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This article covers the peace agreement that was drafted between Rwanda and Congo. This comes after the inflamed fighting in east congo between the rwandan backed M23 and the Congolese government. This is a move by the US to make their way into the resource rich country of Congo and gain access to the world’s largest reserve of Cobalt as well as their gold and diamond mines. This would also stabilize the Congo in order to strike more deals on export without their population being taken by a conflict in the east.
The amount of violence in the region over the past 30-40 years in the region is hard to quench these wars completely without heavy international pressure and peacekeepers. The US pushing for these countries to make peace agreements and holding to them will be more pressing than any other way these countries make peace. Through the US both of these countries could pull in more international investment. This is also utilizing a more offshore balancing approach to the US foreign policy that can help them keep more of the budget at home while still being an international mediator to parties the US has a vested interest in.
This can be related to the potential foreign policy moves by the US by utilizing offshore balancing. This helps the US while not allowing them to expend too much outside of the US. They don’t need to spend on expensive overseas military bases or peacekeepers through NATO they just need to act as a very influential mediator that can help these countries become more developed and export goods to American companies that in turn would invest in the country using more soft power than we have in the past. The cost to Rwanda and Congo cannot be understated though giving the US access to ones natural resources can come at great cost to their legitimacy and sovereignty.