Musings From Abroad

US decries continued violence in DR Congo, accuses Rwanda

Published

9 months ago

February 18, 2024

The United States has denounced the escalating violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and attributed it to the armed group M23, which it maintains enjoys the support of neighbouring Rwanda.

The US State Department issued a statement requesting that M23 immediately end hostilities and evacuate the areas it is currently occupying near Sake and Goma.

“The United States condemns Rwanda’s support for the M23 armed group,” the statement said.

Rwanda has been consistently accused of supporting the armed group, leading to diplomatic tension between the East African neighbours leading to diplomatic strain between the East African neighbours.

The US demanded that Rwanda evacuate surface-to-air missile systems and all of its armed forces from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) right away, citing the threat they posed to civilians, U.N. and other regional peacekeepers, aid workers, and commercial aircraft operating in the eastern DRC. Rwanda disputes giving the rebels any help.

In addition, it also urged the DRC to uphold measures aimed at fostering confidence, such as cutting off ties with the armed organisation known as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda.

Whole villages have been forced to escape the DRC as a result of the recent escalation of clashes between the M23 rebels, army forces, and self-defense organisations that support them.

Last Monday, South Africa said that it would contribute 2,900 troops to a force that the southern African regional organisation, SADC, had sent in to aid Congo in fighting rebel groups.

Human Rights Watch reported in 2022 that resurgent M23 rebels, supported by Rwanda, mounted their largest attack on state forces in ten years, taking control of areas of North Kivu and exacerbating the region’s catastrophic humanitarian crisis.

Related Topics:DR Congo Featured Rwanda US

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Musings From Abroad

Finnish court imprisons Nigeria’s Simon Ekpa for aiding terrorism

Published

19 hours ago

November 21, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Simon Ekpa, a Nigerian separatist leader based abroad, has been placed under detention by the Päijät Häme District Court in Finland on suspicion of inciting others to commit acts of terrorism.

According to the local daily, Helsingin Sanomat, the court rendered the ruling on Thursday following his arraignment by the Central Criminal Police for his involvement in the terror attacks that have afflicted the southeast area of Nigeria.

“The police suspect that the man has promoted his efforts from Finland with means that have led to violence against civilians in the region of South-Eastern Nigeria,” stated Otto Hiltunen, the crime commissioner and investigation head.

“The man has carried out his activity, among other things, on his social media channels.”

Hiltunen also informed the court that the police suspected four additional individuals in Finland of funding Ekpa’s activities.

According to the story, Ekpa is of Nigerian descent and was born in the Finnish city of Lahti.

His offence occurred between August 23, 2021, and November 18, 2024, according to court documents cited in the publication.

Ekpa is not the only person the police have arrested. In February 2023, they caught him at a private Lahtian flat, but he was freed the same day.

Through the Eastern Security Network (ESN) and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) movement, Ekpa has continued to be outspoken on social media, raising money and agitating for a Biafran nation to secede. In the southeast part of Nigeria, both factions have been involved in acts of violence, murders, and maimings.

Since gaining formal independence in 1960, Nigeria has seen the emergence of several separatist organisations. The latest surge of calls for self-determination among different ethnic groups has been louder under its immediate previous President Muhammadu Buhari.

Musings From Abroad

Malian singer Rokia Traore arrested in Italy, to be sent to Belgium

Published

2 days ago

November 20, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

After Italy’s top court denied her appeal, well-known Malian singer, Rokia Traore, who was detained in Rome in June due to a global child custody dispute, will be sent over to Belgium in the next few days, her attorney announced on Wednesday.

The 50-year-old Traore is a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR and one of Africa’s most well-known vocalists.

“Rokia suffered an injustice. She was arrested without the Belgian criminal court hearing her voice. Now, the battle for Rokia’s rights moves to Brussels,” lawyer Maddalena Del Re said in a statement to Reuters.

The attorney also stated that in its decision late Tuesday, Italy’s Court of Cassation upheld an extradition decision from the European Court of Justice.

Under a European arrest order, Traore was taken into custody on June 20 at the Fiumicino airport in Rome. In October 2023, she was given a two-year prison sentence in Belgium related to a dispute over her daughter’s custody.

She had flown to perform outside Rome’s Colosseum, and she has been imprisoned in Civitavecchia, close to the Italian city, since her detention at Fiumicino.

Lawyer Del Re said that because a conviction was rendered without the defendant’s presence, the Belgian process goes against both international norms and Italian constitutional standards.

After she disregarded a court order to turn over her baby to her Belgian father, the singer’s divorced ex-partner, she was initially taken into custody in France in 2020 on a Belgian arrest warrant.

She disobeyed orders not to leave France until her extradition case was handled by taking a private jet to Mali months after being conditionally released. Mali is where her daughter resides.