RESIDENTS of eastern Congo said fighting has intensified despite a peace agreement that was signed by the Congolese and Rwandan presidents in Washington with US President Donald Trump.

Presidents Felix Tshisekedi of Congo and Paul Kagame of Rwanda met with Mr Trump on Thursday to sign a wide-ranging deal that attempted to stop the ongoing war between the Congolese armed forces and the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group in the eastern part of Congo.

But residents said today that the fighting has intensified in recent days, with the town of Kamanyola near the borders with Rwanda and Burundi bearing the brunt.

“People are fleeing; they are leaving the neighbourhoods where the bombs are falling to go to areas considered calm, and others are fleeing towards Rwanda,” Kamanyola resident Urbain Dunia told reporters today.

“Yesterday, we saw that agreements were signed, but we don’t see any positive impact on this situation, and that worries us,” said Samson Alimasi, also from Kamanyola.

“We only see bombs falling without knowing which side they are coming from.”

Lauded by the White House as an “historic” agreement brokered by Mr Trump, the pact between Mr Tshisekedi and Mr Kagame followed prolonged peace efforts by the African Union, Qatar, the US and others. The agreement finalised a deal signed in June.

M23 is one of about 100 armed groups vying for a foothold in mineral-rich eastern Congo near the border with Rwanda in a conflict that has created one of the world’s most significant humanitarian crises.

More than seven million people have been displaced, officials say.

The rebels are supported by about 4,000 troops from neighbouring Rwanda, according to UN experts, and at times have vowed to march as far as Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, about a thousand miles to the east.