After continued violence compelled the Trump administration to summon diplomats from Kinshasa and Kigali to Washington, the parties said they would take tangible action to de-escalate fighting—a vow reminiscent of December’s short-lived peace deal (BBC)
Fleeing Violence, Refugees Suffer in Burundi
Since an uptick in fighting late last year, Congolese refugees from the country’s embattled east have once again flowed into overcrowded, underfunded camps in Burundi that lack the resources—including shelter and clean water—to support such an influx (Africa News)
Washington Convenes DRC, Rwanda Talks
The U.S. State Department will host top officials from Kinshasa and Kigali this week to discuss roadblocks impeding President Trump’s peace accords in eastern DRC, where violence and instability continue to menace regional security (Africa Report)
Separately, a Belgian court ordered a trial for former diplomat Étienne Davignon, accused of involvement in the 1961 assassination of Congolese prime minister Patrice Lumumba; the killing solidified Western influence over the Congo during the Cold War (FT)
Belgium’s government had apologized to Lumumba’s relatives for its role in the incident but no Belgian official had ever stood trial (BBC)
Lawyers for Davignon, now ninety-three years old, denied the charges and argued the case was too old to prosecute (DW)
DRC, Zambia Target Repatriation
Congolese officials said improved security conditions in parts of the country will allow for increased flows of voluntarily repatriated refugees from Zambia, where 20 percent of the nearly seventy thousand Congolese refugees living there returned home on their own accord between 2023 and 2025 (Anadolu Agency)
Report: Authorities Detaining Dissenters
Human Rights Watch said it gathered sufficient evidence to conclude that Kinshasa has engaged in a systemic campaign to crack down on domestic opposition through forced disappearances, sudden detentions, and legal violations (HRW)
Suspected DRC Strike Kills French Aid Worker
Rwandan-backed rebels said the Congolese government is responsible for a drone attack on a civilian neighborhood in Goma—the first of its kind since M23 seized the city last year—that killed multiple people, including a French humanitarian worker (Reuters)
Following the announcement of new U.S. sanctions on Rwanda, top DRC diplomats are in Brussels as part of a campaign to persuade European countries to impose similar sanctions on Rwanda’s military and leaders for supporting rebel militias in the DRC and undermining peace efforts (EU Observer)
Meanwhile, the DRC opened its first gold refinery this week in the eastern city of Kalemie, its mining ministry announced (DRC Mining Ministry)
The state-backed initiative is part of government efforts to refine strategic minerals at home and to exert control over a gold mining sector with high levels of informality and links to criminal groups, officials have said (Bloomberg)
Conflicting Accounts in Mine Collapse
Details remain murky surrounding an alleged collapse at the Rubaya mine in eastern DRC, where the Congolese government said hundreds of civilians died in a landslide while local sources reported far fewer casualties (BBC)
Ahead of Congolese national elections slated for 2028, observers warned that continued threats to stability—namely the conflict in the country’s east—and persistent logistical difficulties could be leveraged to delay democratic transition (Africa Report)
U.S. Sanctions on Rwanda
The United States sanctioned Rwanda’s military and four of its top officials, blaming them for backing M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and undermining U.S. efforts to strike a peace deal there (Treasury)
Rwanda’s government said the sanctions “misrepresented the reality” of the conflict (FT)
Hundreds Discovered in Mass Grave
Amid their ongoing effort to cement control over Uvira, Congolese forces said they found a mass grave on the city’s outskirts containing nearly two hundred bodies; according to local sources, Rwandan-backed rebels killed the individuals on suspicion of their connection to the Congolese army or a pro-government militia (Al Jazeera)
M23 Gains Ground in North Kivu
In the aftermath of M23 spokesman Willy Ngoma’s high-profile assassination, members of the Rwandan-backed rebel group made a series of advances in North Kivu state as they recaptured two villages north of Goma (Anadolu Agency)
Separately, the U.S. State Department said the United States will provide up to $900 million over the next five years to fight HIV/AIDS and other diseases in the DRC, while the DRC will increase its health expenditures by $300 million during the same period (State)
This is the latest in a series of deals the Trump administration has struck with African countries in the wake of cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development (AP)
Congolese Forces Bombard Rubaya Mine
Fighting intensified in North Kivu state near the Rubaya mine—which produces roughly 25 percent of the world’s coltan—as Congolese troops pummeled the area with drone strikes in an effort to regain ground from Rwandan-backed rebel groups (France24)
Meanwhile, after facing disease outbreaks and food insecurity in Burundi’s overcrowded refugee camps, Congolese civilians returning to Uvira through a reopened border crossing described an air of renewed hope and optimism (Al Jazeera)
DRC Strike Kills M23 Mouthpiece
The Congolese army assassinated Willy Ngoma, the Rwandan-backed M23 rebel group’s spokesman, in a drone strike near the Rubaya mine in North Kivu state; the high-profile killing comes as negotiation efforts continue to stall (Reuters)
Economic, Social Life Returns to Border Towns
Shuttered for months during the M23 rebel siege on Uvira, officials at a reopened border crossing between the DRC and Burundi described a revitalized flow of commerce and mobility, as civilians can once again move between the two countries (France24)
France Dispels Military Chatter
In response to rumors swirling after photos surfaced of what appeared to be French troops in eastern DRC, France said its soldiers in the country are leading the latest edition of a previously scheduled training program with Congolese forces (RFI)
Shuttered Border Chills Commerce in Uvira
Though stability has largely returned to the coastal stronghold, which changed hands between Rwandan-backed rebels and Congolese forces several times in recent months, the Uvira border crossing to Burundi remains closed—a rupture that residents say limits trade, social interaction, and access to medical care (Africa News)
Despite Lack of Control, Kinshasa Cedes Mine
Though Rwandan-backed M23 rebels currently hold the Rubaya mine in eastern DRC—which contains vast tantalum deposits crucial to semiconductor manufacturing—the Congolese government offered the site to U.S. investors in its latest bid to attract American engagement in the country’s critical minerals sector; in response, M23 leaders accused the DRC of inviting U.S. military engagement to seize control of the mine (Reuters)
European Union Pledges “Record Amount” in Great Lakes Aid
After meetings with Congolese, Rwandan, and Burundian leaders, the EU’s crisis management commissioner announced an €81.2 million aid package—a record for the Great Lakes region—aimed at creating safe passage corridors for civilians and humanitarian aid (EU Commission)
Meanwhile, Massad Boulos, the Trump administration’s senior advisor for Africa, said Rwandan-backed rebel actions in the eastern DRC “seriously disappointed” the White House, adding that he failed to rule out further sanctions against Rwandan President Paul Kagame (France24)
Banyamulenge “Caught in the Middle”
As key strongholds like Uvira in eastern DRC continue to change hands, members of the Banyamulenge ethnic group—Tutsis of Rwandan descent with generational roots in the DRC—have increasingly encountered violence, exploitation, and forced relocation (The New Humanitarian)
Mining Companies Turn to Museum
Belgium’s Royal Museum for Central Africa said it denied a request from KoBold Metals, an American artificial intelligence mining venture backed by billionaires Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates, to access historical twentieth-century maps of the DRC’s network of mines (RFI)
The development comes as the Congolese government insists it hasn’t “sold off” its reserves to American mining interests in the country’s embattled east (AfricaNews)
Opposition, Uncertainty Surround U.S. Minerals Deal
As leaders in Kinshasa continue to explore a joint partnership with Washington, a growing number of Congolese civil society leaders and organizations are expressing their discontent with a prospective deal (AP)
At this year’s Mining Indaba conference in South Africa, the DRC’s mines minister assured investors that Kinshasa had not yet reached any formal agreement with the United States (Reuters)
DRC Hires American Military Contractors
The Congolese government recruited Erik Prince, founder of the private military contractor group Constellis (formerly Blackwater), to provide tactical support as the DRC sought to recapture Uvira from Rwandan-backed rebels (Al-Monitor)
Ugandan-Linked Rebels Kill Dozens
Militants from the Allied Defense Forces (ADF), a Ugandan-linked rebel group aligned with the self-proclaimed Islamic State, massacred dozens of civilians in the mountainous Lubero region north of Goma; according to local groups, ADF rebels have killed upwards of sixty civilians in the area this year (AP)
South African Troops to Leave DRC
After twenty-seven years of peacekeeping support to UN missions in eastern DRC, the South African government announced it will bring home roughly seven hundred soldiers stationed in the country by the end of the year (Reuters)
Kinshasa, London Resolve Immigration Row
After the United Kingdom’s Foreign Office threatened the DRC with visa restrictions last month, Congolese officials agreed to accept repatriated “illegal migrants and dangerous criminals” (BBC)