genocide

Africa

DRC: ethnic massacre near Kinshasa

At least 22 ethnic Teke civilians were killed when militia fighters attacked a village in the western Democratic Republic of Congo. The massacre in Nkana village—located just some 75 kilometers northeast of the capital Kinshasa—was reportedly carried out by fighters from the Mobondo militia, which is aligned with the Yaka ethnic group. Human Rights Watch said fighters armed with firearms and machetes killed “mostly ethnic Teke villagers in their homes as they attempted to flee.” The conflict is rooted in penetration of traditional Teke territory by Yaka agricultural settlers, setting off competition for land. It points to the potential for simmering conflicts to escalate throughout the DRC while the world is focused on the internal war in the country’s east. (Map: PCL)

Africa

Sudan: evidence of mass killings in El Fasher

Satellite imagery analysis reveals widespread evidence of systematic mass killings and body disposal by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in El Fasher, Sudan, following the paramilitary group’s capture of the North Darfur state capital in late October, according to a report released by Yale University researchers. The Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) identified at least 150 “clusters of objects consistent with human remains” in and around El-Fasher between Oct. 26, when the RSF claimed to have taken full control of El-Fasher, and Nov. 28. They identified the clusters as likely human remains, based on their size, the timing of their appearance, and proximity to reddish ground discoloration that later turned brown, consistent with blood oxidation. In some cases, the RSF’s own social media posts corroborated the presence of human remains at the locations. By late November, 38% of the identified body clusters were no longer visible in satellite imagery, suggesting systematic disposal operations, the researchers said. (Photo: Google/Airbus via JURIST)

Planet Watch

Deadly strikes on hospitals: the new norm?

On World Humanitarian Day in August, World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus released a statement calling attention to intensifying attacks on healthcare workers and facilities, which constitute war crimes under international humanitarian law. “We must stop this becoming the norm,” he wrote. The events of the past weeks suggest such attacks are now already the norm. In Sudan, the WHO reported that over 100 people, including 63 children, were killed when drone strikes attributed to the Rapid Support Forces hit a kindergarten and nearby hospital in South Kordofan. In Burma’s Rakhine state, a military airstrike destroyed the Mrauk-U general hospital, killing at least 31 people and wounding dozens more. It was the 67th attack on a healthcare facility in Burma this year, according to the WHO. Attacks on healthcare facilities killed a record 3,600 people in 2024, mainly in Gaza, Ukraine, Lebanon, Burma and Sudan. This year is on course to surpass that toll. In Gaza alone, at least 917 people were killed by Israeli attacks on healthcare facilities between Oct. 7. 2023 and June of this year. (Photo: Myanmar Now)

Africa

ICC asked to investigate Tanzania killings

A coalition of local and international human rights groups has asked the International Criminal Court to open a case against Tanzanian President Samia Hassan and senior members of her government over killings by the security forces during post-election unrest in October. How many people died in the protests over the “sham” elections is still unknown. Hassan’s government has remained silent on an official death toll, but the opposition—who were effectively barred from the polls—claims thousands were shot by the police and Ugandan special forces. Gruesome images were shared online of armed men firing indiscriminately into crowds, and of overflowing morgues. A CNN investigation found that satellite imagery suggests the existence of mass graves. (Photo: Tanzania Daily News via AllAfrica)

Africa

Sudan: hollow truces, blood theft

In a move that will shock absolutely nobody following the war in Sudan, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) declared a three-month unilateral humanitarian truce—and then promptly broke it with an attack on an army position in the West Kordofan town of Babanusa. RSF leader Hemedti billed the pause as a first step towards a political solution, but it looks like just another attempt to con mediators and journalists. As ever, those attempts have been drowned out by a stream of grim revelations, including reports that RSF fighters forcibly took blood from civilians fleeing El Fasher—prompting one commentator to label them “literal vampires.” A Doctors Without Borders update found that many of the 260,000 civilians still alive in El Fasher before the RSF takeover in October are now dead, detained, trapped, or unable to access lifesaving aid. (Map: PCL)

Africa

ISIS franchise in new DRC attacks

The UN decried a new attack on civilians by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) armed group in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The UN described the incident as “one of the most appalling attacks” ever recorded in the country, and indicated that it may constitute a war crime. According to information gathered by the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO), a series of deadly attacks took place across several localities in Lubero territory, North Kivu province, resulting in the deaths of 89 civilians, including 20 women and an unknown number of children. These attacks included a raid on a healthcare center where 17 patients were killed. Assaults on healthcare facilities are strictly forbidden under international humanitarian law, which mandates that medical units be respected and protected in all circumstances. Despite its unassuming name, the ADF is integrated into the Islamic State Central Africa Province (ISCAP). (Map: PCL)

Palestine

Israeli ‘crimes against humanity’ seen in West Bank

Israeli military operations in the northern West Bank constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch said in a report documenting the forced displacement of approximately 32,000 Palestinians from three refugee camps beginning in January 2025. The report charges that Israeli forces carried out mass forcible displacements as part of a widespread attack on civilians, accusations that, if substantiated, would constitute crimes against humanity under international law. “The organized, forced displacement of Palestinians in the refugee camps has removed nearly the entire Palestinian population from these areas,” the report stated, noting that residents of Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams camps have been denied the right to return nearly a year after the operations commenced. (Photo: Wikipedia)

Palestine

UN endorses US-backed Gaza ‘peace’ resolution

The UN Security Council passed a US-backed resolution endorsing the Trump administration’s 20-point Gaza peace plan. The resolution, passed by a vote of 13 members in favor with China and Russia abstaining, recognizes the proposal’s “Board of Peace” (BOP) as a “transitional governance administration” in Gaza. The resolution also authorizes the BOP to establish a temporary International Stabilization Force (ISF) in Gaza. The ISF will consist of forces contributed by participating states in consultation with Egypt and Israel. The force, along with Israel, Egypt, and a newly trained Palestinian Authority police force, will secure border areas and enforce the permanent disarmament of Hamas. Under the White House proposal, the BOP will be chaired by President Trump, with other international leaders serving, including former British prime minister Tony Blair. (Photo: displaced Palestinians returning home during this January’s ceasefire. Credit: UNRWA via Wikimedia Commons)

Planet Watch

Indigenous groups protest at COP30

Indigenous groups held protests in Belém, blocking the main entrance to the restricted area at the UN Climate Summit (COP30) to demand that the Brazilian government halt extractive projects that jeopardize their cultures and livelihoods. The protesters mostly belonged to the Munduruku people of the Amazon rainforest, who inhabit the states of Amazonas and Pará (of which Belém is the capital). The army was sent in to reinforce security after the action. Protesters’ demands included increased representation of indigenous peoples in COP30 and the UN climate process, as well as an end to activities that threaten Munduruku territories in the Tapajós and Xingu river basins. (Photo: Diego Herculano/UNFCCC via UN News)

Planet Watch

World’s ‘uncontacted’ peoples face imminent extermination

A comprehensive global report on “uncontacted” indigenous peoples published by UK-based Survival International estimates that the world still holds at least 196 uncontacted or isolated peoples living in 10 countries in South America, Southeast Asia and the Pacific region. Nine out of 10 of these groups face the threat of unwanted contact by extractive industries, including logging, mining and oil and gas drilling. It’s estimated that a quarter are threatened by agribusiness, with a third terrorized by criminal gangs. Intrusions by missionaries are a problem for one in six groups. After contact, indigenous groups are often decimated by illnesses, mainly influenza, for which they have little immunity. Survival International found that unless governments and private companies act to protect them, half of these groups could be wiped out within 10 years. (Photo: Brazil’s indigenous agency, FUNAI, makes contact with the Awá people in 2014. Credit: FUNAI via Mongabay)

Africa

Sudan: atrocities as North Kordofan city falls to RSF

Summary executions of civilians by fighters of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are being reported from Bara city, in Sudan’s North Kordofan state, after it was captured by the paramilitary army following a major offensive. The victims were apparently accused of supporting the Sudanese Armed Forces in its defense of the city. Reports indicate that dozens of civilians have been killed, according to the UN Human Rights Office. A local medical group describes horrific conditions in the taken city. “Dozens of bodies are piled up inside homes after the RSF prevented the victims’ families from burying them, leaving the dead trapped in their houses while the living are surrounded by fear, hunger, and thirst,” the Sudan Doctors Network said in a statement. (Map: Displacement Tracking Matrix)

Africa

Podcast: Darfur again —a genocide foretold

Throughout the 18-month siege of El Fasher, capital of Sudan’s North Darfur state, international human rights observers had been warning that the city’s residents faced a general massacre when it eventually fell to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Yet nothing was done, apart from ineffectual Great Power diplomacy that had zero impact on the ground. Now that the foretold massacre is underway—with hundreds killed, thousands missing, and no end in sight—calls are at last emerging for boycott, divestment and sanctions against the United Arab Emirates, the apparent underwriter of the genocidal RSF. In Episode 302 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg notes the contrast with the situation 20 years ago, when #SaveDarfur was a cause célèbre—and asks what has changed. (Photo: Roman Deckert via Wikimedia Commons)