Officials from Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are due to meet in Geneva on September 16 and 17 in a new attempt to move their U.S.-backed peace agreement from diplomatic commitments toward measurable implementation, as fighting continues in eastern Congo and major security obligations remain unsettled.

The two-day session will take place under the Joint Security Coordination Mechanism, or JSCM, the framework created to monitor and coordinate the security provisions of the peace process. Representatives of the United States, Qatar, Togo, acting in its African Union mediation role, and the African Union Commission are also expected to participate.

The immediate focus is expected to be the same set of intertwined commitments that has complicated implementation for months: the DRC’s obligation to neutralize the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, known as the FDLR, and Rwanda’s obligation to disengage forces and lift defensive measures adopted in response to what Kigali describes as cross-border security threats.

The structure of the agreement makes progress on those issues closely connected. Rwanda has long identified the FDLR as a major national-security threat. The armed group has roots in forces and militias that fled Rwanda following the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi and has remained active in eastern Congo. Kinshasa, meanwhile, has accused Rwanda of supporting the M23 movement, which has seized significant territory in eastern Congo. Rwanda has denied those allegations.

The Geneva meeting comes against a difficult military backdrop. A September assessment by Security Council Report said fighting between the Congolese armed forces and M23 continued in both North Kivu and South Kivu despite multiple ceasefire and mediation initiatives. Neither the neutralization of the FDLR nor Rwanda’s lifting of defensive measures had been declared complete.

That gap between diplomatic agreements and battlefield conditions is what makes this round especially important. The current process traces back to the peace agreement signed by Rwanda and the DRC in Washington on June 27, 2025, under U.S. facilitation. In December, the two governments reaffirmed those commitments through the broader Washington Accords for Peace and Prosperity, which also linked security stabilization to plans for regional economic integration.

The economic component gives the negotiations significance beyond the immediate military dispute. The Washington framework envisions closer cooperation in areas including mining, infrastructure, industrial development and regional connectivity. Those ambitions depend heavily on whether investors, governments and local communities believe that the security provisions can be implemented rather than remaining largely political commitments.

The September meeting will also build directly on the sixth JSCM session, held in Geneva on August 12 and 13. According to a joint statement published by Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Rwanda and the DRC agreed at that meeting to advance two initiatives designed to strengthen monitoring and verification of implementation on the ground. They asked the United States to review those initiatives and provide feedback at the next JSCM meeting.

The August session also produced an agreement to hold a trilateral planning conference in October, with the goal of producing a revised operations order to guide coordinated implementation. Congo presented its disarmament, demobilization and reintegration plan for the FDLR, while participants consulted with the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Congo, MONUSCO, about its operational experience with disarmament programs.

Still, the FDLR issue remains politically and operationally contentious. On July 28, the Congolese government announced that a faction of the group had accepted a protocol covering disarmament, demobilization and cantonment. Kinshasa presented the agreement as movement toward fulfilling its obligations.

Rwanda disputed that interpretation