By Sonia Rolley
(Reuters) -Congolese negotiators have dropped a demand that Rwandan troops immediately leave eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, paving the way for a U.S.-brokered peace agreement to be signed between the longtime foes on Friday, four sources told Reuters.
Rwanda has sent at least 7,000 soldiers over the border, according to analysts and diplomats, in support of the M23 rebels, who seized eastern Congo’s two largest cities and lucrative mining areas in a lightning advance earlier this year.
Rwanda has long denied providing arms and troops to M23 and says it is acting in self-defence.
Congolese and Rwandan officials are expected to sign a peace deal in Washington on Friday following a diplomatic push by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to end years of conflict with roots in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide.
The agreement also aims to attract Western investment to the two countries’ mining sectors, which boast deposits of tantalum, gold, cobalt, copper and lithium, while giving the U.S. access to critical minerals.
Sources told Reuters earlier this month that Washington was pushing for Rwanda to withdraw its troops before the deal’s signing, a pre-condition that was also included in a U.S.-prepared draft authenticated by diplomats.
But that timeline was certain to face resistance from Rwanda. Kigali considers Congo-based armed groups an existential threat, particularly the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), which includes remnants of Rwanda’s former army and militias that carried out the genocide.
Three sources told Reuters that the new version of the agreement aims to obtain the withdrawal of Rwandan troops from eastern Congo over several months, while two of them said the withdrawal would be conditioned on operations against the FDLR.
The sources – three diplomats and a Congolese official – asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the talks.
Rwandan government spokesperson Yolande Makolo told Reuters on Thursday that under the agreement the “lifting of defensive measures in our border area” would be contingent upon the FDLR’s “neutralisation”.
Congo’s government did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
A State Department spokesperson said it did not comment on ongoing diplomatic negotiations.
It remains unclear how far the agreement to be signed on Friday will advance beyond a declaration of principles agreed in April.
Technical experts from the two countries initialed a draft peace agreement last week, saying it addressed issues related to territorial integrity, “a prohibition of hostilities” and the disengagement, disarmament and conditional integration of non-state armed groups.
It also referred to a mechanism agreed as part of an earlier Angolan-backed peace effort to monitor and verify the withdrawal of Rwandan soldiers and Congolese military operations targeting the FDLR.
(Additional reporting by Daphne Psaledakis in Washington; Writing by Robbie Corey-Boulet; Editing by Joe Bavier)
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