Deal is among several attempts to end the deadly conflict in the troubled eastern DRC. Will it work where others have failed?
Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are expected to sign a United States-mediated peace deal on Friday following several months of conflict that has killed thousands of people and displaced millions in resource-rich eastern DRC.
Neither country is formally at war, but the DRC accuses its neighbour, Rwanda, of backing the M23 rebel group, which is waging war in eastern DRC. Rwanda denies this charge.
In January, a deadly offensive by the rebels – aided by Rwandan forces, according to a United Nations expert panel – escalated a decades-long conflict in eastern DRC. The M23 has since seized the strategic cities of Goma and Bukavu, and its attacks have raised fears of a regional war.
The peace agreement comes amid reports that the US is considering investments in the mineral-rich region in return for security and calm in an area where dozens of militias vying for resource control have operated since the mid-1990s.
