Congo fighting flares within hours of Trump's peace deal ceremony

Fighting raged in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a day after President Donald Trump hosted Congolese and Rwandan leaders to sign a peace deal.

Fighting raged in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday, a day after President Donald Trump hosted Congolese and Rwandan leaders in Washington to sign new deals aimed at ending years of conflict in a region rich in minerals.

Congo‘s President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwanda’s Paul Kagame on Thursday reaffirmed commitments to a U.S.-brokered deal reached in June to stabilise the vast country and open the way for more Western mining investment.

“We’re settling a war that’s been going on for decades,” said Trump, whose administration has intervened in a string of conflicts around the world to burnish his credentials as a peacemaker and advance U.S. business interests.

On the ground however, fierce fighting continued with the warring sides blaming one another.

The Rwandan-backed AFC/M23 rebel group, which seized the two largest cities in eastern Congo earlier this year and is not bound by the Washington agreement, said forces loyal to the government were conducting widespread attacks.