Musings From Abroad

Court rules against Belgium in historic lawsuit challenging colonial acts in Africa

Published

2 weeks ago

December 3, 2024

In a historic case addressing Belgium’s colonial past in Africa, a Brussels appeals court has ruled that the Belgian state had committed a crime against humanity in the case of five mixed-race women who had been separated from their Black mothers during infancy.

Over around six years, the five women battled in court to get Belgium to acknowledge its responsibility for the suffering of thousands of mixed-race children.

Belgian officials, who dominated Congo from 1908 to 1960, abducted the children, known as “Métis,” from their homes and placed them in orphanages and religious institutions.

They filed an appeal after their claim was initially denied by a lower court in 2021.

“It is deliverance for my mother now that she finally has closure,” said Monique Fernandes, the daughter of Monique Bintu Bingi, one of the five plaintiffs. “She finally has it recognized as a crime against humanity,” Fernandes told The Associated Press.

According to the original finding, the policy, even if it was wrong, had to be seen in the context of European colonialism since it was not “part of a generalised or systematic policy, deliberately destructive, which characterises a crime against humanity.”

The ruling also mandates that the state reimburse each plaintiff for damages of about 50,000 euros, which will assist defray all associated expenses.

She stated, “After everything my mother had to endure, we did not want to pursue a moral symbolic euro because it would amount to some sort of insult.”

The complaint was brought in 2020 by the five women, who are now in their 70s and 80s, as calls for Belgium to reconsider its colonial past in Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi grew.

Several sculptures of former King Leopold II, who is held responsible for the deaths of millions of Africans under Belgium’s colonial reign, have been vandalised and some have been dismantled in Belgium in the aftermath of demonstrations against racial inequity in the United States.

The Belgian government expressed regret in 2019 for its involvement in the removal of thousands of infants from their African mothers.

Four years ago, a reigning monarch apologised for the brutality committed by the previous colonial authority for the first time in the nation’s history.

Related Topics:Africa Belgium Colonialism

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Musings From Abroad

UN warns Sudan rebels may be getting weapons in Chad from UAE cargo planes

Published

2 days ago

December 14, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Flight data and satellite photographs reveal that dozens of UAE cargo planes have landed at a small Chad airstrip since Sudan’s civil war began last year, which some U.N. experts and diplomats fear is being used to transport guns into the fight.

At least 86 UAE planes have landed at Amdjarass airfield in eastern Chad since the war started in April 2023.

According to flight data and business records examined by Reuters, three-quarters of them were operated by airlines accused by the U.N. of transporting Emirati weaponry to a Libyan warlord.

The UAE, a key Western partner in the Middle East, insists it sends Sudan aid through Chad, not armaments.

The UAE denied “credible” allegations that it was supplying Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group fighting the Sudanese army in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions, via the Chad airstrip in January.

Reuters uncovered footage from Amdjarass this year, revealing two pallets loaded with khaki containers, some labelled with the UAE flag, on the tarmac.

Reuters is obscuring the footage’s date and provenance for fear of reprisals.

Three weapons specialists, two of whom were U.N. inspectors, said the containers were unlikely to convey humanitarian material, generally bundled in cardboard boxes coated in plastic and stacked high on pallets due to its lightweight. The footage shows metal containers packed low on pallets.

One U.N. weapons inspector said the contents were “highly probably ammunition or weapons, based on the design and colour of boxes,” but requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the information.

He stated that right-hand pallet cases are long and slender, suggesting weaponry.

Reuters could not independently verify the containers’ contents. The filming date is being withheld to protect the source.

The UAE government told Reuters it has deployed 159 relief planes with more than 10,000 tonnes of food and medical assistance to feed its Amdjarass field hospital.

“We firmly reject the baseless and unfounded claims regarding the provision of arms and military equipment to any warring party since the beginning of the conflict,” the statement said.

To counter Islamist militants, the oil-rich Gulf kingdom has interfered in crises from Yemen to Libya since the Arab Spring protests of 2011. The UAE views Muslim Brotherhood and other groups as threats to internal stability.

In Sudan’s army, Islamists affiliated with deposed President Omar al-Bashir have long held power.

Senior RSF official Brigadier General Omar Hamdan rejected foreign help. He told Nairobi media on Nov. 18 that Sudanese firms made its guns and ammunition. The RSF declined to comment on this topic.

Musings From Abroad

Congo to get Japan’s children mpox vaccination next week— Africa CDC

Published

2 days ago

December 14, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has stated that the Democratic Republic of Congo will get three million doses of mpox vaccine from Japan next week for children.

In Congo, the outbreak’s epicentre, youngsters, who are most susceptible to mpox, have not been vaccinated.

In September, Japan agreed to contribute doses of its LC16m8 vaccinations, created by local business KM Biologics for smallpox and effective against mpox.

“The good news we got from Japan is that next week, we are getting the Japanese vaccine in DRC that will allow the vaccination of children,” Jean Kaseya, director general of Africa CDC, told reporters.

The dosages’ delivery will increase efforts to contain the epidemic, a worldwide public health emergency issued by the WHO.

More than 44% of Congo’s 10,533 mpox cases are youngsters under 15, according to Africa CDC data.

Kaseya said the Japanese vaccination will be given to 0-5-year-olds. A split needle pricks the skin 15 times to give the vaccination.

During the same briefing, Dieudonne Mwamba, head of Congo’s National Institute for Public Health, said a Japanese delegation will teach health staff unfamiliar with this procedure this weekend.

According to Kaseya, the Africa CDC has already contacted Japan to enquire about the availability of more dosages for other nations on the continent.