The US State Department worked on the agreement, which was modestly described as historic in Washington, for months, but was assisted by the African Union as well as Qatar, which acted as a mediator in the background. A draft of a preliminary ceasefire was already accepted by the parties in June, but the final version has only now been signed by the White House. The series of armed incidents in the Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly known as Zaire, has been going on for almost ten years, which is no wonder, since we know of at least 100 rebel organizations, but the most dangerous of them is the Rwanda-backed rebel group called M23.

Earlier this year, the decades-long local conflict between Congo and Rwanda escalated into a virtual war, when rebels supported by the latter invaded the former country's eastern border and occupied a significant provincial center with a population roughly the size of Budapest. We summarized the decades-long history of the confrontation in this article.

This area is extremely important to America.

The signed document also builds on a regional economic integration framework that officials say will set the terms of economic partnerships between the three countries, based on the November agreement.

The Trump administration, in an effort to sidestep China and claim the region’s rare earth resources, has certainly exploited Congo’s need for security assistance. And the price for this has been access to minerals that are essential for the production of fighter jets, cell phones, and more, and which China controls.

In this area, the United States has lagged behind because China already accounts for nearly 70 percent of the world's rare earth mining and controls roughly 90 percent of global processing.

The fighting is still going on.

According to the latest reports, there have been sporadic clashes between Congolese government forces and rebels this week. Despite the signing, analysts do not expect the guns to fall silent anytime soon.

People in eastern Congo have also reported clashes and rebel advances in various places. Both M23 and Congolese forces frequently accuse each other of violating a ceasefire agreed earlier this year.

Post-conflict recovery is complicated by the fact that the United States has also reduced the funds previously given to this region due to restrictions on foreign aid, making it increasingly difficult for hundreds of thousands of refugees to survive.

In rebel-held Goma, a city of two million people that was the center of regional security and humanitarian efforts before this year's war, the international airport remains closed, the state is virtually non-functional, there is no money flow because banks have not reopened, but food prices have skyrocketed and crime has skyrocketed. Despite all this, Congo and Rwanda are citing the US economic intervention and the current agreement as a key step towards peace in the region.

(Cover photo: Members of the M23 group in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, on January 30, 2025. Photo: Daniel Buuma / Getty Images)