Thorny issues risk jeopardising the US-brokered peace deal between the DRC and Rwanda, but can regional economic integration offer solace?
February 19, 2026On the 4th of December 2025, Presidents Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi and Paul Kagame symbolically signed the Washington Accords for Peace and Prosperity, thus ratifying the Peace Agreement between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda agreed to on the 27th of June 2025. The 4th of December was a busy day in Washington in terms of signing agreements, as the governments of DRC and Rwanda
The emergence of the Wazalendo in the fight against the AFC/M23 in North Kivu: Current situation, challenges and prospects
February 5, 2026On January 27, 2025, the Congo River Alliance/March 23 Movement (AFC/M23) – supported by Rwanda – took control of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and then moved on to Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu, which fell in February 2025. The re-emergence of M23 in 2021 and its rapid advance prompted the Congolese government to resort to non-state armed
Promoting DDR programmes while arming non-state armed groups: Congo’s paradoxical conflict resolution policies in the context of the M23 insurgency
February 11, 2025When President Félix Tshisekedi came to power in 2019, he firmly promised the Congolese citizens to end the conflicts and restore peace in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). To reach these goals, his government wanted to combine regional diplomacy to establish political and security cooperation between DRC and neighbouring countries, with enhanced military operations against armed groups
