Congo president wants to nominate Donald for world’s top honour after he ends bloodiest war on Earth
Donald Trump might finally get his hands on the glittering Nobel Peace Prize that’s haunted him for years — and it took a stunning revelation from an African journalist to bring his dream within reach.
Hariana Veras, a Congolese-born White House correspondent, delivered the jaw-dropping news straight to Trump’s face during Friday’s historic peace signing at the White House.
‘You deserve it, Mr President’
The reporter had just returned from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where she’d witnessed something extraordinary unfold across the war-torn nation.
“People are hopeful now,” Veras told the American president as dignitaries packed the Oval Office. Then came the bombshell that left Trump visibly moved.
“President Félix Tshisekedi is thinking of nominating you for the Nobel Peace Prize. You deserve it.”
Her words hung in the air like electricity. After decades of watching other world leaders claim the prestigious honour, Trump’s moment might finally have arrived.
Six million dead — until Trump stepped in
The numbers alone tell a story of unimaginable horror. Six million souls lost. Thirty years of butchery. Entire generations wiped out in Africa’s deadliest conflict since World War Two.
Eastern Congo had become hell on Earth. Machete-wielding militias. Mass rape as a weapon of war. Children hacked to pieces in their beds. Seven million people driven from their homes, stumbling through jungles to escape the slaughter.
Rwanda and Congo had been locked in a death spiral that began with the 1994 genocide, when Hutu extremists murdered 800,000 Tutsis in just 100 days. The killers fled across the border, sparking three decades of revenge and counter-revenge.
But where previous American presidents saw an intractable African problem, Trump saw an opportunity.
The deal that shocked the world
Standing beside Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday, foreign ministers from both nations put pen to paper on what Trump called “a wonderful treaty” — ending one of humanity’s darkest chapters.
This is an important moment after 30 years of war,” Rubio declared as the ink dried on the historic document.
The agreement demands Rwanda pull its estimated 4,000 troops out of Congo within 90 days. The notorious M23 rebels, who’d captured major cities and turned eastern Congo into their personal fiefdom, face disarmament.
But here’s what makes Trump’s deal different — it’s not just about stopping the killing.
Billions at stake in mineral bonanza
Buried beneath Congo’s blood-soaked soil lies treasure beyond imagination. Cobalt for your iPhone. Lithium for electric cars. Copper, gold, tantalum — the building blocks of modern technology.
Trump’s masterstroke? Turn enemies into business partners. His administration crafted a framework that lets American companies access these critical minerals while both African nations profit from the boom.
Within 90 days, Congo and Rwanda will launch joint economic projects. Processing facilities in Rwanda. Mining expansion in Congo. Billions of Western investment flooding in where once only blood flowed.
President Trump is a president of peace,” Rubio emphasised. “He really does want peace. He prioritises it above all else.”
‘They didn’t do anything’
Veras didn’t hold back when describing the contrast with previous administrations.
“Tshisekedi told me that for many years, American presidents have overlooked this conflict. They didn’t do anything.”
The accusation stings because it’s true. Bill Clinton watched as the genocide’s aftermath spiralled into regional war. George W. Bush focused on the Middle East while millions died in African jungles. Barack Obama collected his Nobel Prize nine months into office — while Congo burned.
Even Biden’s team, despite starting peace talks, couldn’t close the deal.
Trump’s critics hate admitting it, but his transactional approach — mixing hardball diplomacy with promises of prosperity — achieved what decades of hand-wringing couldn’t.
The Trump treatment works
How did a property developer from Queens succeed where career diplomats failed?
Sources say Trump deployed his signature carrot-and-stick tactics. Behind closed doors, his team threatened crushing sanctions on both countries if they didn’t play ball. But publicly, he dangled the promise of American investment and global legitimacy.
His secret weapon? Massad Boulos, father-in-law to Trump’s daughter Tiffany. The Lebanese-American businessman used his African connections to grease the wheels, shuttling between capitals and sweet-talking suspicious leaders.
When technical teams hit roadblocks, Trump picked up the phone himself. When negotiations stalled, he sent personal messages. When both sides wavered, he reminded them what they stood to gain — or lose.
‘No matter what I do’
Trump’s obsession with the Nobel Prize is Washington’s worst-kept secret. He’s raged for years about Obama winning it for essentially showing up. He’s complained bitterly about the committee’s liberal bias.
Just last week, he posted on Truth Social: “I won’t get a Nobel Peace Prize no matter what I do, including Russia/Ukraine, and Israel/Iran, whatever those outcomes may be, but the people know, and that’s all that matters to me.
The bitterness runs deep. In 2020, far-right Norwegian politicians nominated him. In 2021, Swedish nationalists tried again. Each time, the Oslo committee passed him over for journalists and activists.
But Tshisekedi’s potential nomination carries different weight. Here’s an African leader whose people have suffered unimaginable horrors, publicly crediting Trump with ending their nightmare.
Pakistan jumps on the bandwagon
Congo isn’t alone in pushing Trump for the prize. Hours before Friday’s signing, Pakistan’s government announced its own nomination bid, praising his “decisive diplomatic intervention” in recent India-Pakistan tensions.
The momentum is building. Republican congressmen are drafting their own nominations. International betting sites have slashed Trump’s odds from 13% to nearly 28% — making him the favourite ahead of Greta Thunberg.
Could 2026 finally be Trump’s year?
‘Beautiful inside and out’
The signing ceremony produced another quintessentially Trump moment that set social media ablaze.
After Veras delivered her Nobel bombshell, the president couldn’t help himself. I probably shouldn’t say this — might end my political career — but you are beautiful,” he told the reporter. “And you’re beautiful inside. I wish we had more reporters like you.”
Critics pounced on the comment as inappropriate. Supporters called it vintage Trump — unfiltered, human, real. Either way, it was classic Donald, turning a solemn diplomatic moment into must-see TV.
Will peace actually stick?
Not everyone’s popping champagne. The M23 rebels haven’t agreed to anything. They’ve suggested any deal made without them is worthless. Fighting continues on the ground even as diplomats shake hands in Washington.
Nobel laureate Denis Mukwege, a Congolese doctor who’s treated thousands of rape victims, called the agreement “vague” and warned it rewards Rwanda’s aggression.
But Trump waved off doubters with characteristic confidence. Asked about potential violations, he warned of “very severe penalties, financial and otherwise” for anyone who breaks the deal.
His administration plans a Rose Garden ceremony in coming weeks with both African presidents. More signatures. More photos. More chances to remind the world who made peace possible.
The greatest comeback of all?
Imagine the scene in Oslo next December. Trump striding onto the stage where Obama once stood. The Nobel medal gleaming against his dark suit. The man they said would start World War Three collecting the world’s most prestigious peace prize.
His enemies would choke on their organic quinoa. The liberal establishment would melt down in real time. And Trump? He’d probably give the shortest Nobel speech in history before flying home to play golf.
Hariana Veras saw hope in Congo’s killing fields. She saw mothers who’d lost children daring to smile again. She saw young men putting down machetes and picking up mobile phones.
Most importantly, she saw a chance to give credit where it’s due. Not to the diplomats who failed for 30 years. Not to the UN bureaucrats who counted bodies while doing nothing. But to the unlikely peacemaker who everyone said was too crude, too transactional, too American to understand Africa’s complexities.
Turns out, maybe that’s exactly what it took.
Trump’s message to the Nobel Committee
The President might claim he doesn’t care about their “liberal prize” — but everyone knows better. This is the man who keeps magazine covers from the 1980s, who builds golf courses with his name in giant letters, who needs the world to acknowledge his wins.
A Nobel Peace Prize would be the ultimate validation. Proof that the establishment was wrong. Evidence that his unorthodox methods work. The golden ticket to history’s most exclusive club.
Tshisekedi gets it. The Congolese president understands what motivates Trump better than most Western leaders. Give the man his due. Feed his ego. Watch him move mountains to prove he deserves it.
Six million dead Africans couldn’t move previous presidents to action. But the prospect of Norwegian gold might just keep Trump focused long enough to make peace stick.
And if that’s what it takes to stop the killing, maybe we should all be rooting for him to win.
Because in Congo’s mass graves and refugee camps, they don’t care about Trump’s tweets or his hair or his history with porn stars. They care that their children might actually grow old. They care that the rapes might finally stop. They care that someone, anyone, finally gave enough of a damn to end their suffering.
Even if that someone is Donald J. Trump.
Especially if that someone is Donald J. Trump.
