The State Department released an update on Wednesday regarding the U.S.'s efforts to help broker a peace deal that ends conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with officials from Rwanda and the Congo in Washington, D.C., late last week to help finalize and oversee the talks, and the two countries agreed to sign the peace deal by May 2. 

In fact, the two countries signed a pledge to work toward the peace deal, according to the Associated Press, overseen by Rubio. The planned peace deal "would ease U.S. access to critical minerals in resource-rich eastern Congo, bringing U.S. influence to bear in a minerals trade that has helped fuel conflict that has killed millions for three decades."

Congo is the world’s largest producer of cobalt, according to the AP. It also has notable gold, diamond and copper reserves.

The signing event last week in Washington is being viewed as "an early step in what the Trump administration says is a rebuilding of U.S. foreign policy to focus on transactions of direct financial or strategic benefit to the United States."

Discussions on the final agreement occurred in Qatar, where representatives from the Togolese Republic, the United States, France, Qatar, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of Rwanda, reaffirmed their "shared commitment to peace, stability and economic development in the Great Lakes region."

They also "expressed their readiness to contribute to the ongoing efforts that promote mutual trust, sustainable ceasefire, and a peaceful resolution to the conflict," the State Department said.

The meeting comes after the Rwandan Army on Tuesday moved out of the Congo as the peace deal looms. The conflict between the countries is a spillover from the Rwandan genocide of 1994, according to Reuters, though Rwanda has denied backing rebel forces.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.