The Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs Olivier Nduhungirehe met with the US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Ms. Molly Phee.
The two leaders discussed Rwanda-USA bilateral relations and regional issues, according to the Rwandan diplomacy
“Happy to meet in person Olivier Nduhungirehe on the sidelines of the 79th UN General Assembly. We discussed constructive next steps to strengthen U.S.-Rwanda relations and reviewed next steps on sustaining the ceasefire in eastern DRC”, Ms. Molly Phee said in a post.
Tensions have been rising steadily between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda since 2022, as the M23 insurgency continues to gain ground in the eastern DRC and the humanitarian situation there worsens.
Kigali, which has denied backing M23, says the Rwandan rebel group – Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Rwanda (FDLR) – which includes combatants who participated in the 1994 genocide, has been fully integrated into the Congolese army. It also claims that the Congolese government is engaged in “massive combat operations” aimed at expelling Congolese Tutsi civilians.
A potentially significant development in this ongoing conflict in eastern DRC came on 30 July 2024, when Angola, acting as a mediator, announced a ceasefire agreement.
The ceasefire took effect on 4 August 2024, and must be supervised by a reinforced “ad hoc verification mechanism”. (End)