Musings From Abroad

UN review shows Uganda supported the M23 rebels in the Congo

Published

5 months ago

July 8, 2024

According to a United Nations report released on Monday, the Ugandan army has assisted the M23 rebel group that is active in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

This comes as growing hostilities in the area heighten concerns about the possibility of a new all-out war. Uganda denied involvement and stated that it worked closely with the government forces in the Congo.

Long-standing accusations by the United Nations that Rwanda supports the M23, which has taken control of significant areas of the mineral-rich eastern Congo, have been refuted by Rwanda.

The conflict has torn through the Congo for many years. In 1996 and 1998, Uganda and Rwanda launched invasions under the pretext of defending themselves against regional militias. Uganda and Congolese forces continue to work together to combat a rebel group in Uganda.

Since 2022, the Tutsi-led M23 rebels have been fighting a new insurgency in the militia-ridden east of Congo. A regional force sent in November 2022 to oversee a truce with the M23 included Ugandan soldiers. Last year, Congolese officials demanded that the military leave their country, citing its inefficiency.

“Since the resurgence of the M23 crisis, Uganda has not prevented the presence of M23 and Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF) troops on its territory or passage through it,” the U.N. Security Council’s Group of Experts said in the report, which was sent to the U.N. Security Council Sanctions Committee at the end of April and then to members of the Security Council in June.

The UN panel added that it had proof of active military and military intelligence backing for M23, with M23 leaders—including the banned Sultani Makenga—visiting Uganda for meetings.

When contacted by Reuters, Deo Akiiki, the deputy spokesman for Uganda’s armed forces, stated that these accusations were untrue and unfairly blamed the army of the East African nation during its most favourable relationship with the Congolese troops (FARDC).

“It would be mad for us to destabilise the same area we are sacrificing it all to have it stable,” Akiiki said.

Related Topics:Featured M23 Uganda United Nations

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Musings From Abroad

Finnish court imprisons Nigeria’s Simon Ekpa for aiding terrorism

Published

4 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

1 day 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.