Metro

HRW calls for stiffer sanctions on Sudanese leaders for crimes against humanity

Published

4 months ago

August 5, 2023

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the United States and United Nations to apply additional sanctions on Sudanese warring leaders, as well as those “responsible for the atrocities and crimes against humanity” in Darfur.

The New York-based rights group, which made the call on Friday, described the “atrocities” being committed in the country since clashes broke out April between the army loyal to Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commanded by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, as unacceptable and evidence of “scorched-earth attacks.”

In a news release issued by Tirana Hassan, Executive Director at Human Rights Watch, the group called on Washington to impose targeted sanctions to “ensure that the U.N. Security Council finally acts to protect civilians and to hold those responsible for the atrocities to account.”

The HRW said that at least seven villages and towns had been almost completely burned to the ground or destroyed in West Darfur alone, including Habilla Kanari, Mejmere, Misterei, Molle, Murnei, Gokor and Sirba.

“The world should not stand by as town after town in West Darfur is burned to the ground, sending tens of thousands of civilians fleeing for their lives,” Hassan said.

“In Sudan’s western Darfur region, the scene of genocidal war in the early 2000s, the conflict has morphed into ethnic violence, with RSF and allied Arab militias targeting African communities,” she said.

“Some 260,000 people have fled Darfur into neighboring Chad after fighters and militias stormed a number of cities and towns, burning houses and driving out residents.”

The call by the group is also coming days after Amnesty International accused both warring parties of “committing extensive war crimes, including deliberate killings of civilians and mass sexual assault.”

The AI report had noted that the RSF abducted 24 women and girls, some as young as 12, and held them “for several days during which they were raped by several RSF members.”

Only in June, the US had imposed sanctions against four key companies either linked to or owned by the warring factions, and also placed visa restrictions on the army and RSF officials, as well as on leaders from the former government led by Omar al-Bashir.

Related Topics:#war Featured HRW RFS Sanctions Sudan United States

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Metro

Nigeria’s VP Shettima admits hardship, poverty, pleads for patience

Published

7 mins ago

December 10, 2023

Akanimoh Etim

Vice President Kashim Shettima of Nigeria has become the first official in the President Bola Tinubu’s administration to admit that majority of Nigerians are angry with government officials as a result of the rising cost of living and its attendant hardship and poverty.

Shettima, who made the admission in Abuja on Saturday at the graduation ceremony of the Executive Intelligence Management Course 16, however, pleaded with Nigerians to be patient and support Tinubu so that he could work to solve the problems.

In his keynote address at the occasion, Shettima said the Tinubu-led administration was aware that Nigerians were going through harrowing times, and was doing everything possible to ameliorate the pains as a result of the removal of fuel subsidy and the attendant inflation.

“All of us here belong to a tiny segment of the Nigerian population. And you don’t need a soothsayer to tell you that the poor are angry with us,” the VP said.

“The poor are the most neglected segment of our society. You can hardly differentiate between them and their animals. Even the animals they rear belong to those in the city. So, there have to be kinetic and non-kinetic solutions to all the problems.

“We have to improve the quality of governance. And what we have is a tiny window of not more than 10 to 20 years. Let’s improve the quality of governance.

“I want to ask you to give the President the benefit of the doubt. Let us be patient. Let us support him.

“Let us rally round him and be reassured that he is determined to redefine the meaning and concept of modern leadership, and is ever ready to reposition the Nigerian nation. But without the support of you and I, he can’t do much”, he just added.

Shettima also suggested that creating jobs and giving hope to the populace would go a long way in curbing insecurity in the country.

“Let’s create jobs; let’s give hope to the populace. And once we create jobs, all this madness of insecurity will disappear.

“There won’t be Boko Haram and banditry if this is done, especially for us from the North. We can blame the bandits, but we in leadership positions owe it to posterity to address this”, he said.

Metro

DR Congo: President Tshisekedi says Rwanda’s Kagame acting like Adolf Hitler

Published

17 hours ago

December 9, 2023

Akanimoh Etim

Democratic Republic of Congo President, Félix Tshisekedi, has taken a dig at President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, comparing him to German dictator, Adolf Hitler, while on the campaign trail in the troubled east of the country.

While addressing his supporters on Friday at a rally in Bukavu, capital of South Kivu, Tshisekedi, who is seeking a second term in office in the general elections scheduled for December 20 after first coming to power in January 2019, said Kagame behaved like Hitler while pursuing his “expansionist aims”.

“I’m going to address Rwandan President Paul Kagame and tell him this: since he wanted to behave like Adolf Hitler by having expansionist aims (in the DRC), I promise to end up like Adolf Hitler,” declared Tshisekedi.

“When I took power as president of this country, I proposed a plan to live in peace with our neighbors, but the problem is that our neighbors have eyes bigger than their stomachs, and that’s the case with my colleague Paul Kagame.

“But this time, Paul Kagame has met a son of the country determined to protect his country against all kinds of foreign aggression,” he stated.

Tshisekedi’s speech was not unconnected with the activities of the M23 (March 23 Movement) rebels who are mainly Tutsis believed to have the backing of the Rwandan government and have been wreaking havoc in North Kivu and Ituri in South Kivu and other eastern provinces of the DRC in the past 30 years.

Relations between the DRC and neighboring Rwanda have also witnessed tense turmoil which reached a climax in 2021 with the resurgence in North Kivu of the rebellion, allegedly supported by Kigali, seizing large swathes of the province.

On numerous occasions, Tshisekedi has denounced what he often describes as Rwandan aggression under the guise of the M23.

Tshisekedi has also accused Rwanda of sponsoring the rebels, an accusation Kigali has vehemently denied.

He has also described Rwanda as a “horrible neighbor” which wants to monopolize the mining wealth of DRC which is largely located in the eastern Congo.