By Daphne Psaledakis and Sonia Rolley
(Reuters) -Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo held the first meeting of a joint oversight committee on Thursday, taking a step toward implementing a peace deal agreed last month in Washington even as other commitments are yet to be fulfilled.
The African Union, Qatar and the United States joined the meeting of the committee in Washington, which was established as a forum to deal with implementation and dispute resolution of the peace agreement.
The deal in June between Rwanda and Congo marked a breakthrough in talks held by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, which aims to bring an end to fighting that has killed thousands and attracted billions of dollars of Western investment to a region rich in tantalum, gold, cobalt, copper, lithium and other minerals.
In the Washington agreement, the two African countries pledged to implement a 2024 deal that would see Rwandan troops withdraw from eastern Congo within 90 days.
It also said Congo and Rwanda would form a joint security coordination mechanism within 30 days and implement a plan agreed last year to monitor and verify the withdrawal of Rwandan soldiers within three months.
Congolese military operations targeting the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Congo-based armed group that includes remnants of Rwanda’s former army and militias that carried out a 1994 genocide, are meant to conclude over the same timeframe.
But 30 days from the signing has passed without a meeting of the joint security coordination mechanism, and operations targeting the FDLR and the withdrawal of Rwandan soldiers have yet to begin.
The joint oversight committee meeting, due to meet within 45 days of the signing, was on schedule.
Trump’s senior Africa adviser, Massad Boulos, told reporters on Wednesday that the deal was not off track, adding that a meeting of the security mechanism was due to be announced in coming days.
Asked about lack of progress on operations against the FDLR and withdrawal of Rwandan soldiers, Boulos said: “There was no timeline for that… if you look at the chronology of what we’ve been able to do since April, it’s been extensive, and it’s been very much on point and very much in line with our aspirations. So it’s not off track in any way.”
But sources with knowledge of the negotiations recognised delays in the implementation of the deal, but added it was not yet threatening the deal as a whole.
Military and diplomatic sources told Reuters that the parties in conflict, including armed groups as M23 and militia fighters known as Wazalendo, have strengthened their military presence on the front lines.
(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis in Washington and Sonia Rolley in Paris; Additional reporting by Bhargav Acharya in Toronto; Editing by Michael Perry)
