GOMA, DR Congo: Survivors and relatives of victims of a 2004 massacre of Tutsi refugees in Burundi have filed legal cases claiming genocide and crimes against humanity, their lawyer told AFP on Thursday.
The cases relate to the massacre of around 160 Congolese Tutsi refugees at a camp in Gatumba in Burundi near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Three complaints have been lodged, in Burundi, in DR Congo and in Rwanda, the countries of the suspected perpetrators, Paris-based lawyer Dominique Inchauspe said by telephone.
A complaint has also been sent to the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC), he added.
Although formally filed against X, the complaints cite Agathon Rwasa, former leader of Burundi’s Hutu rebel National Liberation Forces (FNL), now a leading figure in Burundi’s political scene.
It also names its former spokesman Pasteur Habimana, who had assumed responsibility for the massacre on air before backtracking saying his voice had been “imitated” during the radio broadcast.
The United Nations and victims’ testimonies also point to involvement of militias integrated into the DRC’s army, as well as members of Rwanda’s ethnic Hutu rebel group, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), formed by some of those behind the 1994 genocide of minority Tutsis in that country.
The August 2004 killings were documented by the United Nations and Human Rights Watch but the perpetrators have never faced justice.
“It is absolutely scandalous that such an atrocity, documented by the UN, has not been prosecuted” and “that no compensation has been paid,” said Inchauspe, who represents the Gatumba Refugees Survivors’ Foundation.
“There is a symbolic need for justice and recognition of the suffering experienced, even if we are unable to identify the 200 to 300 assailants,” he added.
In 2013, after refugees in Burundi lodged a complaint against Rwasa, prosecutors opened a formal probe into the ex-rebel chief, which never led to a trial.
Rwasa, 60, has since laid down his weapons and has been granted provisional immunity. But the prosecutor’s office said at the time of the probe that this immunity did not cover “crimes against humanity or war crimes.”
He has since been elected to Burundi’s parliament and came second to President Evariste Ndayishimiye in the 2020 presidential election.
20 years on, genocide cases filed over Burundi refugee massacre
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20 years on, genocide cases filed over Burundi refugee massacre
- The cases relate to the massacre of around 160 Congolese Tutsi refugees at a camp in Gatumba in Burundi near the border with DR Congo
- The August 2004 killings were documented by the United Nations and Human Rights Watch but the perpetrators have never faced justice.
At least 69 migrants killed in shipwreck off Morocco on deadly route to Spain
- The Atlantic migration route from the coast of West Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands has seen a surge this year
The makeshift boat was carrying around 80 people when it capsized. Only 11 survived, the Ministry of Malians Abroad said in a statement on Thursday, after collecting information to reconstruct the incident.
A crisis unit has been set up to monitor the situation, it added.
The Atlantic migration route from the coast of West Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands, typically used by African migrants trying to reach mainland Spain, has seen a surge this year, with 41,425 arrivals in January-November already exceeding last year’s record 39,910.
Years of conflict in the Sahel region that includes Mali, unemployment and the impact of climate change on farming communities are among the reasons why people attempt the crossing.
One person died among 300 people who arrived on six boats on Friday on the island of El Hierro in the Canaries, according to the Red Cross.
The Atlantic route, which includes departure points in Senegal and Gambia, Mauritania and Morocco, is the world’s deadliest, according to migrant aid group Walking Borders.
In its annual report released this week, the group said 9,757 migrants died at sea in 2024 trying to reach the Spanish archipelago from Africa’s Atlantic coast. A record 10,457 people — or nearly 30 people a day — died attempting to reach Spain this year from all routes, according to the report.
The route departing from Mauritania, which has been particularly well used this year by migrants leaving the Sahel region, was the deadliest, accounting for 6,829 deaths.
Walking Borders blamed a lack of action or arbitrary rescues and the criminalization of migrants for the surge in deaths at sea, accusing governments of “the prioritization of immigration control over the right to life.”
India declares seven-day mourning for ex-PM Manmohan Singh
- Singh, widely regarded as the architect of India’s economic reform program, died late on Thursday at age 92
- Officials canceled cultural, entertainment events for the week, national flag flew at half-mast at government buildings
NEW DELHI: Authorities in India have declared a seven-day mourning period to honor Manmohan Singh, officials said Friday, as politicians and public paid tributes to the country’s former prime minister widely regarded as the architect of India’s economic reform program.
Officials canceled all cultural and entertainment events for the week, with government buildings flying the national flag at half-staff across India. Singh, who died late Thursday at age 92, is scheduled to be cremated on Saturday.
Singh’s body was put in a glass casket, adorned with flowers and wrapped in the Indian flag, as leaders and mourners paid their respects.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited his home and offered condolences to his family.
Later, Modi in a video message said Singh’s life “was a reflection of his honesty and simplicity.”
“He saved the country from an economic crisis by providing a road toward a new economy. As a prime minister, his contribution toward the development and progress of the country will always be remembered,” Modi said.
A mild-mannered technocrat, Singh was prime minister for 10 years and leader of the Congress Party in the Parliament’s upper house, earning a reputation as a man of great personal integrity. He was chosen to fill the role in 2004 by Sonia Gandhi, the widow of assassinated Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Singh was reelected in 2009, but his second term as prime minister was clouded by financial scandals and corruption charges over the organization of the 2010 Commonwealth Games. This led to the Congress Party’s crushing defeat in the 2014 national election by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party under the leadership of Narendra Modi.
Singh adopted a low profile after relinquishing the post of prime minister.
Howe hopes Newcastle have ‘moved on’ in last two seasons
- Newcastle reached the Champions League for the first time in 20 years when they qualified for last season’s competition
- Newcastle slipped to 12th place after a 4-2 defeat at Brentford on December 7, but have since rallied
LONDON: Eddie Howe hopes his current Newcastle team have “moved on” from the one which finished fourth in the Premier League two seasons ago.
The Magpies continued an impressive run of results on Thursday by beating 10-man Aston Villa 3-0 at St. James’ Park — their fourth straight win in all competitions.
Newcastle climbed to fifth in the table and within six points of second-placed Chelsea.
Newcastle reached the Champions League for the first time in 20 years when they qualified for last season’s competition.
“I’d hope we’ve moved on from that team,” Howe said.
“You can never go back in time and replicate what that team was. That team was an outstanding side...
“But you can never go back. It’s all about the future. We’ve signed some new players, the dynamic is slightly different and for me, the evolution of the team always had to be that we wanted to be better with the ball, we wanted to control the game more with the ball.”
Newcastle went ahead in just the second minute through Anthony Gordon’s strike before Villa striker Jhon Duran was controversially sent off.
Further goals from Alexander Isak — his 10th in as many league games — and Joelinton secured all three points.
Newcastle slipped to 12th place after a 4-2 defeat at Brentford on December 7, but have since rallied.
“We’re shooting for whatever we can shoot for,” Howe said when asked about Newcastle’s top-four hopes.
“We’ll take small steps, we’ll go game-by-game, but I’m really heartened by how the team is playing.”
Germany’s president dissolves parliament, sets national election for Feb. 23
- President reported no agreement among Germany’s political parties
FRANKFURT, Germany: German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Friday ordered parliament dissolved and set new elections for Feb. 23 in the wake of the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition, saying it was the only way to give the country a stable government capable of tackling its problems.
Scholz lost a confidence vote on Dec. 16 and leads a minority government after his unpopular and notoriously rancorous three-party coalition collapsed on Nov. 6 when he fired his finance minister in a dispute over how to revitalize Germany’s stagnant economy.
Steinmeier said he made the decision because it was clear after consultation with party leaders that there was no agreement among Germany’s political parties on a majority for a new government in the current parliament.
“It is precisely in difficult times like these that stability requires a government capable of taking action and a reliable majority in parliament,” he said as he made the announcement in Berlin.
“Therefore I am convinced that for the good of our country new elections are the right way.”
Since the post-World War II constitution doesn’t allow the Bundestag to dissolve itself, it was up to Steinmeier to decide whether to dissolve parliament and call an election. He had 21 days to make that decision. Once parliament is dissolved, the election must be held within 60 days. Leaders of several major parties agreed earlier on the election date of Feb. 23, seven months earlier than originally planned.
Steinmeier warned about outside interference in the poll, saying it is “a danger to democracy, whether it is covert, as was evidently the case recently in the Romanian elections, or open and blatant, as is currently being practiced particularly intensively on platform X.”
A top Romanian court annulled the first round of the country’s presidential election, days after allegations emerged that Russia ran a coordinated online campaign to promote the far-right outsider who won the first round.
The campaign is already well underway. Polls show Scholz’s party trailing the conservative opposition Union bloc led by Friedrich Merz. Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck of the environmentalist Greens, the remaining partner in Scholz’s government, is also bidding for the top job — though his party is further back. If recent polls hold up, the likely next government would be led by Merz as chancellor in coalition with at least one other party.
Key issues include immigration, how to get the sluggish economy going, and how best to aid Ukraine in its struggle against Russia.
The populist, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany, or AfD, which is polling strongly, has nominated Alice Weidel as its candidate for chancellor but has no chance of taking the job because other parties refuse to work with it.
Germany’s electoral system traditionally produces coalitions, and polls show no party anywhere near an absolute majority on its own. The election is expected to be followed by weeks of negotiations to form a new government.
It’s only the fourth time that the Bundestag has been dissolved ahead of schedule under Germany’s post-World War II constitution. It happened under Chancellor Willy Brandt in 1972, Helmut Kohl in 1982 and Gerhard Schroeder in 2005. Schroeder used the confidence vote to engineer an early election narrowly won by center-right challenger Angela Merkel.
Kremlin says no comment on Azerbaijani plane crash until investigation completed
- Pro-government website Caliber cites unnamed officials as saying they believed a Russian missile fired from a Pantsir-S air defense system downed the plane
MOSCOW: The Kremlin said Friday that it would not comment on the deadly crash of an Azerbaijani passenger plane until an inquiry was completed, after reports the jet was targeted by a Russian air defense missile.
The Azerbaijan Airlines jet crashed near the Kazakh city of Aktau, an oil and gas hub, on Wednesday after going off course for undetermined reasons.
Thirty-eight of the 67 people on board died.
“An investigation is underway, and until the conclusions of the investigation, we do not consider we have the right to make any comments and we will not do so,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
The Embraer 190 aircraft was supposed to fly northwest from the Azerbaijani capital Baku to Grozny in Chechnya, southern Russia, but instead diverted far off course across the Caspian Sea.
An investigation is underway, with the pro-government Azerbaijani website Caliber citing unnamed officials as saying they believed a Russian missile fired from a Pantsir-S air defense system downed the plane.
Azerbaijan Airlines said Friday that it was suspending flights to a total of seven Russian cities, “taking into account flight safety risks,” after earlier saying it had stopped flights to Grozny and to Makhachkala in Dagestan, which neighbors Chechnya.
Rasim Musabekov, an Azeri lawmaker, urged Russia to apologize for the incident.
“They have to accept this, punish those to blame, promise that such a thing will not happen again, express regrets and readiness to pay compensation,” Musabekov said in an interview. “We are waiting for Russia to do this.”
He said the plane “was damaged in the sky over Grozny and asked to make an emergency landing.”
“According to all the rules of aviation, they should have allowed this and organized it.”
Instead the plane was not allowed to land at Grozny or nearby Russian airports and was “sent far away” across the Caspian Sea to Kazakhstan with “GPS switched off,” Musabekov said.
If air defenses were operating near Grozny airport, “they should have closed the air space. The plane should have been turned around as it approached Grozny. Why wasn’t this done?” he added.
Some aviation and military experts said the plane might have been accidentally shot by Russian air defense systems because it was flying in an area where Ukrainian drone activity had been reported.
