On March 3, 2025, following stories in international media, I wrote about the DR Congo’s use of its natural resources to gain leverage in the global system. It was reported that the DR Congo government was offering its natural resources to the leaders of the United States (U.S.) and Europe in exchange for sanctions and public condemnation of Rwanda and the M23. To our surprise, the U.S. received the offer with a desire to mediate the two countries, DR Congo and Rwanda. An approach that provided some cautious optimism to a region that has been in conflict for more than three decades. On December 4, 2025, the DR Congo and the Republic of Rwanda committed to the implementation of the Peace Agreement signed on June 27, 2025, and the Declaration of Principles signed on April 25, 2025. The Washington Accords, as they came to be known, provided a mission to be accomplished by each party. For DR Congo, it is to neutralize the FDLR, promote its repatriation, guarantee the conditions for lasting peace in the region, and ensure the return of displaced persons to their places of origin. For Rwanda, to disengage forces, lift the defensive measures put in place and ensure social reintegration of FDLR ex-combatants. If one analyzes the implementation process of these obligations, there is a logical sequencing to it. It is fair to assume that for Rwanda to disengage, the DR Congo ought to have neutralised the FDLR. Today, FDLR is still in close collaboration with the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC). Surprisingly, on March 2, 2026, the U.S. imposed sanctions on the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) and four of its senior officials. The U.S. Secretary of Treasury is quoted saying that “We expect the immediate withdrawal of Rwanda Defence Force troops, weapons, and equipment.” As a consequence, it appears that the FDLR, a genocidal remnant, that was given protection in 1994 to cross into the DR Congo (Zaire, as it was then) by the French Soldiers under the UN authorised mission remains a foster child of the International Community. This is the main cause of instability in the Eastern DRC. For different reasons, countries have continued to prop it up, and humanitarian organisations have built an industry around its presence. These actors have found excuses to discourage efforts that are aimed at defeating it, arguing that it lives within the civilian population. Au contraire, the same actors have not used the same argument to discourage attacks directed against the M23, even if those attacks may cause clearly excessive civilian damages. The purpose of this article is to stress the danger of success fees for mediators. Success fee in mediation is where the compensation of the mediator depends on the successful outcome. Let me be clear. Diplomatic mediation is one of the most effective processes that resolve inter-state disputes. It is a common practice that a neutral party (state, organization or individual) provides space for parties in the conflict to dialogue and reach a peaceful settlement. However, the neutrality of the mediator, being able to balance the interests of both parties, is critical to the success of the process. As Leynseele notes: ‘One of the basic principles of mediation, which is related to the notions of independence and neutrality, is that a mediator may have no interest at all in the outcome of the mediation. The logical consequence of that reasoning would be that the mediator may not have a personal financial interest in the outcome.’ This is the basic ethical dilemma in the Washington Accords. The United States, the mediator and guarantor of the agreement has been promised economic gains – more particularly from the DR Congo. I would like to argue that this context creates an unfavorable situation for Rwanda. Time and again, measures taken to deal with the conflict in the eastern DR Congo have not given due consideration to the actual problems on the ground. There is a deliberate misrepresentation of the root causes of the conflict, and principles of international law concerning state sovereignty, territorial integrity and self-defense are often skewed towards a selective application. The fact that Washington Accords require the DR Congo to stop collaborating with the FDLR should indicate that Rwanda has legitimate existential security concerns. Accordingly, an appropriate measure should address all concerns including those of Rwanda. Otherwise, it is tempting to argue that these sanctions are intended to achieve economic interests of the mediator at the expense of Rwanda. It sounds outrageous that we can compare economic interest over security interest of a people, but in this case, the writing is on the wall. It is not clear how these sanctions will address Rwanda's concerns, because it is difficult to argue that one can support the DR Congo without supporting the FDLR in their current form of coalition, unless we ignore some basic rules of common sense. On January 20, 2026, Mark Carney, the Prime Minister of Canada argued that ‘the rules based order is fading, that [today] the strong can do what they can, and the weak must suffer what they must.’ This powerful speech was addressed to his European counterparts, the middle powers as he stressed, those who have benefited in that order. But more importantly, he whispered to the weak states, that ‘‘the story of the international rules-based order was partially false that the strongest would exempt themselves when convenient, that trade rules were enforced asymmetrically, [and that they] knew that international law applied with varying rigor depending on the identity of the accused or the victim.’ Africa, and Rwanda in particular, should have rejected this lie. There are moments of sacrifice a nation must go through to survive, to protect who they are, for individuals to sacrifice everything to achieve what is beyond self. Rwanda has made some major sacrifices before. There is a time of stopping the genocide against the Tutsi, there is a time salary weren't the most important, and we have bounced back as a nation. It is those courageous leaders who lead others into overcoming those major challenges that we consider our heroes. We have wished to be like them, maybe this could be another moment.
