Trump’s sudden interest in Africa: A trade deal with ig-Noble characteristics?

It was Bloomberg’s Michael J. Kavanagh who called Donald Trump’s sudden interest in Africa for what it is: a potential route to a Nobel Prize.

Indeed, there can be no other reason that a man who once called Haiti and African nations “shithole countries” should suddenly be so seized with the desire to make peace between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

On June 27, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted the signing of a peace accord between the two countries. Supposedly, it ends 30 years of war. Even though the deal’s details are scant and previous agreements have neither lasted nor failed to end the conflict, both Mr Trump and Congo’s President Félix Tshisekedi framed the new accord as a spectacular generational victory.

“This is a tremendous breakthrough,” Mr Trump said.

“Another diplomatic success for President Félix Tshisekedi – certainly the most important in over 30 years,” said the Congolese president’s office.

For context, former Congolese president Joseph Kabila is one of those who takes a sceptical view of the peace deal, describing it as “nothing more than a trade agreement”.

More on Mr Kabila’s categorisation later, but suffice it to say Mr Trump has run a maximum PR campaign for the deal on social media. Before it was signed he wrote as follows: A peace deal would be “a Great Day for Africa and, quite frankly, a Great Day for the World!”

And he nudged the Nobel Peace Prize committee to take notice, offering the social media equivalent of a dig in the ribs: “I won’t get a Nobel Peace Prize for this,” he said, putting the Rwanda-Congo conflict alongside others with which he has momentarily engaged, not least Ukraine-Russia, India-Pakistan, Iran-Israel.

If he really did manage to broker peace between Rwanda and the DRC, it would be a spectacular achievement. This long-running conflict is a humanitarian disaster. Some six million Congolese are displaced. A great deal of blood has been shed.

The conflict goes back a long way. The DRC accuses Rwanda of backing the armed group M23, which has been fighting in the east of the country and has taken control of large swaths of the mineral-rich region. The regional capital Goma, Bukavu city and two airports in DRC are under M23’s control.

Do you think Mr Trump is sincerely interested in all of this?

Perhaps. He may have had a change of heart from the man who forcefully described African nations in insulting and unflattering terms.

But then there’s that Nobel Peace Prize.

And the reality DRC has huge amounts of gold, tin and tantalum as well as copper, cobalt and lithium deposits and that it’s looking to move away from Chinese miners.

Perhaps Joseph Kabila has a point and the Rwanda-DRC agreement really is a trade deal (with ig-Noble characteristics?)