BY SOUMANOU SALIFOU

The Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Judith Suminwa Tuluka, is in Washington this week to discuss the stalled Trump administration-brokered June 27, 2025 peace agreement between her government and the government of Rwanda. In a relaxed interview today, Wednesday, with The African magazine, The Pan-African Visions magazine, Reuters and Politico, the first woman-prime minister of the critical-minerals-rich Central African nation shared the accomplishments—so far—of her visit while painting the picture of an improved business climate in her country since she came to office a little over a year ago.

The Trump administration hailed as one of its major achievements the June 27 agreement, also known as the “Washington Accord,” signed at the White House by the foreign ministers of the two countries, as President Trump in person, flanked by Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, looked on. It truly was a landmark development, coming after UN Resolution 2773 and several agreements at the regional level brokered by the African Union which have all failed to end a lingering armed conflict for minerals that has claimed thousands of lives and caused millions of displaced people.

U.S. involvement in this matter is grounded in President Trump’s plan to invest more in Africa through mutually beneficial partnerships. The prerequisite for the implementation of the “Washington Accord” is the withdrawal of the M23, an active rebel group in the Democratic Republic of Congo primarily operating in the eastern provinces of North and South Kivu, with the open backing of the Rwandese government, to control the region’s vast mineral resources. The accord also called for the neutralization of the FDRL, a notorious armed group operating also in the Democratic Republic of Congo with roots in the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

Why, then, is Prime Minister Tuluka in Washington three months after the landmark June 27 accord?

“The fact that both foreign ministers came here to sign that accord in the presence of American authorities is a good start,” she told the four reporters present, “but we have now been ‘caught up’ by the reality on the ground.” The Congolese official went through all the initial steps leading to the implementation of the accord, including the dates set for their execution, and noted, with disappointment visible on her face: “But none of those things have happened.” She remarked that “not only have Rwandese troops not withdrawn, but, to the contrary, we have witnessed an increase in their numbers on the Congolese territory.” While, for its part, the Congolese government has started a “sensitization” campaign potentially conducive to the neutralization of the FDLR, the effort is complicated by the fact that most of the sites where the FDLR operates are in zones occupied by Rwandese troops.

Faced with this roadblock, the DRC’s prime minister is in Washington “asking the Trump administration to put more pressure so that all the parties today on the field do what they have to do to allow the accord to be really implemented.” She welcomed the sanctions adopted by the administration against some Rwandese officials, and called for more sanctions, “unless Rwanda changes its mind and accepts this peace process.” Such actions on the part of the United States would be in line with its status as a mediator in the follow-up mechanism that was established to implement the various segments of the accord.

Asked if hope is lost for the creation of a climate conducive to the implementation of the accord, the prime minister sounded a positive note. She mentioned the recent remarks by DRC’s President Félix Tshisekedi in Brussels in the context of the Global Gateway—a European Union framework to invest in infrastructure projects worldwide—where the president extended an olive branch to his Rwandese counterpart, President Paul Kagame.

“In this war,” said Prime Minister Tuluka, “the DRC stands to lose the most. Our populations are the ones that are killed, not the Rwandese populations. We are now talking about 7 million displaced people. All we want is peace. Because without peace, we won’t be able to develop this part of the Democratic Republic of Congo.”

“We were in a development process, and we want to continue it because, although this war does not reach the entirety of the territory, we can’t continue to have so many deaths, so many women-victims, so many displaced populations,” the prime minister lamented, and went on to discuss various actions her government has taken since her nomination in June 2024.

Her key-achievements so far include the attainment of macroeconomic stability. “When I was nominated, the Congolese franc was in a continuous depreciation. But we were able to keep the exchange rate at a level where it has not depreciated for about one and a half years,” the prime minister told the reporters present. Among other things, she said her government has helped improve the populations’ purchasing power by lowering the cost of gas and, working with importers, has managed to make sure that some common food staples such as corn are available at prices that the population can afford. Not the least, she discussed various actions aimed at fighting corruption.

Asked about the main achievements of her visit to Washington, she was emphatic: it’s the fact that American companies operating in the DRC “demonstrated” during the USA-DRC Economic forum that she presided over during her visit, that it was possible to invest in Congo. “That, clearly, should be an incentive for other American companies to want to invest in Congo. In fact, just yesterday, a number of U.S. companies signaled their intention to come to the DRC.”

The prime minister noted that “the war situation affects only two regions of our country: North and South Kivu, which amounts to less than 20% of the Congolese territory.” But she hastened to add: “As a sovereign nation, even 1% is unacceptable. But that’s the reality. In the areas that are not occupied by Rwandese troops, we have enough control to ensure security for investors.”