Donald Trump presided over a signing ceremony for a peace agreement with his Congolese and Rwandan counterparts in Washington on Thursday, in a building renamed in his honor, calling it a "miracle" even as intense fighting continues in eastern Congo.

"This is going to be a great miracle," said the US president, praising a "powerful and detailed" agreement, while the presidents of the DRC, Félix Tshisekedi, and Rwanda, Paul Kagame, struck a more cautious tone.

The two leaders will in the future "spend a lot of time hugging and holding hands," predicted Donald Trump, with his usual emphasis, also assuring that "everyone will make a lot of money" thanks to these "Washington deals," which include an economic dimension.

Reagan Miviri, a researcher at the Congolese Ebuteli Institute, contacted by AFP, believes that this ceremony is the result of "strong pressure" exerted by the United States, and adds: "For them, the essential thing is perhaps less the content of the agreement than the event itself."

The signing, which aimed to formalize commitments made in June already under the leadership of Washington, took place at the headquarters of the "Donald Trump Institute for Peace".

- "Great honor" -

Formerly known as the "American Institute for Peace", this organization was renamed Wednesday by the State Department and now bears the name of the American president on its facade.

"It's a great honor," rejoiced Donald Trump, who prides himself on being a great peacemaker even though his interventions in various international conflicts have had mixed results.

Paul Kagame praised his "pragmatic" mediation, while warning that there would be "ups and downs" in the implementation of the agreement.

Félix Tshisekedi also thanked the 79-year-old Republican for bringing about a "turning point", and hailed "the beginning of a new path", warning however that it would be "demanding" and "quite difficult".

On the ground, fighting has been raging for several days between the M23 armed group, supported by Kigali, and the Congolese army backed by militias, in the province of South Kivu (eastern DRC), according to local sources.

The M23 – which has never officially recognized its links with Kigali – and the DRC authorities regularly accuse each other of violating the ceasefire they had pledged to respect as part of a parallel mediation led by Qatar in Doha.

Heavy and light gunfire rang out early this morning near Kamanyola, a Congolese town controlled by the M23, bordering Rwanda and Burundi, an AFP journalist on the scene reported.

In Kaziba, a locality located in the South Kivu highlands, clashes resumed "from 05:30" local time, and fighter jets "pounded" the area around 08:30, a civil society representative said on condition of anonymity.

- "Many dead" -

AFP was unable to obtain a reliable casualty count from independent sources.

"Many houses have been bombed and there are many dead," René Chubaka Kalembire, an administrative official in Kaziba, a town under M23 control, told AFP on Wednesday.

The armed conflicts that have plagued the region for three decades have displaced hundreds of thousands of people and caused a vast humanitarian crisis.

The agreements signed on Thursday comprise three parts.

The first concerns the cessation of hostilities, with the establishment of a ceasefire, a disarmament program, a process for the return of displaced persons and "justice" measures against those responsible for abuses, according to Donald Trump.

The second component is a framework for regional economic integration.

The final section concerns the conclusion of bilateral agreements between the United States and each of the two countries on the exploitation of strategic minerals, essential to high-tech industries and of which the DRC in particular is rich.