President Donald Trump on Wednesday once again boasted about settling global conflicts, this time claiming he ended a war in the Congo region that saw 15 million people beheaded. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One after a NATO summit in Turkey, Trump said, “I mean, think of the wars I settled. Eight. Wars that were going on for 30 years. Even if you look in the Congo, the Congo versus Rwanda, I settled it after 14 years and about 15 million people had their heads chopped off. I settled that one. I settled eight wars.”
No Evidence for Beheading Claim
There is no evidence that the conflict between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has been intermittent since the 1990s, has killed 15 million people, much less that that many were beheaded. The actual death toll from the Congo wars, including the Second Congo War (1998–2003), is estimated at around 5.4 million, primarily from disease and starvation, not beheadings. The claim appears to be a gross exaggeration.
Trump’s Nobel Prize Grievances
Trump then launched into another rant about the Norwegian Nobel Committee and his supposed snub regarding the peace prize, which was given last year to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado. Machado later gifted Trump her Nobel plaque in January, less than two weeks after Trump ordered the U.S. military operation in Venezuela to capture then-President Nicolás Maduro. Trump claimed, “And when she won the Nobel Prize for Peace, she said, ‘I can’t believe I won it. The only one that should win it is Trump.’” He added, “Actually, they probably will do the wrong thing. It’s very sad.”
Trump continued, “But I would say this, I should’ve won that award more than anybody that ever received the Nobel Peace Prize, because nobody’s settled wars. I settled eight of them. Because I’m a certain type of personality, I was able to settle them.”
Background on Congo-Rwanda Agreement
Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Felix Tshisekedi, leader of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, met in Washington, D.C., in December to sign an agreement to end hostilities in the conflict. They reportedly refused to shake hands, and the fighting has since continued. Trump has frequently claimed to have settled at least eight wars around the world during his presidency.
Trump’s Longstanding Nobel Pursuit
Trump has lobbied hard for a Nobel Peace Prize during his current term in office. He previously argued while continuing to weigh strikes on Iran last year that he should have already gotten “four or five” of them, before complaining that “they only give it to liberals.” His latest claims aboard Air Force One continue a pattern of exaggerating his diplomatic achievements and criticizing the Nobel Committee.
