad Boulos, said that the United States was in "the process of finalizing" a draft peace agreement between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. This came after the foreign ministers of the two neighboring African countries signed a U.S.-mediated Declaration of Principles on April 25 in which Congo and Rwanda made non-binding pledges to refrain from interfering in each other's internal affairs, tackle non-state armed groups and make progress toward a draft peace agreement. Both countries also committed to a "phased regional integration framework" that would...
