Name: Rwanda, Congo to sign peace deal
Uploaded: 2025-12-03T20:40:34.159Z
Duration: 7 min 49 s
Description: Yolande Makolo, spokesperson for the government of Rwanda, joins to discuss the presidents of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda expected to meet in the U.S. to sign a peace deal.

Yolande Makolo, spokesperson for the government of Rwanda, joins to discuss the presidents of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda expected to meet in the U.S. to sign a peace deal.

Washington

Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo will sign the Washington Accords at the White House, marking a significant step toward ending a conflict that has persisted for over 30 years. The agreement, brokered by President Trump, follows a preliminary pact signed in June and focuses on addressing security threats from militias in eastern Congo as well as promoting economic cooperation and investment.

Rwanda's government spokesperson highlighted the importance of U.S. mediation and emphasized that peace and security are prerequisites for regional prosperity. While some improvements have been noted since the initial agreement, ongoing ceasefire violations and unresolved security concerns remain key issues for both countries.

Rwanda, Congo to sign peace deal

President Trump has fired eight more immigration judges in New York City, a sanctuary city where judges are accused of being too lenient on immigration cases. The early week dismissals happened shortly after hundreds of protesters foiled a planned ice raid in Chinatown. Correspondent Christina Thompson joins us from New York with more. Christina. Well, Kelly, these are not the first judges to be sacked. Last month, the administration fired five immigration judges in San Francisco, as well as one judge in New York City and then another in Boston. And those are just the most recent. The Trump administration has vowed to ramp up deportation efforts in New York with Borders are Tom Homan, saying the city will be seeing even more ICE agents very soon, but the city's sanctuary policies prevent local law enforcement officers from cooperating with federal immigration authorities on most matters. This has President Trump has also set his sights on Minnesota, where the immigration battle there centers on Somalians. The administration considers is considering a travel ban from third world countries now. I don't want them in our country. I'll be honest with you. Somebody would say, oh, that's not politically correct. I don't care. I don't want them in our country. Their country is no good for a reason. Their country stinks. Now one of the fired judges in New York includes Amina Khan, the assistant chief immigration judge. During Trump's first term, she had spoken out against the Justice Department's efforts to dissolve the National Association of Immigration Judges Union. She did rise to become the group's leader in 2021. That was under President Joe Biden. Now, as for the rest of the fired judges, five of them had been appointed as judges during Democratic presidencies and two were appointed by Trump's first term attorney general, William Barr. The latest firings also come as the Department of Homeland Security is actively hiring deportation judges. In a post on X just last week, DHS Assistant Secretary Trisha McLaughlin said the jobs offer potential full-time remote work with salaries ranging from $159,000 to $207,000. Ninety-eight judges in total have been fired nationally since January. That does include 12 assistant chief immigration judges and just about 100 have decided to bow out early to take out options, retire, or resign since the start of the Trump administration. There were about 700 immigration judges in the country to start the year, and now we are about just below 600. A tax bill, though, was recently passed in Congress. It was signed by the president in July, and it's calling for 800 permanent immigration judges and judge teams to be able to support them, Kelly, at a time when we are still millions behind on immigration cases, to be heard. All right, Christina Thompson, thank you so much. Tomorrow, the White House will host leaders from the Congo and Rwanda as they sign a historic peace agreement brokered by President Trump. This comes after ministers of the two African nations signed a preliminary peace agreement and economic pact at the White House back in June. Here to discuss is spokesperson for the government of Rwanda and official member of their delegation to the White House with the peace signing with President Trump, Yolanda Makalo. Yolanda, thank you so much for joining me today. How historic is this, and how did it all come together? It's very important. This is the best chance for peace, for stability, and for prosperity that our two countries and the region has. It started because the DR Congo asked the U.S. government to mediate in this crisis, and we are happy to be involved in any initiative that will bring a stop to the conflict that has affected this region for 30 years. And this is why we're here, and we've reached this point. It's important, and we look forward to tomorrow, and we're cautiously optimistic that it will work out. Now, a lot of our viewers probably are not familiar with the conflict between Rwanda and the Congo. How long has it been going on? Why hasn't it been solved by now? What's at root of the conflict, and how did President Trump see some sort of resolution? You said it's been about 30 years of conflict. I mean, it's been 30 years, 31 years actually, since a genocide happened in Rwanda in 1994. And the people who committed genocide in Rwanda fled to the DR Congo. They're still holed up there. We have at least 12 commanders who now lead a militia known as the FDLR that is intent on finishing what they started in 1994. That is a security problem for Rwanda. Rwanda is about the size of, it's actually smaller than the state of Maryland. The DR Congo is four times the size of Texas. So this is an important security threat for us that we've been trying to prevent from crossing over to Rwanda in the last 31 years. This is the source of the problem. The Trump administration has come into this in the right way, because they're focusing in the mediation on the real problems, on the real obstacles to peace, which is that security problem, the militias that are in Eastern Congo, because the conflict is in the DRC, not in Rwanda, but it's a threat to us. So there's all these forces that are fighting in the DRC, presenting a national security challenge for us on our border. The Trump administration is looking at this, at the root causes, at the political root of this conflict, and at the security imperative that both our country has. But in addition, what is different with the involvement and the sustained engagement of the Trump administration is that they're also looking at the economic opportunity for Rwanda, for DRC, and investment from American companies. That's important to us. It's important to a lot of African countries to get good quality investment in the potential that there is in the region, in mining, in infrastructure, in energy. But we need peace and security first. Well, that is a tactic that he's also deploying in the Middle East to solve conflicts there, and economic incentive as well. So what exactly will be signed or agreed upon tomorrow at the White House? So tomorrow we will sign the Washington Accords between Rwanda and the DRC, and President Trump will witness that. It's the culmination of steps that we've been taking since we signed that preliminary agreement at the end of June. It's a really important step. It signals that the U.S. government continues to be engaged in this in the right way. And that they're keeping an eye on this, which is really important, and we hope to continue to keep engaged and accompany this process to the end. Since the initial agreement came together in June, from June until – we're now in the month of December. How have things been going between the two countries? Some things have improved, but there's still a lot of work to be done. There's still ceasefire violations ongoing. These have to stop. And the DRC government has to do what they have pledged to do, promised to do, dealing with this group that committed genocide in Rwanda. And then we will be able to relax our defensive measures that are on our border. Well, thank you so much for joining me today. We appreciate your insight. And this is a historic deal for the president, as well as Rwanda and the two countries in Africa. So we really do appreciate it.

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