On 4 December 2025, the presidents of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda signed a peace accord in Washington. President Trump called it “a great day for Africa, great day for the world”.
Within days, the fighting in eastern Congo had intensified. The M23 armed group, which UN experts have reported is backed by Rwanda, something Rwanda denies, advanced on Uvira, one of the last major towns in South Kivu outside its control. President Tshisekedi accused Rwanda of violating the deal. The US State Department said it was “deeply concerned”.
This wasn’t the first time. M23 had captured Goma, the region’s largest city, in January 2025, even though a UN peacekeeping mission has operated in the country in some form for more than two decades.
It’s tempting to conclude that peace deals in eastern Congo simply don’t work. That’s not quite right. The problem is more specific. The agreements were real. What was missing was anyone with both the mandate and the capacity to make the parties honour them.
A peace agreement without enforcement relies entirely on goodwill. And in a conflict fuelled by mineral wealth, regional rivalries and armed groups with their own agendas, goodwill is in short supply.
The Global Peace Alliance by Kizzi Nkwocha is built around this gap between signing peace and keeping it. The book examines why UN missions like the one in Congo have struggled despite large budgets, pointing to narrow mandates and limited resources, and argues for a force with clear authority to enforce ceasefires once they’re agreed.
The counter-argument is serious. Enforcement without the genuine consent of the parties can look a lot like taking sides, and outside forces rarely understand local conflicts as well as they think.
So can a peace deal hold without someone prepared to enforce it? And can enforcement work without the consent of those being enforced upon?
The Global Peace Alliance by Kizzi Nkwocha: https://a.co/d/07HzuID1
#DRC, #Congo, #Rwanda, #M23, #PeaceDeal, #Africa, #Peacekeeping, #ConflictResolution, #InternationalRelations, #WorldPeace, #GlobalPeaceAlliance, #KizziNkwocha
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