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() President Donald Trump is meeting with leaders of Congo and Rwanda on Friday afternoon following a U.S.-mediated peace deal.
The peace deal, signed on Friday, should formally bring an end to decades of deadly fighting in eastern Congo.
“This is a long time waiting,” Trump said on Friday afternoon. The president added it is “a big day for the world.”
As part of the accord, the U.S. government and American companies will have access to minerals within the region.
The president was joined in the Oval Office by Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and the foreign ministers of Rwanda, Olivier Nduhungirehe, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner.
Commemorative coins were given to the foreign ministers to take back to their leaders.
Trump said at a news conference earlier Friday that he was able to broker a deal for “one of the worst wars anyone’s ever seen.”
“I was able to get them together and sell it,” Trump said. “And not only that, we’re getting for the United States a lot of the mineral rights from the Congo.”
The deal has been touted as an important step toward peace in the Central African nation of Congo, where conflict with more than 100 armed groups, the most potent backed by Rwanda, has killed millions since the 1990s.
Should either nation go back on the accord, Trump said there are “big penalties” to pay.
“I don’t think they will. Big penalties financial and otherwise,” Trump said of the consequences.