The United States of America yesterday March 18th hosted representatives from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda in Washington on talks centering on the stalled peace process in eastern Congo.
The meeting marked the first encounter between the parties since the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned the Rwanda Defence Force and four senior officers on March 2nd 2026.
Washington has blamed Rwandan support for the M23 rebel group for continued violence in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, but Rwanda has categorically denied backing M23 rebel group that staged a lightning advance in January 2025 and still holds large swathes of territory.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda agreed to a series of coordinated steps to de-escalate tensions and advance progress on the ground,
According to a joint statement issued yesterday March 18th by the U.S., Democratic Republic of Congo and the Government of Rwanda released by the State Department, the efforts include a mutual commitment to specific measures to support each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, the scheduled disengagement of forces/lifting of defensive measures by Rwanda in defined areas in Democratic Republic of Congo territory, time-bound and intensified efforts by the Democratic Republic of Congo to neutralize the FDLR, and the protection of all civilians.
The FDLR group was founded by Hutus who fled Rwanda after participating in the 1994 genocide that killed close to one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus. M23 says it is fighting to protect ethnic Tutsi communities in eastern Congo.
The Government of Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo signed a peace deal in Washington in December as part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s push to broker peace and attract billions of dollars in Western investment.
However, a few days after that ceremony, M23 rebels entered the Eastern Congolese Vity of Uvira, near the Burundian border, in the war’s biggest escalation in months.
The M23 rebels later pulled out under U.S. pressure but Washington recently said that, the rebels’ continued presence near Burundi’s border carries the risk of escalating the conflict into a broader regional war.
Additional Reporting by Associated Press.
