DRC–Rwanda 5th Joint Oversight Committee Meets in Washington; US Presses Rwanda on Compliance Failures

The fifth meeting of the Joint Oversight Committee for the peace agreement between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of Rwanda was held on April 23, 2026 in Washington, DC, with a joint statement issued April 24. Participants included the DRC, Rwanda, the United States, Qatar, Togo (serving as African Union mediator), and the AU Commission. The committee reviewed implementation progress since the March 17–18 Washington meetings and reaffirmed commitment to the peace framework's forward momentum. However, the US government has separately characterized Rwanda's compliance as 'deeply disappointing,' citing Rwanda's failure to withdraw its military forces from eastern DRC and its continued support for armed groups including M23, which UN Group of Experts has documented. US officials pressed both parties to meet their withdrawal and disarmament commitments — including the neutralization of the FDLR (Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda) by DRC — before year-end 2026. The DRC–Rwanda Washington Accords (signed December 4, 2025), brokered by the Trump administration as a departure from the stalled Nairobi and Luanda diplomatic tracks, represent the primary active framework for eastern DRC stabilization. While the Washington diplomatic track remains active — now with its fifth oversight session — the gap between formal commitments and ground-level compliance in North Kivu and South Kivu remains the central implementation challenge. MONUSCO's transition out of DRC has added urgency to the compliance timeline.