The Washington Accord and the New Scramble for Congo: Peace or Profit?
I’ve been following the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) for years, inspired by stories I heard growing up. My grandfather once served with MONUC (now MONUSCO), which was the UN’s peacekeeping mission in Congo during the early 2000s, and his service led me to track a conflict that continues to evolve with alarming familiarity. The same towns, Goma, Ituri, and Beni, appear again and again in headlines, as reminders that peace in the DRC is fragile, and too often transactional.
2025: A Ceasefire, or a Repackaged Extraction Deal?
On June 27, 2025, Rwanda and the DRC signed the Washington Accord, a ceasefire mediated by the United States and supported by Qatar. The high-profile agreement, brokered with the involvement of the U.S. and Qatar, aimed to de-escalate tensions between the two countries. The accord committed Rwanda to a withdrawal of its troops from Congolese territory within 90 days, while Congo pledged to dismantle Hutu rebel groups such as the FDLR.
The agreement was framed as a step toward "regional stability and integration," promoting joint security mechanisms and opening up mineral trade corridors to international investment. But Congolese critics were quick to push back. Gloria Sengha, a leading LUCHA activist, called the deal “a foreign investor’s peace, not a people’s peace.” Jean-Claude Katende of ASADHO (African Association for Human Rights) warned that it prioritized economic optics over human dignity.
These warnings were echoed by publications like The Economist, which noted that while the deal could reduce short-term hostilities, it risks “institutionalizing foreign access to Congolese resources under the guise of peace.” Al Jazeera added that “civil society leaders were notably absent from negotiations,” casting further doubt on the deal’s long-term sustainability. According to BBC Africa, interviews with displaced Congolese in North Kivu found widespread skepticism about whether any peace could hold without holding M23 accountable.
President Paul Kagame’s remarks following the deal underscored the fragility of the arrangement. Speaking on July 4, 2025, he said Rwanda would “respond decisively” if the DRC failed to curb FDLR activity, suggesting that the peace depended more on perceived compliance than mutual trust. The exclusion of the M23 rebel group, who is responsible for much of the current violence in eastern Congo, further undermined the agreement’s comprehensiveness.
A UN Legacy Marked by Ambition and Ambiguity
To understand how we got here, it’s also essential to revisit the UN’s long and often frustrating involvement in the DRC. The Second Congo War, often dubbed “Africa’s World War,” began in 1998 and drew in six nations. In 1999, the United Nations launched MONUC, its largest and costliest peacekeeping mission at the time. The goals were ambitious: monitor ceasefires, support elections, and protect civilians.
MONUC did help oversee Congo’s first democratic elections in 2006. It assisted in disarming militias in regions like Ituri and exposed the illegal siphoning of minerals by foreign and domestic elites. Yet MONUC also became synonymous with shortcomings. It failed to prevent massacres in Bunia, Bukavu, and elsewhere. Its mandate was weak, its resources often constrained, and its presence at times resented by the very people it was meant to protect.
In 2010, MONUC was rebranded as MONUSCO, continuing many of the same efforts. But the mission struggled to adapt to evolving threats. As of 2025, MONUSCO is in the process of withdrawal. Congolese civil society, long disillusioned with the mission, has organized protests in cities like Goma, demanding its full exit.
The Curse Beneath the Ground: Congo’s Resource Paradox
The DRC is home to an estimated $24 trillion in untapped mineral resources, an unimaginable wealth that should, in theory, fuel development and prosperity. Instead, it has become the country’s greatest curse.
Minerals like cobalt, coltan, gold, and lithium, which are all vital to modern technology and renewable energy, are heavily concentrated in the DRC. But rather than benefit ordinary citizens, this wealth has fed armed conflict, corruption, and foreign interference. As early as 2001, the UN Panel of Experts documented how war was used as cover for plundering minerals, often with the complicity of multinational corporations and neighboring states.
Today, these dynamics continue. According to Congo N’est Pas à Vendre, elite networks still dominate mining operations, exploiting opaque contracts and circumventing regulatory oversight. A 2023 review of a $6 billion minerals-for-infrastructure deal with China found that promised schools, roads, and hospitals were never delivered.
The Modern Scramble for Congo
The Washington Accord’s emphasis on “opening up” mineral supply chains to Western investment is viewed by many as a 21st-century form of colonialism. Foreign powers don’t plant flags, they sign contracts. China Molybdenum controls the giant Tenke Fungurume mine. Western firms, concerned about China’s dominance, are pushing for new sourcing deals.
The European Union’s Critical Raw Materials Act, passed in 2024, and U.S. sourcing initiatives are framed as efforts to promote ethical extraction. But enforcement is weak. In 2025, Tesla and Apple faced renewed shareholder pressure over sourcing cobalt from mines linked to child labor and armed groups. Global Witness and Amnesty International have criticized both companies for failing to act decisively.
M23’s Resurgence and the Continuation of Violence
The M23 rebel group, long associated with Rwandan support, reemerged in force between 2022 and 2025. By mid-2025, they controlled strategic towns in North Kivu, threatening humanitarian corridors and mining routes. In May 2025, Human Rights Watch documented mass executions in areas under M23 control.
On June 30, 2025, a report from AP News confirmed that M23 was forcing mine workers at Twangiza to labor without pay, violating both human rights and international law. Meanwhile, a leaked UN expert panel report from June 29, 2025, identified sophisticated weaponry, including drones, supplied to M23 by Rwanda, escalating tensions despite the ceasefire.
The Humanitarian Crisis: Numbers Behind the Suffering
The DRC’s humanitarian crisis is the worst in Africa. According to UNHCR, over 7.1 million Congolese are currently displaced. Many live in dire conditions in camps like Kanyaruchinya, where clean water is scarce and medical care is stretched thin. MSF (Médecins Sans Frontières) has reported outbreaks of cholera, along with alarming rates of gender-based violence.
Children dig for cobalt. Women are harassed or worse in mining zones controlled by militias. The social cost of this conflict, especially on the most vulnerable, continues to mount with little international accountability.
Civil Society as a Force for Justice
Despite these challenges, Congolese civil society has remained resilient. Movements like LUCHA and Filimbi have protested illegal taxation by militias and the failures of both local and international institutions.
In Kinshasa, activists are demanding transparency in mineral contracts and calling for reforms to Congo’s mining laws. In Goma, youth collectives have mapped conflict zones and tracked armed group movements. Teachers reopen schools using tarpaulins. Women rebuild markets, support survivors, and refuse to be silenced.
In early 2025, a coalition of Congolese NGOs presented a legislative proposal demanding the renegotiation of 17 foreign mining contracts. The bill calls for audits, transparency, and local community benefits. Whether it gains traction remains to be seen.
What Lies Ahead: Reform or Repeat?
The Washington Accord might provide a diplomatic pause, but will it lead to real transformation? Critics such as Séverine Autesserre, author of The Trouble with the Congo, argue that peacebuilding efforts often fail because they exclude local actors. True peace, she writes, “cannot be outsourced.”
The deal’s failure to include M23 in negotiations raises serious questions. Peace talks in Qatar involving M23 have stalled. Violence continues. Meanwhile, companies rush to secure their mineral stakes, and political elites remain largely unaccountable.
Whose Peace, Whose Future?
The echoes from the past, of UN convoys, foreign interference, and broken promises, still ring across the DRC. But so do the voices of hope. Journalists, activists, mothers, and youth are demanding a new path. One that doesn’t trade lives for lithium. One that doesn’t confuse military silence with peace.
If the international community is serious about supporting peace in the DRC, it must center Congolese voices, enforce transparency in mineral trade, and support grassroots efforts for justice. Anything less is not peace. It’s complicity.
References
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