Fire broke out during onboard cooking before wooden vessel capsized with 500 passengers aboard
The death toll from a boat fire and capsizing in the Democratic Republic of Congo earlier this week has risen to 148 with more than 100 people still missing, officials said on Friday.
About 500 passengers were on board the wooden boat when it capsized on Tuesday after catching fire on the Congo River in the country’s north-west.
Continue reading...US and Europe criticised by head of Norwegian Refugee Council for ‘neglect’ of people living ‘subhuman’ existence
World leaders should be ashamed of their neglect of people whose lives were “hanging by a thread” at a time of surging violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the international charity leader Jan Egeland has said.
In a stinging attack on aid cuts and the “nationalistic winds” blowing across Europe and the US, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s head told the Guardian how people were living out in the open, in overcrowded, unsanitary displacement encampments around the city of Goma, where 1.2 million people have had to flee from their homes as the M23 rebels advanced through the DRC’s North and South Kivu provinces.
Continue reading...Deaths and injuries reported after explosions at rally attended by thousands in city captured by rebel group
Several people have been killed and dozens more injured after blasts at a mass rally held by the M23 group in Bukavu, the city in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo captured by the rebels earlier this month.
Footage posted on social media showed people fleeing the scene. In another video, bloodied bodies lay on the ground and injured people were being carried away.
Continue reading...DRC prime minister tells human rights council fighting has left about 450,000 without shelter after camps destroyed
About 7,000 people have died in fighting in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo since Rwanda-backed M23 rebels started renewed advances in January, the DRC’s prime minister has said.
At a high-level meeting of the UN’s human rights council in Geneva on Monday, Judith Suminwa Tuluka also said the war had left about 450,000 people without shelter after the destruction of 90 displacement camps.
Continue reading...Figures emerge as Kindoki Witch Boy film tells true story of Mardoche Yembi who underwent an exorcism as a child
Thousands of children in England have been accused of witchcraft over the past decade, according to new figures that come alongside a film released on Monday.
Faith-based abuse is a worldwide phenomenon but experts found 14,000 social work assessments linked to witchcraft accusations since 2015. In the year running to March 2024 alone, there were 2,180 assessments linked to witchcraft.
Children accused of witchcraft can call Childline on 0800 1111 or NSPCC on 0808 800 500.
Continue reading...OHCHR says Tutsi-led M23 group killed three boys in Bukavu last week after capturing the city
The UN human rights office accused the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels of killing three children in Bakavu, the Democratic Republic of the Congo city they captured last week, expressing alarm at human rights violations by the militia.
“Our office has confirmed cases of summary execution of children by M23 after they entered the city of Bukavu last week. We are also aware that children were in possession of weapons,” Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the UN’s Office of the high commissioner for human rights (OHCHR), said on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Congolese authorities accused of abandoning Bukavu after government confirms fall to militia group
M23 rebels have captured and occupied Bukavu, the second-largest city in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Congolese government has confirmed, days after the Rwanda-backed militia launched an attack.
In a statement posted on X, the DRC communications ministry said it was monitoring the situation “marked by the entry of the Rwandan army and its auxiliaries” and it was “doing everything possible to restore order, security and territorial integrity”.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Foreign minister says she sought meeting with the north London Premier League club to discuss sponsorship by country accused of aiding armed rebels
Arsenal Football Club has been accused of delivering an “outrageous” snub to the Congolese government by not meeting the foreign minister to discuss its sponsorship deal with Rwanda.
Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner, foreign minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), who was in London this week to raise concerns over Rwanda’s support for the M23 militia, said she attempted to meet Arsenal officials to discuss the club’s Visit Rwanda sponsorship deal.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: As Rwandan-backed M23 rebels seize more territory and the humanitarian crisis worsens, what’s the background to the war and prospect of peace?
Good morning. Over the weekend, the presidents of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda – Félix Tshisekedi and Paul Kagame – were among those who took part in a regional summit aimed at ending the resurgent violence in eastern DRC. The summit ended with a call for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire. But while there was a lull in the fighting yesterday, many fear that a ceasefire is less likely than escalation to a wider regional war.
Rwanda does not officially admit to its involvement in the latest episode of the long-running and devastating conflict in eastern DRC. But M23, an armed group with Rwanda’s tacit and practical support, has taken the capital of North Kivu province, Goma, and is now moving south to expand the territory under its control. At stake is control of a mineral-rich region of crucial strategic significance, and the fate of civilians there who are frequently the subject of ethnically targeted attacks – but also the question of whether national borders can act as any sort of constraint.
Arms trade | Britain’s system for controlling arms exports is broken, subject to political manipulation and has seen conduct that crossed the threshold into complicity with war crimes, a former UK diplomat has claimed. Mark Smith said officials were instructed to manipulate findings on the misuse of UK arms by allies.
Immigration | The Home Office is launching a fresh wave of immigration raids as Labour attempts to counter the growing political threat from Reform UK. Amid anger from critics who believe the approach echoes Theresa May’s “hostile environment” regime, the government will broadcast footage of deportations from detention to removal centres and on to waiting planes.
Israel-Gaza war | Israeli forces have withdrawn from the strategic corridor that divides northern and southern Gaza, as part of a ceasefire plan that has brought a fragile pause to the 16-month war. Despite the withdrawal – and the release of hostages and prisoners – little progress has been made on negotiating the second phase of the deal.
Air pollution | More than 1,100 people a year in the UK are developing the most prevalent form of lung cancer as a result of air pollution, the Guardian can reveal. Health experts, cancer charities and environmental campaigners said the UK findings were “devastating”
Trump tariffs | Donald Trump has said he will announce new 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports into the US on Monday that would affect “everybody’, including its largest trading partners Canada and Mexico, in another major escalation of his trade policy overhaul.
Continue reading...Leaders from across Africa call for immediate ceasefire at cross-party summit in Tanzania
A summit of regional leaders has called for an immediate unconditional ceasefire within five days in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Rwandan president, Paul Kagame, and the president of the DRC, Felix Tshisekedi, joined a summit in Tanzania on Saturday, where African leaders said they were deeply concerned by the crisis.
Continue reading...Belgium leads calls for suspension of agreement after Rwanda-backed rebels captured city of Goma
The EU is under mounting pressure to suspend a controversial minerals deal with Rwanda that has been blamed for fuelling the conflict in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Calls to freeze the agreement have grown after fighters from the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group captured the city of Goma in the eastern DRC, escalating a decades-old conflict and raising fears of a regional war.
Continue reading...Rebels had captured the city in January in major escalation of 10-year-old conflict
At least 773 people were killed in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo’s largest city of Goma and its vicinity this week amid fighting with Rwanda-backed rebels who captured the city in a major escalation of a decade-long conflict, Congolese authorities have said.
The rebels’ advance into other areas was slowed by a weakened military that recovered some villages from them.
Continue reading...UK foreign secretary issues direct warning during phone call with Rwandan president after escalation of conflict
Rwanda has put $1bn of global aid under threat by taking part in the invasion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, has said.
He made the direct warning in a phone call to the Rwandan president, Paul Kagame, on Sunday after also speaking to the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, about the crisis.
Continue reading...At least 100 people killed and 1,000 wounded in three days of heavy fighting in North Kivu
Dead bodies lay on the streets and explosions and gunfire echoed across the largest city in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on Tuesday, as fighting continued to rage between the army and Rwanda-backed M23 rebels.
Residents reported continuing gun and mortar fire in Goma, the capital of North Kivu province and a regional humanitarian hub for displaced people, after M23 fighters entered the city on Sunday.
Continue reading...M23’s lightning advance into east DRC being supported by up to 4,000 Rwandan troops, say UN officials
France is seeking western support for a UN security council resolution that names Rwanda as being behind the M23 rebel group attacks inside the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including the surprise weekend seizure of parts of Goma, the largest city in eastern DRC.
UN officials said as many as 4,000 Rwandan troops were escorting the M23 rebels. The UN secretary general, António Guterres, on Sunday called on “the Rwandan defence forces to stop supporting the M23 and to withdraw from the territory of the DRC”. It was his clearest statement of Rwandan responsibility for much of the violence.
Continue reading...Fighters enter city on border with Rwanda after lightning advance, raising risk of broader regional war
Fighters from the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group claim to have taken the eastern city of Goma after a lightning advance in recent weeks that has forced thousands from their homes and risked reigniting a broader regional war.
The M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka said on X: “We urge all residents of Goma to remain calm. The liberation of the city has been successfully carried out and the situation is under control.”
Continue reading...Intelligence sources suggest battle for Congolese regional capital Goma is imminent before UN crisis talks on Sunday
Large numbers of troops from Rwanda have been pouring across the border into the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to help rebels seize the regional capital of Goma before an emergency UN meeting about the crisis takes place on Sunday, intelligence officials have warned.
Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) soldiers are believed to have secretly crossed into the eastern DRC over the past few days to assist a lightning offensive by the M23 militia.
Continue reading...Maj Gen Peter Cirimwami Nkuba shot near frontline as advance causes panic among civilian population
The military governor of North Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has died from injuries sustained during the army’s fight against the M23 rebel group as it advances towards the city of Goma.
Maj Gen Peter Cirimwami Nkuba, who led the province since 2023, died after being shot near the frontline on Thursday, government and UN sources told various news agencies.
Continue reading...Law to stop armed groups profiting from trade in gold, tin, tungsten and tantalum is being breached, rights groups say
The European Union has been urged to clamp down on illegal imports of conflict minerals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) after evidence was found that current regulations had been breached.
The advocacy group Global Witness (GW) said there remained a “high risk” of the EU’s mineral imports being used to fund militias and state repression in several countries.
Continue reading...Verdict of crimes against humanity for kidnap of mixed-race children could pave way for wider justice, activists say
A historic court ruling that found Belgium guilty of crimes against humanity during its colonial rule of central Africa has been hailed as a turning point that could pave the way for compensation and other forms of justice.
Belgium’s court of appeal ruled last month that the “systematic kidnapping” of mixed-race children from their African mothers in Belgian-ruled Congo, Rwanda and Burundi was a crime against humanity. The case was brought by five women who were removed from their Congolese mothers as small children between 1948 and 1953, and who now live in Belgium and France. Each was awarded €50,000 (£42,000) in damages.
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