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Could the US’s transactional approach toward conflict resolution yield lasting peace in Africa’s troubled Great Lakes region? 

Donald Trump thinks so. The American president said “great news” will soon emerge from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where government troops have spent years fighting a rebel group that the United Nations says is backed by Rwanda. Kigali denies involvement. 

Democratic Republic of Congo’s Foreign Minister, Therese Kayikwamba Wagner, and her Rwandan counterpart, Olivier Nduhungirehe, flank US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the State Department on April 25. Photographer: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

Trump’s assertion came after the neighbors agreed at a meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington to draft a peace agreement by Friday.

Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi urged America to become involved earlier this year when he offered it access to his nation’s treasure trove of critical minerals in exchange for support against the M23 militia. 

While the US, according to people familiar with its thinking, is unlikely to commit militarily it has a carrot to dangle — money.

As part of the peace accord, the Congolese and Rwandan authorities are expected to commit to joint projects in hydropower, national parks and mineral supply chains “in partnership with the US government and US investors,” they state in a declaration of principles.

If things go according to plan — and there is no shortage of skepticism that it will — the US approach could end a more than 30-year-long regional conflict over land, resources, ethnicity and political power that kicked off after the perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide fled across the border into Congo.

In Trump’s words that would be “a terrific thing.”

The key will be to convince all those benefiting from the fighting that a lasting peace is ultimately in their best interests.— Michael J. Kavanagh and Antony Sguazzin

Key stories and opinion:
Rubio Prods Congo, Rwanda to Make Peace as Duo Agree to Deadline 
Congo to Charge Ex-Leader Joseph Kabila for Alleged Rebel Support 
US Makes Progress on Minerals Deal With Congo, Adviser Says 
How Rebel Advances in Congo Threaten War With Rwanda: QuickTake 
Africa's Insularity Lets Foreign Powers Swoop In: Justice Malala

Botswana’s government is optimistic Anglo American will find a buyer for its diamond unit De Beers this year, according to the southern African nation’s vice president. “We are very confident that partners are coming forward,” Ndaba Gaolathe said in an interview in Washington, without identifying prospective investors. “Some are countries, some are funds, some are companies that have a deep interest.” Botswana owns 15% of De Beers, which sources the bulk of its diamonds from the southern African nation. Anglo owns the rest and wants to offload its stake following a slump in the price of the gems. 

A De Beers store in Hong Kong. Photographer: Lam Yik/Bloomberg

A majority of private-equity investors see South Africa and Kenya as their top investment destinations over the next three years even as Trump’s tariff chaos muddies the fund-raising outlook, an African Private Capital Association survey showed. More than 65% of the general partners at private-equity firms identified the two nations as their preferred markets to do business, the London-based association said. Several respondents were pessimistic about raising funds this year because of depreciating currencies in Africa and Trump’s policies.

Major emerging-market nations are striving to turn the BRICS group into a global forum capable of addressing the chaos unleashed by Trump’s trade war. Foreign ministers from the group named after its founding members — Brazil, Russia, India, China and, later, South Africa — met Monday for the first time since Trump’s policies disrupted the world economy and traditional multilateral institutions. The upheaval has put BRICS in a position to attain the sort of global influence its most prominent members have long sought. The bloc now accounts for roughly half of the planet’s population and about 40% of its output.

BRICS countries’ flags at a summit in Johannesburg. Photographer: Marco Longari/AFP/Getty Images

The African Export-Import Bank has started a financing program to help fund the trade of up to $14 billion of petroleum. The $3 billion facility “seeks to leverage the growing refining capacity that Afreximbank has helped establish across the continent, while aligning with the objectives of the African Continental Free Trade Area,” the lender said. It intends to provide financing to domestic and international oil traders along with governments to support sourcing products from African refineries and ease reliance on imports from outside the region.

Zimbabwe’s central bank has resumed issuing gold coins that were scrapped 10 months ago as it sought to ramp up bullion stockpiles used to back up the local currency, the ZiG. The Mosi-oa-Tunya 22-carat coins, named after the iconic Victoria Falls, are available through the nation’s lenders, according to Persistence Gwanyanya, a member of the central bank’s monetary policy committee. The coins were first issued in 2022 as a store of value for pension funds and individuals seeking a safe haven from inflation and currency volatility.

A Mosi-oa-Tunya gold coin. Photographer: Jekesai Njikizana/AFP/Getty Images

The Mastercard Foundation will spend $300 million over the next five years to help about 500,000 refugees in Africa complete their secondary education, giving them a pathway to jobs. The foundation’s assistance will be dispensed in conjunction with the UN Refugee Agency. A spate of conflicts in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan have caused 45 million people to flee their homes to neighboring countries, according to the foundation.

Thank you for your responses to our weekly Next Africa Quiz and congratulations to Sammy Kibet who correctly identified Ukraine as the country whose leader cut short a trip to Africa this week after a missile attack back home.

Angola held talks with the International Monetary Fund about possible financing packages, as trade wars and an energy price slump effectively shut the oil producer out of international bond markets. “We didn’t ask it formally — we were just trying to understand and explore what financial options we can have,” Finance Minister Vera Daves de Sousa said in an interview in Washington last week.  Just two months ago, Angola was aiming to sell about $1.5 billion of bonds over the course of 2025. But the yields on its debt have since soared and are now among the highest globally. 

Thanks for reading. We’ll be back in your inbox with the next edition on Friday. Send any feedback to mcohen21@bloomberg.net