Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump hailed a “historic” peace deal between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. Yet there was no public handshake at the summit in Washington between DRC President Félix Tshisekedi and Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, and the violence has continued ever since President Trump began mediating the conflict in April.

The two nations have often been at odds over the past 30 years, but the conflict sharply escalated in January after Rwanda-backed M23 rebels seized large parts of mineral-rich eastern DRC in an offensive that has killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands more.

Given the grim reality of the conflict, President Trump’s mediation efforts should be welcomed. But if President Trump wants to truly realize his vision for regional peace and prosperity, he must now build on the summit with sustained high-level engagement and increase pressure on both nations to abide by their commitments. 

The task is urgent. M23 has launched several new offensives in the last two weeks, making significant advances for the first time since March. The surge in fighting is unsurprising. The previous months, M23 was waging........

© Time