Congo and Rwanda’s Declarations about US-brokered Peace Deal

1. Full Statement by Rwanda’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Oliver Nduhungirehe

Good afternoon.

On behalf of President Paul Kagame and the Government of Rwanda, I want to start by thanking President Donald Trump, for enabling a real change in the conversation, on how to resolve the situation in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, leading to the signing of the Declaration of Principles today.

I thank Secretary Marco Rubio and the United States government for hosting us, and I commend the positive role played by Senior Adviser Massad Boulos and his team, and other officials, in the significant progress achieved thus far.

Today, we are talking about the real issues, the root causes that must be addressed, to achieve a lasting peace in our region.

Those include, first and foremost, security, as well as the return of refugees.

In addition, and very importantly, we are discussing how to build new regional economic value chains that link our countries, including with American private sector investment.

Our goal is a secure region, free of violent ethnic extremism, which is well-governed.

Working together, our region can be an engine of prosperity for all our peoples, and indeed Africa as a whole.

The Declaration of Principles opens the door to a definitive peace agreement, giving fresh impetus to ongoing efforts of the African-led process under the East African Community and Southern African Development Community, as well as the Doha track, facilitated by the State of Qatar, where we have seen important breakthroughs in recent days.

Our common aim is to conclude a comprehensive peace agreement as soon as possible.

But there are no shortcuts or quick fixes, and we have to do the hard work to get it done right, once and for all.

Rwanda is committed, and we are ready to continue working together with all the partners involved to ensure the success of this initiative.

I thank you all.

2. DR Congo’s Media Statement