GOMA, Congo — Congo and Rwanda -backed rebel group M23 on Saturday signed a framework agreement for a peace deal, the latest step in the so far unsuccessful efforts to end the decades-long conflict in eastern Congo.

Earlier this year, M23 seized Goma and Bukavu, two key cities in eastern Congo, in a major escalation of the conflict.

Backed by neighboring Rwanda, M23 is the most prominent of more than 100 armed groups fighting for control in Congo’s mineral-rich east. With 7 million people displaced, the conflict in Congo has been described by the U.N. as “one of the most protracted, complex, serious humanitarian crises on Earth.”

The agreement signed in Doha on Saturday, following mediation by Qatar and the United States, is not yet a final peace agreement, but rather a framework outlin

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