The deal while hailed internationally as offering a big breakthrough for the Great Lakes Region, tells just half the story of American geopolitics.

Washington — President Trump on Friday celebrated the signing of a U.S.-brokered peace agreement between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, marking what the Trump administration hopes will be the end of a deadly conflict that has spanned nearly three decades.

While the deal could be a turning point in the struggle to end the conflict, many Congolese see the deal mainly as an opportunity for the US to acquire Congo's critical minerals.