Monrovia — The Trump administration is ready to exercise “all diplomatic and economic tools” at its disposal to come the motive behind peace in japanese Democratic Republic of Congo, Senior Africa Advisor Massad Boulos said during an online briefing on Thursday following his discuss to to four countries in the jam.
Boulos said the day out demonstrated the “fresh approach” President Donald Trump is taking towards Africa by “pursuing our security interests while strengthening our economic relationship with the people and nations in Africa through greater trade and investment.” He said the talks already yielded “important progress on the security front,” when M23 pulled troops from the town of Walikale – located in the North Kivu province. He welcomed “the recent dialogue” between the Congolese government and the M23 stand up workforce which he referred to as “very fruitful by all counts.”
In addition to DRC, Boulos traveled to Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda, where talks with the leaders there interested in ongoing international efforts to live the fighting that has killed bigger than 7,000 of us and displaced hundreds of hundreds extra since the beginning of the year. He furthermore met in Paris with Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on route back to the US.
Boulos became named to the Senior Advisor put up on April 1 – two days before departing for Kinshasa. In December, Trump tapped Boulos as his consultant on Arab and Center Japanese Affairs. Boulos, a Lebanese American and Republican Celebration fundraiser whose son is married to Trump’s daughter Tiffany, served for three decades as CEO of the SCOA Community, which operates a Lagos-based mostly dealership that assembles and sells automobiles, vehicles and construction and mining tools and is part of the Fadoul Community, founded in Burkina Faso by Zouhair Fadoul, whose daughter, Sara Fadoul Boulos, is married to the senior Boulos.
Boulos said his discussion with Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and other stakeholders in the country interested in security in addition to a imaginable mineral deal between the US and the DRC. “We’re having a number of discussions with regards to both the investments and the infrastructure that goes with it,” he said. The discussions include the need for reforms to “ensure full transparency,” which he said Tshisekedi promised would possibly perhaps be addressed.
“I think it goes without saying U.S. companies will absolutely be the best partners,” he said. “Whatever the U.S. will do in terms of private sector investments and government support, it will absolutely be a win-win proposition.”
The American legitimate reiterated the need to respect Congo’s sovereignty, calling on Rwanda to “cease all military support of M23 and withdraw all Rwandan troops from DRC territory”. The Trump administration has numerous tools at its disposal “that it can and will use, if need be” to attain a “permanent peace” in the jam, he said.
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The japanese DRC has been embroiled in battle for decades as numerous armed teams wrestle for maintain a watch on of the mineral-rich jam. Renewed fighting between Congolese troops and M23 escalated in January 2025, when a stand up come culminated in the seize of the regional capital Goma. African and Western leaders, in addition to the United Countries, have accused Rwanda of backing the rebels. Rwanda denies the direct, saying it has simplest been involved with efforts to give protection to its border.
U.S. Secretary of Explain Marco Rubio had contemporary calls with each and every Rwandan President Paul Kagame and DRC’s Tshisekedi, Boulos said, urging a reveal ceasefire in the jam whereas pressing all parties to respect DR Congo’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
In March, Tshisekedi said Congo became inaugurate to a mineral deal, expressing hope that that the cooperation would be outdated skool to abet quell the armed battle in his country. Congo is the enviornment’s ideal producer of cobalt, a mineral main in the production of batteries for vehicles and glowing telephones. The U.S. envoy said he and the Congolese President had “charted a path forward” but offered no tiny print. Boosting U.S. non-public sector investment in the DRC, “particularly in the mining sector”, he said, is a shared aim of every and every countries, adding that a “stable environment” became main to originate this achievable.
In response to a inquire during the briefing about Africa “leaning more towards China and Russia”, Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Corina Sanders, who accompanied Boulos on the day out, careworn that the ‘The US First’ foreign coverage aim of the Trump administration, which inspires investment and enhances “industrial and technology advantages”, will furthermore “serve the African continent well”.
