Tag: Angola

Protest police repression in Angola

AngolaAngolan police used excessive force and carried out arbitrary arrests during a peaceful protest in Luanda, Human Rights Watch charges. According to reports, officers fired tear-gas and rubber bullets without justification, assaulted demonstrators, and detained several protesters. The demonstration, organized by youth groups and civil society organizations, was a response to the Angolan government's decision to raise fuel prices and eliminate public transport subsidies without public consultation. (Photo: Nicolas Raymond/Flickr)

DRC: coltan profits fuel M23 insurgency

DRC mineThe M23 armed group is continuing to pursue expansionist objectives across eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to a report by UN experts. The report underscores the failure of peace talks held between DRC and Rwanda (which supports the rebels) under the aegis of Angola. It argues that the M23 plans the long-term occupation and exploitation of conquered territories, where it has been setting up parallel administrations and recruiting thousands of new members, including children. It states that the group has been consolidating support from other armed movements in Ituri, South Kivu and North Kivu provinces, forging non-aggression pacts and building new proxy forces. The rebels are also making a large profit from taxing mineral production, especially at the Rubaya mining sites in North Kivu, one of the world's largest sources of coltan. The minerals are being "fraudulently exported" to Rwanda in what amounts to the "largest contamination" of mineral supply chains recorded in the region to date. (Photo via Africa Up Close)

ICJ hearings on state climate obligations

ICJThe International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, commenced hearings at The Hague on the obligations of states concerning climate change. The request for an advisory opinion from the ICJ was submitted in March 2023, following the unanimous adoption of Resolution 77/276 by the UN General Assembly. The resolution sought the court's guidance on the obligations of sates to "ensure the protection of the climate system…for present and future generations," and the legal implications of "acts and omissions [that] have caused significant harm to the climate system." The call for the resolution began as a grassroots initiative in Vanuatu, and was taken up by Micronesia, Bangladesh and other states at most imminent threat from sea-level rise. (Photo: ICJ)

Another intervention in eastern DR Congo?

IturiCongolese President Félix Tshisekedi has threatened to terminate the mandate of an East African Community military force that deployed to the Democratic Republic of the Congo last year. The force was set up to contain an insurgency by the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group, which has uprooted nearly a million people in the country's east. The EAC claims the rebels have pulled back from occupied areas thanks to their intervention, but Congolese officials say the group remains at large and accuse the EAC of inaction. The regional mission was unpopular from the outset among Congolese, who are mindful of the destructive role neighboring states have played in their country. Yet new military interventions are being prepared, with the Southern African Development Community (led by South Africa and Tanzania) announcing plans to deploy troops. (Photo: MONUSCO via Defense Post)

East African troops deploy against M23 in Congo

DRCKenya is set to deploy a battalion of soldiers to eastern Democratic Republic of Congo as part of a regional military response to advancing M23 rebels. Kenya will command the new East African force, which will include troops from Burundi, South Sudan and Uganda. A notable absentee from this intervention will be Rwanda: Congo accuses Kigali of supporting M23, and tensions are soaring. In the past weeks, M23 has dramatically expanded the territory it controls, forcing UN peacekeepers to abandon a strategic base at Rumangabo, and closing in on the key city of Goma. In a region with a history of foreign meddling—in which more than 120 rebel groups operate—the East African deployment is distrusted. Both Burundi and Uganda already have troops inside Congo pursuing their own interests. (Map: CIA)

Planet Watch
Africa fires

Central African forests burning faster than Amazon

EcuadorAt least 17 people were killed in an armed attack on a bar in El Empalme, a small town north of Ecuador's port city of Guayaquil—days before US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Neom visited the country and signed a deal to fight organized crime and illegal migration. The deal includes training for Ecuadoran security forces in the US and collaboration on border security. Once one of South America’s safest countries, Ecuador has registered a vertiginous uptick in violent crime in the past few years. In response, President Daniel Noboa has adopted a series of hardline security policies that have raised concern over human rights abuses. The policies range from the repeated declaration of states of emergency, the construction of El Salvador-style prisons, and a "strategic alliance" with private US military contractor Erik Prince. Noboa has also replicated some of US President Donald Trump's deportation tactics, returning more than 600 Colombian prisoners to their country in late July with no official notice. (Photo: Presidencia Ecuador via Peoples Dispatch)

East Asia

China factor in the Trump world order

Xi Jinping is weighing whether he will be invited to join the authoritarian New Order—or whether Putin will desert him for Trump, and the two of them will gang up on China.