GOMA, Congo (AP) — Congo and Rwanda -backed rebel group M23 on Saturday signed a framework agreement for a peace deal, the latest step in the so far unsuccessful efforts to end the decades-long conflict in eastern Congo.
Earlier this year, M23 seized Goma and Bukavu, two key cities in eastern Congo, in a major escalation of the conflict.
Backed by neighboring Rwanda, M23 is the most prominent of more than 100 armed groups fighting for control in Congo’s mineral-rich east. With 7 million people displaced, the conflict in Congo has been described by the U.N. as “one of the most protracted, complex, serious humanitarian crises on Earth.”
The agreement signed in Doha on Saturday, following mediation by Qatar and the United States, is not yet a final peace agreement, but rather a framework outlining the measures required to reach one, the head of the M23 delegation, Benjamin Mbonimpa, said in a video posted on X.
“There will be neither any change in the situation on the ground, nor any activity whatsoever, until the measures are debated, negotiated and discussed one by one and a final peace agreement is reached,” Mbonimpa said.
The Congolese government said in a statement the framework agreement signed on Saturday includes eight measures that serve as a basis for a peace deal. Two of the measures — agreements on the release of prisoners and the creation of a ceasefire oversight body — were already signed in September and October.
The six other measures, which in part include the restoration of state authority in rebel-controlled areas, humanitarian access, and the resettlement of refugees, will be subject to discussion and negotiation in the next two weeks, the Congolese government said.
Qatar has hosted multiple rounds of talks since April between the Congo and M23, mainly to set preconditions for a peace deal and agree on confidence-building steps, but both sides still accuse each other of violating peace terms and fighting has continued.
In July, Congo and M23 signed a signed a declaration of principles in Qatar to end the conflict and commit to a comprehensive peace agreement. They agreed to finalize the deal by Aug. 18 but missed the deadline, blaming each other for breaches of the agreement.
Massad Boulos, senior adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, attended the ceremony in Doha on Saturday and called the framework agreement a “starting point.”
“It is only the beginning, but we know the final outcome will be very fruitful,” he said, calling it a “historic” opportunity.
The Trump administration has also led mediation efforts between Rwanda — which is accused of backing M23 — and Congo, leading to the signing of a peace deal between the two countries in June.
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Banchereau reported from Dakar, Senegal. Associated Press writer Jean-Yves Kamale in Kinshasa, Congo, contributed to this report.
FILE - M23 rebels escort government soldiers and police who surrendered to an undisclosed location in Goma, Democratic republic of the Congo, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa, File)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday claimed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “hasn’t read” a U.S-authored peace proposal aimed at ending the Russia-Ukraine war.
Trump was critical of Zelenskyy after U.S. and Ukrainian negotiators completed three days of talks on Saturday aimed at trying to narrow differences on the U.S. administration’s proposal. But in an exchange with reporters on Sunday night, Trump suggested that the Ukrainian leader is holding up the talks from moving forward.
“I’m a little bit disappointed that President Zelenskyy hasn’t yet read the proposal, that was as of a few hours ago. His people love it. But he hasn’t — Russia’s fine with it,” Trump told reporters on the red carpet at the Kennedy Center Honors. “Russia is, I believe, fine with it, but I’m not sure that Zelenskyy’s fine with it. His people love it, but he hasn’t read it.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin also hasn’t publicly expressed approval for the White House plan. In fact, Putin last week had said that aspects of Trump’s proposal were unworkable, even though the original draft heavily favored Moscow.
Trump has had a hot-and-cold relationship with Zelenskyy since riding into a second White House term insisting that the war was a waste of U.S. taxpayer money. Trump has also repeatedly urged the Ukrainians to cede land to Russia to bring an end to a now nearly four-year conflict he says has cost far too many lives.
Zelenskyy said Saturday he had a “substantive phone call” with the American officials engaged in the talks with a Ukrainian delegation in Florida. He said he had been given an update over the phone by U.S. and Ukrainian officials at the talks.
“Ukraine is determined to keep working in good faith with the American side to genuinely achieve peace,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media.
Trump’s criticism of Zelenskyy came as Russia on Sunday welcomed the Trump administration’s new national security strategy in comments by the Kremlin spokesman published by Russia’s Tass news agency.
Dmitry Peskov said the updated strategic document, which spells out the administration’s core foreign policy interests, was largely in line with Moscow’s vision.
“There are statements there against confrontation and in favor of dialogue and building good relations,” he said, adding that Russia hopes this would lead to “further constructive cooperation with Washington on the Ukrainian settlement.”
The document released Friday by the White House said the U.S. wants to improve its relationship with Russia after years of Moscow being treated as a global pariah and that ending the war is a core U.S. interest to “reestablish strategic stability with Russia.”
Speaking on Saturday at the Reagan National Defense Forum, Trump’s outgoing Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, said efforts to end the war were in “the last 10 meters.”
He said a deal depended on the two outstanding issues of “terrain, primarily the Donbas,” and the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
Russia controls most of Donbas, its name for the Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk regions, which, along with two southern regions, it illegally annexed three years ago. The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is in an area that has been under Russian control since early in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and is not in service. It needs reliable power to cool its six shutdown reactors and spent fuel, to avoid any catastrophic nuclear incidents.
Kellogg, who is due to leave his post in January, was not present at the talks in Florida.
Separately, officials said the leaders of the United Kingdom, France and Germany would participate in a meeting with Zelenskyy in London on Monday.
As the three days of talks wrapped up, Russian missile, drone and shelling attacks overnight and Sunday killed at least four people in Ukraine.
A man was killed in a drone attack on Ukraine’s northern Chernihiv region Saturday night, local officials said, while a combined missile and drone attack on infrastructure in the central city of Kremenchuk caused power and water outages. Kremenchuk is home to one of Ukraine’s biggest oil refineries and is an industrial hub.
Kyiv and its Western allies say Russia is trying to cripple the Ukrainian power grid and deny civilians access to heat, light and running water for a fourth consecutive winter, in what Ukrainian officials call “weaponizing” the cold.
Three people were killed and 10 others wounded Sunday in shelling by Russian troops in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, according to the regional prosecutor’s office.
This story was first published on Dec. 7, 2025. It was updated on Dec. 8, 2025 to correct that Trump said Zelenskyy hadn’t read the latest proposal, rather than that he wasn’t ready to accept it.
AP writers Darlene Superville and Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed reporting.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
President Donald Trump talks to the media while walking the red carpet before the 48th Kennedy Center Honors, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
FILE- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a Kyrgyzstan-Russia talk at the Administrative complex Yntymak-Manas Ordo, in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Nov. 26, 2025. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)
In this photo provided by Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade press service, a soldier tests land drones in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, (Andriy Andriyenko/Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade via AP)
In this photo, provided by Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade press service, a soldier tests land drones in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, (Andriy Andriyenko/Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade via AP)
