Officials from Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo are due to meet in Geneva on Sept. 16 and 17 as they seek to resolve outstanding security commitments under a U.S.-backed peace agreement signed last year.
The two-day meeting of the Joint Security Coordination Mechanism (JSCM) will bring together representatives of both countries and mediators from the United States, Qatar, Togo and the African Union Commission.
The mechanism was established to monitor the implementation of security commitments agreed by Kigali and Kinshasa.
The talks come as fighting continues in eastern DR Congo and disagreements persist over two of the agreement’s central provisions: Kinshasa’s commitment to neutralise the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) and Rwanda’s pledge to disengage its forces and lift defensive measures.
The Washington Accords for Peace and Prosperity were signed in December 2025, reaffirming a peace agreement between Rwanda and DR Congo signed in Washington in June that year.
A September assessment by Security Council Report said clashes between the Congolese army and M23 had continued in North and South Kivu. It also said the FDLR’s neutralisation and Rwanda’s lifting of defensive measures had not been declared complete.
The FDLR, which has operated in eastern Congo for decades, has its roots in forces and militias that fled Rwanda after the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. Rwanda has repeatedly accused Kinshasa of supporting the group, while the Congolese government denies the allegations.
A dispute over how to deal with the FDLR has already exposed differences between the two sides.
In July, Kinshasa said an FDLR faction had signed a protocol on disarmament, demobilisation and cantonment. Rwanda rejected the move, saying the Washington agreement calls for the group to be neutralised rather than negotiated with.
The wider peace process also faces the challenge posed by M23, which seized Goma and Bukavu in 2025. Kinshasa accuses Rwanda of backing the group, an allegation Kigali denies.
M23 is not a party to the Washington agreement, but Rwanda and Congo are expected to support a separate Qatar-led dialogue between Kinshasa and the Congo River Alliance, which includes M23. That process produced the Doha Framework for Peace in November 2025.
The Geneva meeting follows the sixth JSCM session held in August, when the two countries agreed to advance two initiatives intended to improve monitoring of the accords and asked the United States to review them.
The parties also agreed to hold a trilateral planning conference in October to produce a revised operations order for coordinated security efforts.
