The government of US President Donald Trump is increasing pressure on the Tshisekedi regime to finally implement the Concept of Operations (CONOPS) agreed on October 31, 2024 and enshrined in the Washington Peace Accords signed on December 4, 2025.
The core demand is that the Tshisekedi regime fully implement the neutralisation, disarmament, and dismantling of the FDLR, the genocidal outfit (of Rwandans) that continues to exist in DRC with the protection and logistical support of the Tshisekedi regime.
That pressure was on full display this week during a hearing of the U.S. Congressional Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, chaired by Representative Chris Smith. The hearing focused squarely on the implementation of the Washington Accords, and made clear that the Trump administration’s patience with Tshisekedi had worne thin.
State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary Sarah Troutman, representing the administration, delivered an unambiguous message. The United States is actively monitoring implementation, expects measurable progress on the CONOPS benchmarks, and is prepared to impose consequences – including sanctions, for violations.
Central to those benchmarks is the neutralisation of the FDLR, which Troutman described plainly as a persistent regional security threat.
Rwanda has repeatedly attempted to resolve the FDLR issue through bilateral mechanisms, confidence-building measures, and regional frameworks. Each time, Kinshasa chooses delays and obfuscations. Rather than dismantle the FDLR, the Tshisekedi regime instead integrated the terrorist militia into the Congolese military, FARDC.
More recently, Tshisekedi escalated further by internationalising its internal conflicts, inviting foreign troops and mercenaries to support the FDLR, while openly redirecting hostile forces toward Rwanda.
The CONOPS was designed precisely to end this. It establishes clear sequencing, independent verification, and reciprocal obligations.
Rwanda’s defensive measures are explicitly conditional and time-bound, tied to verified progress in dismantling the FDLR. The obstacle to peace is not ambiguity in the agreement, but Kinshasa’s refusal to implement it.
The Trump administration shows it understands this distinction. By elevating enforcement, verification, and accountability, the trump administration is signalling that the era of endless excuses is over.
The United States is no longer willing to tolerate a Congolese state that shelters what many in the region rightly call tropical nazis, whose ideology and methods are inseparable from those of their forebears that perpetrated the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
Tshisekedi probably will continue to obstruct the implementation of the CONOPS. He better be ready for the consequences.
ellenkampire