Professional commentary. Peace, critical minerals, and economic prospects for the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and the wider Great Lakes region after the Washington Accords for Peace and Prosperity.
Peace, Critical Minerals and Shared Prosperity in the Great Lakes Region
On paper, the new peace arrangements between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda mark the most serious attempt in years to stop a conflict that has scarred eastern Congo and destabilised the Great Lakes. The original Washington Accord signed in June committed both sides to pull back troops, cut ties with proxy groups, and create a joint security mechanism. The Washington Accords for Peace and Prosperity now add a wider economic compact and a very clear subtext around critical minerals and regional trade.
The stakes are obvious. Eastern Congo has lived with war, displacement, and predatory armed groups for three decades. At the same time, the region sits on some of the world’s most important deposits of cobalt, copper, and emerging lithium projects, and is now linked to strategic corridors such as the Lobito railway. If the guns finally fall quiet and the political class treats peace as more than a photo opportunity, the room for growth in cities, farming belts, logistics, power, and services is huge.
This article sets out what the new peace framework actually says, how it connects to critical minerals and corridors, and why genuine peace could lift far more than mine valuations. The argument is simple. A stable Great Lakes region has the ingredients to move from war economy to broad-based prosperity, but that outcome depends on hard choices from governments, armed actors, and investors.
1. What the DRC–Rwanda peace agreements actually say
The June Washington Accord is a formal peace treaty between Kinshasa and Kigali. It commits Rwanda to withdraw its military presence from eastern DRC and commits the Congolese government to end any backing for the FDLR and similar groups. The document also creates a joint security mechanism with outside guarantors and sets out monitoring and reporting channels for future incidents along the border and in the Kivus.
The Washington Accords for Peace and Prosperity that are being signed at presidential level build on that base. They tie security commitments to a broader agenda around regional economic cooperation, corridors, and access to critical minerals for Western partners. The language is about peace, trade, and jobs, but the practical focus is clear: stabilise a key part of the Copperbelt and its export routes, and then scale investment in extraction, processing, and transport.
None of this erases the fact that clashes with M23 and other groups continue and that millions of people remain displaced. The agreements are still a starting point. They create a framework that can be used by regional leaders and external partners who genuinely want to shift the story away from permanent conflict.
2. From war economy to regional prosperity
The Great Lakes region has paid a staggering price for decades of conflict. Entire generations in eastern DRC have grown up with roadblocks, armed groups, and a state that often appears only through soldiers or tax collectors. Businesses face shakedowns, farmers are cut off from markets during offensives, and basic services like schools and clinics struggle to operate in areas that change hands or live under permanent threat.
Peace, if it holds, changes those equations. Budgets that previously went to emergency deployments can be put into roads, power lines, and water. Provincial administrations can plan multi year investment instead of crisis response. Cross border traders who currently risk extortion or violence can move goods, pay formal customs, and grow small companies instead of feeding smuggling networks. A stable environment also gives young people reasons to seek education and skills rather than a weapon and a roadblock.
Prosperity in this context does not mean sudden luxury. It starts with predictable safety, basic infrastructure that actually functions, and a state that can collect taxes without terrorising its own citizens. It means farmers able to move harvests to towns, transporters driving trucks without convoy fees to every armed group along the road, and small manufacturers in cities like Goma, Bukavu, Kigali, and Lubumbashi supplying regional markets instead of operating in survival mode.
The region already posts solid growth figures on paper, helped by mineral exports and demographic momentum. Peace gives that growth a chance to show up in daily life through better jobs, housing, and services rather than remaining trapped in spreadsheets and offshore accounts.
3. Critical minerals are one pillar, not the whole story
Cobalt, copper, and emerging lithium projects put the DRC at the centre of the global energy transition. Recent estimates suggest the country holds around seventy percent of known cobalt reserves and supplies close to three quarters of global mined cobalt, much of it from the Copperbelt provinces of Haut Katanga and Lualaba. Copper from the same belt feeds grids, motors, and charging infrastructure worldwide. Lithium and tin at projects such as Manono add another piece to the picture.
There are signs of change in how this sector operates. The state cobalt agency has begun producing traceable artisanal cobalt and has presented its first one thousand tonnes of material that meets international traceability standards. Formalisation efforts aim to replace chaotic pits and middlemen with safer sites, cooperatives, and traceability systems. If handled properly, that means better wages and less abuse for miners and their families, as well as more predictable supply for buyers.
Peace can amplify these trends. Stable conditions make it easier to finance processing plants, refineries, and logistics hubs without betting on constantly shifting front lines. Governments can push for more value addition in country, not just bulk export of concentrates, while still keeping an eye on environmental and social impacts. Investors can move from short term bets on price spikes to long term partnerships with projects and communities.
Even so, minerals alone will not carry the region. Prosperity comes when mineral cash is matched with investment in agriculture, education, health, and local enterprise, rather than disappearing into patronage or leaving the region entirely.
4. Corridors, power and trade: why peace matters beyond mine gates
The new peace framework sits alongside large bets on infrastructure. The Lobito Corridor that links Kolwezi and the Zambian Copperbelt to the Angolan port of Lobito is a clear example. The European Union and partners have mobilised significant funding to upgrade rail and trade systems along this route and are working with regional governments on customs and trade reforms. The stated aim is to move copper and cobalt more reliably, but the same rails and roads serve farmers, traders, and passengers.
If the corridor is built with serious attention to housing, resettlement, and local business, it can connect mining towns to new markets for food, construction materials, and services. It can help shift trucking patterns away from dangerous detours, cut transit times, and make regional trade more predictable. Small towns along the line can grow around warehouses, agro processing, and transport services instead of staying stuck as waypoints for armed actors and smugglers.
Power and digital networks matter just as much. Peace reduces the risk of towers being vandalised and lines being cut. It gives utilities room to expand distribution, including to mining communities that currently live in darkness next to power lines feeding export circuits. Mobile money and digital platforms can spread deeper into rural areas once there is less fear of sudden displacement and checkpoints.
Corridors that only move minerals and ignore people will fuel anger and future unrest. Corridors that treat communities as partners, with transparent compensation and clear local benefits, can support a more stable and prosperous region.
5. What peace could mean for daily life in the Great Lakes
For miners in Kolwezi or Rubaya, peace means the chance to work without shelling or sudden road closures, with protective equipment instead of improvised tools, and with a buyer who pays a transparent price rather than an armed broker. For farmers in North Kivu or Ituri, it means planting crops without guessing which group will rule their village next month. For traders in Goma, Bukavu, Gisenyi, or Goma’s markets, it means crossing borders with an ID and an invoice instead of paying off a line of men with guns.
Families in cities across the region would feel peace in smaller ways that compound over time. Children stay in school for full terms instead of fleeing during offensives. Clinics keep their staff and medicine stocks. Buses and boats run to regular schedules. People can plan a year ahead, not just a week. Those are the conditions under which small savings grow, microbusinesses evolve into companies, and young people start to imagine futures that do not involve leaving the region or joining a militia.
There is also a psychological dividend. Regions associated in global media only with massacres and rebels carry a stigma that filters into credit decisions, tourist flows, and talent choices. A sustained period of calm and a track record of fair deals with communities and investors would begin to change that perception. Pride in local cities, universities, and companies can grow alongside pride in mineral wealth.
None of this happens overnight, and no treaty can erase trauma. Over time, though, a generation that knows border posts as trade gateways rather than flashpoints can build a very different future.
6. The role of investors, sponsors and advisors in making peace pay
Governments and armed actors carry the primary responsibility for peace, but investors and sponsors are not bystanders. Capital choices can either reward short term extraction with weak standards or support projects that share benefits fairly, respect communities, and strengthen the rules that keep violence in check. The difference shows up in whether rail upgrades displace thousands without compensation or create long term jobs and safer housing for those affected.
For professional investors, that means asking difficult questions before writing cheques. Who controls the licence and how secure are the rights. How are artisanal miners treated where formalisation programs are rolling out. What happens to people living along new corridors such as Lobito. Where are tax revenues going and who is monitoring them. These questions are not a luxury. They are part of risk management in regions where local anger can quickly turn into unrest.
For sponsors in DRC, Rwanda, and neighbouring states, peace is an opportunity to present serious projects with strong governance to partners who have been waiting for a more stable context. That applies to mines, but also to power, agribusiness, logistics, housing, and digital ventures. Deals that are clear on profit sharing, environmental safeguards, and local hiring are more likely to win support from both communities and international backers.
Advisors who understand both the political realities and the expectations of institutional capital can help close the gap. The goal is not to sell an unrealistic fairy tale. It is to build structures where peace and prosperity reinforce each other instead of pulling in opposite directions.
Request A Washington Accords Regional Briefing
FG Capital Advisors is preparing focused briefings for professional investors and sponsors on what the DRC–Rwanda peace framework and the Washington Accords for Peace and Prosperity mean for critical minerals, corridors, and wider economic opportunities in the Great Lakes region.
Briefings cover battery metals exposure, trade and logistics projects, and practical risk factors around governance, displacement, and ESG, with a clear focus on mandates that can support long term stability rather than short term extraction.
Learn More About Our Battery Metals StrategyDisclaimer. This article is general commentary and does not constitute investment advice, a recommendation, or an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any security or financial instrument. Any reference to peace agreements, corridors, or specific projects is based on publicly available information and may change over time. Readers should conduct their own analysis and seek independent advice before making decisions.
FG Capital Advisors is a corporate finance advisory firm and is not a bank or a registered broker dealer. Any engagement or investment participation is subject to KYC and AML checks, conflict checks, suitability assessments, signed mandates or subscription documents, and agreed fee terms. Outcomes depend on sponsor quality, geology, counterparties, social and environmental performance, market conditions, and third party decisions. No guarantee of capital preservation, income, or performance is expressed or implied.
