CONGO and Rwanda have submitted a draft peace proposal as part of a United States-led process that could end fighting in resource-rich eastern Congo, a US official said on Monday.

US President Donald Trump’s senior adviser for Africa and the Middle East, Massad Boulos, said on social media that he welcomed the draft text “received from both the Congo and Rwanda,” calling it “an important step.”

Details of the draft were not immediately clear, including whether it offers to provide easier access for the US to the region’s critical minerals — something Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi has mentioned in return for US intervening in the hostilities.

The conflict in eastern Congo escalated in January, when the Rwanda-backed M23 militia seized the strategic city of Goma, followed by the city of Bukavu in February. 

The fighting has killed some 3,000 people and raised the fears of a wider regional war.

Dozens of armed groups are vying for territory in the mining region near the border with Rwanda. 

The fighting has created one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises with more than seven million people displaced.

Congo is the world’s largest producer of the much-coveted cobalt mineral, used to make lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and smartphones. The country also has substantial gold, diamond and copper reserves.

The M23 militia are supported by about 4,000 troops from neighbouring Rwanda, according to UN experts.

Congo and Rwanda hope the involvement of the US — and the incentive of major investment if there’s enough security for US companies to work safely in eastern Congo — will calm the violence that has defied international peacekeeping and negotiation since the mid-1990s.

Some analysts have warned that the US could become involved in, or worsen, the militia violence, corruption, exploitation and rights abuses surrounding the mining of eastern Congo’s riches.