* Regional economic framework was supposed to be signed this week * Deal is part of broader US bid to broker peace * Rwanda-backed rebels staged major advance in Congo this year * Trump hopes to lure investment to mineral-rich region By Daphne Psaledakis, Jessica Donati and Sonia Rolley WASHINGTON/DAKAR/PARIS, Oct 3 (Reuters) – Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda will not sign an economic framework this week as expected, four sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday, in another stumbling block for the Trump administration's efforts to implement a peace deal and spur Western investment in the region. Rwanda-backed M23 rebels seized two major cities in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in January and February, posing the biggest threat to the government in Kinshasa in two decades. President Donald Trump is pursuing an ambitious bid to broker peace and draw billions of dollars of Western investment to a region rich in tantalum, gold, cobalt, copper, lithium and other minerals. Though he says the war is over, Congo's army and M23 are reinforcing military positions and blaming each other for going back on various agreements. Congo and Rwanda, which denies supporting M23, were expected to initial an agreement known as the Regional Economic Integration Framework (REIF) this week after a final round of negotiations in Washington. But a Rwandan official said that while the text was finalized, negotiations concluded without any signature after Kinshasa was unwilling to sign. The official and other sources spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive, ongoing diplomacy. US AIMS TO GET TALKS BACK ON TRACK A second source familiar with the matter said Congo would not sign the economic framework until 90% of Rwandan troops withdraw from eastern Congo. The withdrawal of Rwandan troops is part of a wider peace deal mediated by Washington that the countries signed in June. "They're going to have to get Trump on the phone," the source said. The U.S. is trying to get the process back on track, the Rwandan official said, but the initialing was not expected to take place on Friday. "The negotiating teams had finalized the text of the REIF agreement but disappointingly, Kinshasa decided at the last minute not to initial it," the Rwandan official said. "We believe in this agreement and in the approach of the US mediation, and hope that the economic agreement will eventually be signed. The peace process must succeed," the official added. Congo, Rwanda and the U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. "The agreement has been finalised but the Congolese had never made any secret of the fact that they would not sign as long as the Rwandan army remained on their territory. So for us, it is not a surprise," an African diplomat said. The Congolese and Rwandan foreign ministers on June 27 signed a peace deal in Washington, which included a pledge to implement a 2024 agreement that said Rwanda would lift its defensive measures in eastern Congo within 90 days. Congolese military operations targeting the FDLR, a Congo-based armed group that includes remnants of Rwanda's former army and militias that carried out the 1994 genocide, are meant to conclude over the same timeframe. (Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis in Washington, Jessica Donati in Dakar, Sonia Rolley in Paris and Ange Kasongo in Kinshasa; Editing by Robbie Corey-Boulet and Daniel Wallis)
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