GOMA, Congo, Dec 4, (AP): US President Donald Trump will host the leaders of Congo and Rwanda on Thursday for a deal signing aimed at ending the conflict in eastern Congo and opening access to the region's critical minerals for the US government and American companies. L

auded by the White House as a "historic” agreement brokered by Trump, the so-called Washington Accords for Peace and Prosperity between Presidents Felix Tshisekedi of Congo and Paul Kagame of Rwanda follows monthslong peace efforts by the US and partners, including the African Union and Qatar, and finalizes an earlier deal signed in June.

The Central African nation of Congo has been battered by decadeslong fighting with more than 100 armed groups, the most potent being the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels. The conflict escalated this year, with M23 seizing the region’s main cities of Goma and Bukavu in an unprecedented advance, worsening a humanitarian crisis that was already one of the world’s largest with millions displaced.

Fighting, meanwhile, continued this week in the conflict-battered region with pockets of clashes reported between the rebels and Congolese soldiers, together with their allied forces. Trump has often said that his mediation has ended the conflict, which some people in Congo say isn't true. Analysts say Thursday's deal also isn't expected to quickly result in peace.

A separate peace deal has been signed between Congo and the M23. "We are still at war,” said Amani Chibalonza Edith, a 32-year-old resident of Goma, eastern Congo's key city seized by rebels early this year. "There can be no peace as long as the front lines remain active." Thursday’s pact will also build on a Regional Economic Integration Framework that officials have said will define the terms of economic partnerships involving the three countries as agreed upon in November.

In search of ways to circumvent China in acquiring rare earth minerals, the Trump administration has capitalized on Congo's need for security support to gain access to its minerals which are essential to manufacturing fighter jets, cellphones and more, and dominated by China. China already accounts for nearly 70% of the world’s rare earth mining and controls roughly 90% of its processing globally.