The and are set to sign a peace agreement on June 27, they said in a joint statement with the State Department on Wednesday.
The countries’ technical teams have already initiated the draft, which is expected to be formally signed in Washington next week.
The draft peace deal aims to end fighting in eastern Congo, where Rwandan-backed made significant advances at the beginning of the year, capturing the strategic city of Goma and the town of Bukavu.
“The Agreement includes provisions on respect for territorial integrity and a prohibition of hostilities; disengagement, disarmament, and conditional integration of non-state armed groups,” said the statement posted to the State Department’s website.
US push for peace in eastern Congo
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will witness the official signing ceremony next week.
The agreement announced on Wednesday builds on a signed between the two countries in April.
It will signal a breakthrough for President Donald Trump’s administration’s push to in eastern Congo and attract billions of dollars in Western investment to the mineral-rich region.
But it is not clear if the Congo River Alliance — a coalition of rebel groups that includes the M23 — will stick to it.
The text includes provisions on “disengagement, disarmament, and conditional integration of non-state armed groups.”
Ceasefires have often been broken
Rwandan and Congolese experts twice reached agreements last year under Angola’s mediation on troop withdrawal and joint operations against the Rwandan Hutu rebel group FDLR, but ministers from both countries failed to endorse the deals.
Angola stepped down as a mediator in March after several failed attempts to resolve the escalating Rwanda-backed rebel offensive in eastern Congo.
Fighting intensified this year as Rwanda-backed M23 rebels advanced to seize the region’s two largest cities, .
Congo accuses Rwanda of supporting M23 with troops and arms, while Rwanda denies helping the group and says its forces are acting in self-defense.
Edited by: Kieran Burke
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