The Democratic Republic of Congo and the Rwanda-backed M23 militia have signed a peace framework in Qatar aimed at ending the fighting that has devastated eastern DRC.

Qatar, with the US and African Union, has shuttled between the two sides for months hoping to end the conflict in the mineral-rich east, where the M23 has captured key cities.

The DRC and M23 signed one ceasefire deal and an earlier framework in July. But each side has accused the other of breaking the truce.

Hundreds of thousands of people have died in various conflicts in eastern DRC since the mid-1990s.

The signing of the deal, the Doha Framework for a Comprehensive Peace Agreement, was completed at a ceremony attended by officials from the warring parties, as well as the US and Qatar.

Qatar's chief negotiator, Mohammed Al Khulaifi, called the deal "historic", adding that mediators would continue efforts to achieve peace on the ground.

But Benjamin Mbonimpa, representing the M23 delegation in Doha, said in a statement that the agreement contained "no binding clauses" and would not change "the situation on the ground".

US President Donald Trump's envoy to Africa, Massad Boulos, called the agreement 'a major milestone'. AFP

The text contains eight chapters on the "root causes of the conflict", which will be negotiated "before reaching a comprehensive peace agreement", he added.

The DRC government said in a statement that the framework "aims to create, in the shortest time possible, the condi