{"id":29184,"date":"2026-03-19T07:38:04","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T05:38:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=29184"},"modified":"2026-03-19T07:38:04","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T05:38:04","slug":"rwanda-drc-agree-on-steps-to-de-escalate-tensions-in-washington-meeting","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/rwanda-drc-agree-on-steps-to-de-escalate-tensions-in-washington-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"Rwanda, DRC agree on steps to &#8216;de-escalate tensions&#8217; in Washington meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>The United States (US) hosted representatives from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda in Washington on Tuesday and Wednesday, with talks \u200bcentering on the stalled peace process in eastern DRC.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>It marked the \u200cfirst encounter between the parties since the US Treasury Department sanctioned the Rwanda Defence Force and four senior officers on March 2.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Washington has blamed Rwandan support for the M23 rebel \u200bgroup for continued violence in eastern DRC. Rwanda denies backing M23. \u200bM23 staged a lightning advance in eastern DRC in January 2025 \u2060and still holds large swathes of territory.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The DRC and \u200bRwanda &#8220;agreed to a series of coordinated steps to de-escalate tensions and advance progress \u200bon the ground,&#8221; according to a joint statement by the US, DRC and Rwanda released by the State Department on Wednesday.<\/div>\n<div>&#8220;These efforts include a mutual commitment to specific measures \u200bto support each other&#8217;s sovereignty and territorial integrity, the scheduled disengagement of \u200bforces\/lifting of defensive measures by Rwanda in defined areas in DRC territory, time-bound and intensified \u200cefforts \u2060by the DRC to neutralise the \u00a0Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), and the protection of all civilians.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The FDLR group was founded by Hutus who fled Rwanda after participating in the 1994 genocide that killed close to one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus. \u200bM23 says it is \u200bfighting to protect \u2060ethnic Tutsi communities in eastern DRC.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Rwanda and DRC signed a peace deal in Washington in December as part of US \u200bPresident Donald Trump&#8217;s push to broker peace and attract billions \u200bof dollars \u2060in Western investment.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Days after that ceremony, however, M23 rebels entered the eastern DRC city of Uvira, near the Burundian border, in the war&#8217;s biggest escalation in months.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>They later \u2060pulled \u200bout under US pressure. Washington said in March, \u200bhowever, that the rebels&#8217; continued presence near Burundi&#8217;s border &#8220;carries the risk of escalating the conflict into \u200ba broader regional war.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12659,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[],"class_list":["post-29184","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Washington has blamed Rwandan support for the M23 rebel \u200bgroup for continued violence in eastern DRC","published_date":"","news_description":"Washington has blamed Rwandan support for the M23 rebel \u200bgroup for continued violence in eastern DRC","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/29184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/29184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29186,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/29184\/revisions\/29186"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=29184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}