Professor PLO Lumumba has dismissed the Washington, D.C. peace deal signed by President Donald Trump, Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, and DRC’s Félix Tshisekedi, calling it “dead on arrival” and a “tragic comedy.”
He said the pact humiliates African leaders abroad while ignoring the realities facing fighters on the ground. Lumumba added that true peace will only come when Africa confronts internal greed, foreign meddling, and its own self-inflicted misfortunes.
The deal was designed to end the long‑standing conflict in eastern DRC, linked to involvement of Rwandan‑backed rebel groups and multiple militia movements, and to chart a path towards security, stability, and economic cooperation between DRC and Rwanda.
Lumumba questioned the logic of relying on an American solution to an African problem and warned that leaders traveling over 11,000 miles to negotiate peace abroad risked ignoring local realities.
“There are over three hundred plus fighting forces in eastern Congo. When you signed the deal with the president of Rwanda and the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo without involving the combatants on the ground, then it is a tragic comedy,” he said.
Highlighting previous failed interventions, Lumumba described the deal as one of many microwave solutions, instant coffee solutions, ego-massaging solutions that have repeatedly failed in Angola, Lwanda, Qatar, Nairobi, and Addis Ababa.
He added that fighting intensified the moment the ink dried on the document, and warned that clashes are likely to escalate.
Lumumba said the deal sends a stark message to the African continent, the East African Community, SADC, the Central African communities, and the African Union.
“The sooner we exercise the ghost of low self-esteem and avoid being humiliated in foreign capitals, only then will we have lasting solutions to the problems that bedevil the continent,” he said.
Reflecting on Africa’s internal challenges, Lumumba asked why Africans are their own enemies.
“Are we our worst enemy? Africans, we are our worst enemies. There is a sense in which Africans have failed to resolve their problems, and the Congo problem is emblematic of our monumental failure.”
He noted the gap between African rhetoric on regional cooperation, free trade, and Agenda 2063 goals, and the actual implementation of these principles.
The professor criticized African leaders as often being mere puppets manipulated by external powers, including neocolonial institutions, the French, and the United States.
“All these factors conjoined only tell one story, that we are the co-authors of our misfortune,” Lumumba said.
The professor also pointed out the role of internal greed and personal interest in perpetuating conflict.
Leaders across DRC, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and other nations have allegedly maintained personal militias and prioritized wealth over peace.
“When President Trump, President Kagame, and other heads of state sit in Washington D.C., purporting to be signing a peace deal and these individuals on the ground are not involved, you can predict without foresight that the deal is dead on arrival,” he warned.
Lumumba called for a return to the drawing board, urging Africa to ask difficult questions.
“For how long are we going to be manipulated? For how long is our greed going to lead us down this path? Are African leaders truly interested in solving the problem? Perhaps conflict is also a business. People love it. Conflict is a business. Absolutely.”
The professor concluded that sustainable peace in the DRC and Rwanda requires involving all combatants on the ground, enforcing accountability, and confronting foreign influence.
He stressed that without such measures, agreements like the Washington peace deal risk being symbolic rather than transformative.
“This is a tragic comedy for Africa, but also a warning,” He said. “Only by addressing our internal failures and resisting external manipulation can lasting solutions emerge for the DRC, Rwanda, and the continent at large.”
