By Daphne Psaledakis, Ange Kasongo and Anait Miridzhanian
WASHINGTON/KINSHASA/DAKAR (Reuters) -Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo technical teams initialed a draft peace agreement that is expected to be signed next week, the two countries and the United States said on Wednesday, aiming for an end to fighting in eastern Congo.
The provisional agreement, announced in a joint statement, could mark a breakthrough in talks held by President Donald Trump’s administration to end the fighting in eastern Congo and bring billions of dollars of Western investment to the region, which is rich in minerals including tantalum, gold, cobalt, copper and lithium.
The provisional agreement, reached after three days of talks, addresses territorial integrity and a prohibition of hostilities and the disengagement, disarmament, and conditional integration of non-state armed groups, according to the statement.
The agreement also includes provisions on the establishment of a joint security mechanism that incorporates a proposal discussed by the parties last year under Angolan mediation.
The ministerial signing of the agreement is scheduled for June 27.
Rwandan and Congolese experts reached an agreement twice last year under Angola mediation on the withdrawal of Rwandan troops and joint operations against the Rwandan Hutu rebel group FDLR, but ministers from both countries failed to endorse the deal.
Angola stepped down in March from its position as a mediator between the parties involved in an escalating Rwanda-backed rebel offensive in eastern Congo after several attempts to resolve the conflict.
Fighting in eastern Congo escalated this year as Rwanda-backed M23 rebels staged an advance that saw it seize the region’s two largest cities, raising fears of a wider conflict.
Congo says Rwanda is supporting M23 by sending troops and arms.
Rwanda has long denied helping M23, saying its forces are acting in self-defence against Congo’s army and ethnic Hutu militiamen linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide that killed around 1 million people, mostly ethnic Tutsis.
(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis and Jasper Ward in Washington, Ange Kasongo in Kinshasa, Anait Miridzhanian in Dakar and Sonia Rolley in Paris; Editing by Don Durfee and Lisa Shumaker)
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