Geneva Summit Tests Fragile Rwanda‑DRC Peace Accord

On September 16 and 17, representatives from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda will sit down again in Geneva. It’s not just another diplomatic routine – it’s a reality check on the 2025 Washington Accords, the peace framework that the United States, Qatar, Togo and the African Union helped broker.

The meeting is organized under the Joint Security Coordination Mechanism (JSCM), a mouthful that basically means “let’s keep tabs on each other’s promises”. Mediators from the U.S., Qatar, Togo and the AU will be present, nudging the two neighbours to stay on track. The stakes feel high, especially because guns are still echoing across North and South Kivu.

At its heart, the Washington Accords obliges Kinshasa to neutralise the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) – a rebel group whose roots trace back to the 1994 genocide – and requires Kigali to pull back its troops and dismantle the defensive installations that hug the border. In theory, both steps should calm the region; in practice, each side accuses the other of stalling.

Things are anything but simple. The DRC says a faction of the FDLR signed a disarmament protocol in July, flaunting it as a breakthrough. Rwanda, meanwhile, insists the agreement calls for full neutralisation, not a negotiated settlement, and points to what it calls ongoing DRC support for the rebels.

Adding another layer of complexity is the M23 movement. Though not a signatory to the Washington Accords, M23’s resurgence – highlighted by its capture of Goma and Bukavu in 2025 – keeps the security balance teetering. The U.S.‑backed process nudges Kigali and Kinshasa to back a separate Qatar‑led dialogue with M23, which produced the Doha Framework in November 2025.

The September JSCM talks follow an August session that birthed two monitoring initiatives. Both sides asked the United States to weigh in on those ideas, and the DRC also rolled out a Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) plan for the FDLR. A trilateral planning conference is slated for October, aiming to produce a revised operations order.

What will the Geneva talks actually achieve? Observers say the focus will be on concrete steps – does the FDLR protocol count as “neutralisation”? Will Rwanda finally lift its border fortifications? Answers will likely be partial, and disagreements may still surface, but any movement forward is seen as a better sign than stagnation.

In short, the Geneva summit is a litmus test. If Kigali and Kinshasa can bridge their gaps, the broader vision of a peaceful, economically integrated Great Lakes region might inch closer. If not, the eastern DRC risks sinking deeper into the conflict that has scarred it for decades.