Metro

ECOWAS Defence Chiefs meet in Ghana over growing cross-border insecurity

Published

1 year ago

May 5, 2022

As the rate of insecurity continues in the West African sub-region, the chiefs of defence staff of member-states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) are meeting on a two-day meeting in Accra, Ghana to address security issues.

The summit which began on Thursday is aimed at strengthening military cooperation in the region plagued by growing insecurity.

Issaafrica reported that violent extremism is escalating in West Africa’s coastal states. This is terrifying for citizens but is just the tip of the insurgency iceberg. Under the surface lies a covert network that ensures terrorism continues in the region. Evidence is emerging that jihadists’ activities within and through coastal states are enabling them to fund, staff, and run the logistics they need to thrive.

Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Nigeria are battling with jihadist insurgencies and neighbouring states such as Ghana, Benin and Côte d’Ivoire are worried about spill over to their borders.

Ghana’s Defence Minister Dominic Nitiwul, while addressing representatives of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Ghana’s capital Accra, said that in three years, the region has suffered more than 5,300 attacks blamed on terrorists, resulting in about 16,000 deaths and more displaced people.

Between January and March, more than 840 attacks took place. the minister called for greater intelligence sharing to better monitor jihadist groups.

“As professionals, we must resolve to bury our differences imposed by our nationality, our culture (…) and move forward with greater collaboration,” Nitiwul insisted.

West Africa has been rocked by two coups in Mali, one in Guinea and one in Burkina Faso since August 2020.

Despite the sanctions on Mali, Burkina Faso, and Guinea, the regional body allowed representatives of the three countries to attend the meeting because of the urgency.

Metro

Rwandan President, Kagame sacks over 200 military personnel in major shake-up

Published

10 hours ago

June 7, 2023

Akanimoh Etim

Rwandan President, Paul Kagame has sacked over 200 soldiers including top military brass and commanders from the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) in a massive shake-up.

The dismissed officers include the former Commander of the Reserve Forces, Maj. Gen. Aloys Muganga, and Brig. Gen. Francis Mutiganda, a former Head of External Security in the National Intelligence Services, as well as 14 senior officers.

The announcement of the sacking of the officers which was contained in a statement released by the RDF on Wednesday, did not give reason for the sackings, but the move come a day after the president reshuffled the top echelon of the country’s military, which saw the firing of the Defence Minister and an Army Chief.

The sacking of the soldiers has further heightened tension between Rwanda and neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, with each side accusing the other of working with rebels to topple one another’s governments, according to reports in local media.

Metro

UN war crimes court declares Rwandan genocide suspect, Felicien Kabuga unfit to stand trial

Published

10 hours ago

June 7, 2023

Akanimoh Etim

An 88-year-old Rwandan genocide suspect, Felicien Kabuga has been declared unfit to stand trial by judges at a United Nations War Crimes Court in The Hague.

In a decision published by the court on Wednesday, the judges acknowledged that Kabuga was no longer able to actively participate in his trial, and rather proposed an alternative process that aims to resemble a trial but does not allow for a conviction instead of stopping the proceedings completely.

“The trial chamber finds Mr. Kabuga is no longer capable of meaningful participation in his trial,” the publication said.

“The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, therefore, finds that Mr. Kabuga is not fit for trial and is very unlikely to regain fitness in the future.

“It is therefore agreed to adopt an alternative finding procedure that resembles a trial as closely as possible, but without the possibility of a conviction,” it added.

Kabuga who was arrested in Paris where he had been in hiding under a false identity for several years, was one of the most wanted suspects of the Rwandan genocide, and was charged at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda with genocide and crimes against humanity.

At his initial arraignment in September last year, the ICC heard that Kabuga was alleged to have been the main financier of the ethnic Hutu militias who slaughtered over 800,000 minority Tutsis as well as political opponents during the genocide in 1994.

According to the UN, Kabuga, a wealthy businessman from the Hutu ethnic group, had established and financed an infamous media outfit, Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM), which was notorious for inciting violence and promoting the targeting and elimination of individuals from the Tutsi ethnic group who were referred to as “Cockroaches”.

Kabuga was arrested in Paris in 2020 after decades on the run and sent for trial in The Hague where he pleaded not guilty to charges of sponsoring the infamous Hutu radical radio station urging people to kill Tutsi “cockroaches”.

He also denied supplying machetes and supporting the murderous Interahamwe Hutu militia.