The protocol signed by Kinshasa and the FDLR breaches a US-mediated peace deal, Kigali has said
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) and Rwanda have traded accusations over a proposed plan to disarm a militant group operating on the Congolese side of their shared border, exposing renewed tensions over a peace deal mediated by US President Donald Trump.
Kinshasa announced on Tuesday that the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) has signed a protocol covering disarmament, demobilization, and relocation to designated cantonment sites.
Congolese Regional Integration Minister Floribert Anzuluni said FDLR members would not be forcibly returned to Rwanda, while fighters and their dependents could relocate to a third country if conditions for voluntary repatriation were not met. He said there was no agreed estimate of the number involved, while the cantonment sites and implementation timetable were still being determined.
The FDLR, formed by ethnic Hutu fighters including some linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide, has operated in eastern DR Congo for decades. Kigali has accused Congolese forces of cooperating with the group, which it considers a threat to Rwanda.
Congolese government spokesman Patrick Muyaya described the protocol as a “major turning point” in addressing the FDLR issue, saying it complies with the Washington Accords and demonstrates Kinshasa’s progress toward fulfilling its commitments.
He accused Rwanda of using the FDLR’s presence as a pretext to justify aggression against DR Congo for 30 years.
Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe rejected the protocol as a “delaying maneuver” by Kinshasa, arguing that the FDLR is not a party to the Washington Accords but the armed group targeted by their security provisions.
“The FDLR genocidaires are not a party to these accords; they are instead their subject,” he wrote on X, adding that DR Congo’s principal security obligation was supposed to be fulfilled within 90 days.
Nduhungirehe also accused Kinshasa of intensifying military support for the FDLR and integrating many of its fighters into the Congolese army since the accords were signed on December 4, 2025. DR Congo has previously denied supporting the armed group.
The leaders of DR Congo and Rwanda formalized the Washington Accords for Peace and Prosperity in the US capital last December. The deal commits both sides to respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, cease hostilities, support the disengagement of armed forces, facilitate the return of refugees, and promote regional economic cooperation. It requires Kinshasa to neutralize the FDLR and Rwanda to lift its “defensive measures,” which DR Congo says means withdrawing Rwandan troops from its territory.
Relations between the two African states have been strained for decades by the rebel war in eastern Congo. Kinshasa has repeatedly accused Kigali of backing the M23 rebel group, allegations the Rwandan government has denied.
Thousands have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced since fighting between M23 and Congolese forces escalated in January 2025, with the rebels seizing Goma, the capital of North Kivu, and Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu.
