Washington (AFP) - Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo signed a peace agreement Friday in Washington to end fighting that has killed thousands, with the two countries pledging to pull back support for guerrillas – and President Donald Trump boasting of securing mineral wealth.

“Today, the violence and destruction comes to an end, and the entire region begins a new chapter of hope and opportunity,” Trump said as he welcomed the two nations’ foreign ministers to the White House. “This is a wonderful day.”

The agreement comes after the M23, an ethnic Tutsi rebel force linked to Rwanda, sprinted across the mineral-rich east of the DRC this year, seizing vast territory including the key city of Goma.

The deal – negotiated through Qatar since before Trump took office – does not explicitly address the gains of the M23 in the area torn by decades of on-off war but calls for Rwanda to end “defensive measures” it has taken.

Rwanda has denied directly supporting the M23 but has demanded an end to another armed group, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), which was established by ethnic Hutus linked to the massacres of Tutsis in the 1994 Rwanda genocide.

The agreement calls for the “neutralization” of the FDLR, with Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe saying the “irreversible and verifiable end to state support” to the Hutu militants should be the “first order of business.”

The process would be “accompanied by a lifting of Rwanda’s defensive measures,” Nduhungirehe said at a signing ceremony at the State Department.

But he added: “We must acknowledge that there is a great deal of uncertainty in our region, and beyond, because many previous agreements have not been implemented.”

His Congolese counterpart, Therese Kayikwamba Wagner, highlighted the agreement’s call for respecting state sovereignty.

“It offers a rare chance to turn the page, not just with words but with real change on the ground. Some wounds will heal, but they will never fully disappear,” she said.

The agreement also sets up a joint security coordination body to monitor progress and calls vaguely for a “regional economic integration framework” within three months.

- Trump takes credit -

Trump has trumpeted the diplomacy that led to the deal, and started his White House event by bringing up a journalist who said he deserved the Nobel Peace Prize.

Speaking to reporters earlier Friday, Trump said the United States will be able to secure “a lot of mineral rights from the Congo.”

The DRC has enormous mineral reserves that include lithium and cobalt, vital in electric vehicles and other advanced technologies, with US rival China now a key player in securing the resources.

Trump said he had been unfamiliar with the conflict as he appeared to allude to the horrors of the 1994 Rwanda genocide, in which hundreds of thousands of people, mostly Tutsis, were killed in just 100 days.

“I’m a little out of my league on that one because I didn’t know too much about it. I knew one thing – they were going at it for many years with machetes,” Trump said.

The agreement drew wide but not universal praise.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the deal “a significant step towards de-escalation, peace and stability” in the eastern DRC and the Great Lakes region.

“I urge the parties to honour in full the commitments they have undertaken in the Peace Agreement… including the cessation of hostilities and all other agreed measures,” Guterres said in a statement.

The landmark agreement was also praised by the chairman of the African Union Commission.

Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, who witnessed the signing of the deal in Washington, “welcomed this significant milestone and commended all efforts aimed at advancing peace, stability, & reconciliation in the region,” a statement said.

But Denis Mukwege, a gynecologist who shared the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end the DRC’s epidemic of sexual violence in war, voiced alarm about the agreement, saying it effectively benefited Rwanda and the United States.

The deal “would amount to granting a reward for aggression, legitimizing the plundering of Congolese natural resources, and forcing the victim to alienate their national heritage by sacrificing justice in order to ensure a precarious and fragile peace,” he said in a statement ahead of the signing.

Physicians for Human Rights, which has worked in the DRC, welcomed the de-escalation but said the agreement had “major omissions,” including accountability for rights violations.