Donald Trump and Rwandan President Paul Kagame at the peace agreement signing ceremony between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo in Washington, DC, December 4, 2025. ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP
US President Donald Trump used his favored superlatives to hail a "historic" agreement, a "great miracle" intended to end "one of the worst conflicts on Earth." But the two presidents signing the agreement, Rwandan Paul Kagame and his counterpart from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Félix Tshisekedi, did not share the same enthusiasm. Gathered in Washington on Thursday, December 4, the two men avoided shaking hands or even making eye contact so conspicuously that Trump allowed himself a touch of irony: "Look at the way they love each other!"
After the media event, staged in the halls of the United States Institute of Peace, conveniently renamed the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace the previous evening, comes the hard part. "Committing to a peace plan is one thing. Implementing it is another," noted Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye, who attended the signing as a key witness, alongside his Kenyan counterpart, William Ruto, and the president of the African Union, Angola's João Lourenço.
