DR Congo and Rwanda set to sign US-brokered peace deal

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda are set to sign a US-brokered peace deal in Washington next week, which aims to end the fighting in eastern DRC.
A provisional agreement, announced by the two countries and the US State Department, covers issues including disarmament, the integration of non-state armed groups and the return of refugees and internally displaced people in eastern DRC. The deal is expected to be signed on 27 June.
Eastern DRC has been plagued by conflict for decades, with armed groups competing for access to natural resources, including tantalum, gold, cobalt, copper and lithium.
Congo has accused its neighbour Rwanda of backing one of the largest groups in the region, the M23 rebels. UN experts say the rebels are supported by about 4,000 troops from Rwanda, an accusation that Kigali has denied.
The conflict escalated in January, when the M23 rebels advanced and seized the strategic DRC city of Goma, followed by the town of Bukavu in February.
The draft agreement includes "provisions on respect for territorial integrity and a prohibition of hostilities; disengagement, disarmament, and conditional integration of non-state armed groups". It also includes a commitment to respecting territorial integrity and the conditional integration of non-state armed groups.
The Trump administration has spoken of unlocking Western investment in eastern DRC, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has previously described the possibility of peace as a "win-win for everyone involved".
Congo and Rwanda are not formally at war and in the past had held peace talks that have largely stalled, including some hosted by Qatar. Angola stepped down in March from its role as a mediator after several attempts to resolve the fighting in eastern DRC.
M23 is one of about 100 armed factions vying for control in the region. But unlike the others, it is mainly made up of ethnic Tutsis who failed to integrate into the DRC's army.
The group says it is defending ethnic Tutsis and Congolese of Rwandan origin from discrimination, although critics say their Rwanda-backed campaign is a pretext for economic and political influence over eastern DRC.
Rwanda's longtime President Paul Kagame accuses Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi of overlooking the concerns of the ethnic Tutsis and ignoring previous peace agreements.
Earlier this week, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said that the M23 rebels, DRC military and allied armed groups had all carried out human rights abuses, some of which could amount to war crimes.
Israel's military campaign against Iran has raised questions about the future leadership of the Islamic Republic and who will succeed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei if he is killed.
After assassinating several top Iranian military officials and nuclear scientists, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that Khamenei could be next.
Khamenei has rejected US calls for surrender in the face of Israeli strikes and warned that any military involvement by Washington would cause "irreparable damage".
US President Donald Trump said earlier this week that the US knew where Khamenei was "hiding" but that "we are not going to take him out ... at least not for now".
As tensions continue to rise almost a week after Israel launched its surprise attack on its major rival Iran, reports have emerged of the growing influence of Khamenei's son Mojtaba — and the possibility of him succeeding his father if Israel wipe him out.
Mojtaba is a mid-ranking cleric seen as an influential figure within Iran's decision-making circles, despite his lack of public appearances, insiders have previously told Reuters. Those sources said he has established solid ties with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and other important religious and political players in Tehran.
Although Khamenei has never endorsed a successor, Iran analysts say Mojtaba has long been considered as one of the main candidates to be the country's next supreme leader. The other was the late President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash last May.
Despite talk of his extensive influence, Iran's Assembly of Experts — the panel that will be tasked with appointing the country's next supreme leader — excluded Mojtaba from a list of potential candidates about six months ago, according to reporting by Reuters.
However, although his popularity is said to have faded, sources said there had been behind-the-scenes lobbying by influential clerics to put his name back into the mix.
US and Israeli officials have previously raised concerns that the lack of consensus over who should be the country's next supreme leader could complicate the succession phase, and lead to chaos within the regime, the Wall Street Journal reported last year.
Iran watchers have also said that Khamenei opposes hereditary rule in a nation where the US-backed monarchy was overthrown in 1979.
Nevertheless, the overlapping of religious and military institutions in Iran, as well as the lack of transparency behind the process to appoint the next supreme leader, means that Mojtaba cannot be ruled out.

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