LUANDA: Talks due Sunday between the leaders of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo to end conflict in the eastern DRC were called off after negotiations deadlocked, officials said.
Since 2021 a Rwanda-backed rebel militia has seized swathes of the eastern DRC, displacing thousands and triggering a humanitarian crisis.
There had been high hopes that the summit hosted by Angola’s President Joao Lourenco – the African Union mediator to end the conflict – would end with a deal to end the conflict.
But around midday Sunday the head of the Angolan presidency’s media office said it would not go ahead.
“Contrary to what we expected, the summit will no longer be held today,” media officer Mario Jorge told journalists.
Lourenco was meeting with DRC leader Felix Tshisekedi and without Rwandan President Paul Kagame, he said.
The Congolese presidency said that negotiations had hit deadlock over a Rwandan demand that the DRC hold direct dialogue with the Kigali-backed and largely ethnic Tutsi M23 rebels who have since 2021 seized swathes of the eastern DRC.
“There is a stalemate because the Rwandans have set as a precondition for the signing of an agreement that the DRC hold a direct dialogue with the M23,” Giscard Kusema, the Congolese presidency spokesman present in Luanda, said.
Rwanda’s Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe said Friday that his country wanted “a firm commitment from the DRC to resume direct talks with the M23 within a well-defined framework and timeframe.”
The Congolese government says, however, that the M23 only exists because of Rwandan military support.
“If Kigali is in good faith in the negotiations and on its promise to withdraw... its troops from Congolese soil, the conflict will end with the M23, and at the same time it will stop with Rwanda,” a Congolese government source said.
Kagame and Tshisekedi last saw each other in October in Paris but did not speak, though they have maintained dialogue through the mediation of Luanda.
In early August, Angola mediated a fragile truce that stabilized the situation at the front line, but both sides continued to exchange fire and clashes have intensified since late October.
Home to a string of rival armed groups, the mineral-rich eastern DRC has been plagued by internal and cross-border violence for the past three decades.
“Our country continues to face persistent rebellions, including the aggression by the Rwandan army and the M23 terrorists,” Tshisekedi said in parliament Wednesday, calling the militants and Rwanda “enemies of the Republic.”
The capital of DRC’s North Kivu province Goma, home to about one million people and another million displaced by war, is now nearly surrounded by M23 rebels and the Rwandan army.
Early in November, the two central African neighbors launched a committee to monitor ceasefire violations, led by Angola and including representatives from both the DRC and Rwanda.
Kinshasa and Kigali a few weeks later approved a document setting out the terms by which Rwandan troops will disengage from Congolese territory.
A previous draft dated in August listed the dismantling of the FDLR militia, created by ethnic Hutus involved in the Rwandan genocide in 1994, as a precondition for Rwanda’s withdrawal.
Often portrayed by Kigali as a threat to its security, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) is one of various disparate militias fighting alongside the Congolese army against the M23.
The August draft was rejected by the DRC, which demanded that the withdrawal occur at the same time as the FDLR’s dismantling.
The final strategic document, seen by AFP, planned for a period of 90 days to “conclude the neutralization of the FDLR and the lifting of Rwanda’s defensive measures.”
DR Congo, Rwanda peace talks canceled
https://arab.news/y4ybv
DR Congo, Rwanda peace talks canceled
- Since 2021 a Rwanda-backed rebel militia has seized swathes of the eastern the Democratic Republic of Congo
- The Congolese government says that the M23 rebels only exist because of Rwandan military support
Faced with Russia, EU’s defense must include Turkiye
- “Sales to European countries, particularly EU members, add credibility to Turkiye’s argument it is an important player in European security,” said IISS expert Tom Waldyn
- For Nebahat Tanriverdi Yasar, an independent researcher and policy analyst who works in Ankara and Berlin, Turkiye’s careful management of its ties with both Kyiv and Moscow has left it in a unique position
ISTANBUL: Turkiye, with NATO’s second-largest army and a Black Sea coastline, is looking to play a key role in Europe’s security after Washington’s pivot away from the region.
After two rounds of crisis talks on Ukraine and security following Washington’s change of policy, Ankara has been quick to warn that European defenses cannot be ensured without its involvement.
“It is inconceivable to establish European security without Turkiye,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said after Sunday’s London summit.
Without Turkiye, “it is becoming increasingly impossible for Europe to continue its role as a global actor,” he added.
A senior Turkish defense ministry returned to the issue on Thursday.
“With the security parameters being reshaped due to recent developments, it is impossible to ensure European security without Turkiye,” he said.
Even so, he said Turkiye would be ready to deploy troops to Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping mission “if deemed necessary.”
Ankara has consistently defended Ukraine’s territorial integrity since Russia’s 2022 invasion and supplied it with combat drones and naval vessels.
But it has also maintained good ties with Russia and remains the only NATO member not to have joined the sanctions against Moscow.
With its unique position between the two warring parties, Turkiye has repeatedly offered to host peace talks.
Erdogan and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan have often received visitors such as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.
In recent years, Turkiye has considerably developed its defense industries, with exports growing by 29 percent to reach $7.1 billion in 2024, placing it 11th in global defense exports, Erdogan said in January.
Driving its success are the Bayraktar TB2 drones which have been sold to more than 25 nations, among them Poland and Romania, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies’ Military Balance survey.
“Sales to European countries, particularly EU members, add credibility to Turkiye’s argument it is an important player in European security,” said IISS expert Tom Waldyn.
Its military, strategically located on the eastern flank of the Atlantic Alliance and south of the Black Sea — to which it controls access via the Bosphorus — counts 373,200 active troops and another 378,700 reservists, IISS figures show.
And these troops have been engaged in regular combat in northeastern Syria and northern Iraq fighting Kurdish insurgents, according to a Western diplomat.
“Turkiye has maintained a consistent attitude in line with the UN Charter on the sovereignty and territorial integrity” of Ukraine, he told AFP.
“It has the second largest military in NATO but also the most effective as it’s been in combat for decades,” he explained.
But EU cooperation with Ankara has been hampered by the Cyprus dispute, he said with a trace of exasperation.
“How long can we afford to continue this stance?“
For Nebahat Tanriverdi Yasar, an independent researcher and policy analyst who works in Ankara and Berlin, Turkiye’s careful management of its ties with both Kyiv and Moscow has left it in a unique position.
“Turkiye aims to carefully navigate its relations with Russia and its strategic defense support to Ukraine — potentially with EU backing — to reshape the balance of power in the region amid the emergence of a ‘new order’ where the EU seeks to assume greater responsibility for its security amid shifting US policies,” she told AFP.
Given the challenges that entailed, Ankara was “likely to pursue a pragmatic approach in the short term, focusing on expanding its mediation efforts, deepening defense cooperation with select European states, and leveraging its defense industry to address emerging gaps in military support,” she added.
But Sumbul Kaya, a political scientist in France argued that Turkiye was “above all, driven by a desire to defend its own interests.
“It only intervenes in neighboring countries for internal security reasons, such as in Syria and Iraq,” she said.
“But there’s no question of sending troops to fight wars everywhere — that would not go down well with the population.
“This crisis is an opportunity to stress that Turkiye is both a NATO member and a candidate for membership in the EU.”
Trump threatens Russia with sanctions until Ukraine peace reached
- He says Russia and Ukraine must negotiate peace fast
- Russian forces almost surround Ukrainian forces in Russia
- US and Ukrainian officials to meet in Jeddah next week
WASHINGTON/KYIV: US President Donald Trump raised the prospect of imposing large-scale US sanctions on Russia on Friday, days after pausing military aid and intelligence support to Ukraine, and he called on both countries to get on with negotiating a peace deal.
Trump’s threat of banking curbs and tariffs followed a Reuters report on Monday that the White House was preparing to give Russia possible sanctions relief as part of the push to end the war and improve diplomatic and economic ties with Moscow.
“Based on the fact that Russia is absolutely ‘pounding’ Ukraine on the battlefield right now, I am strongly considering large-scale Banking Sanctions, Sanctions, and Tariffs on Russia until a Cease Fire and FINAL SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT ON PEACE IS REACHED,” Trump said on his social media platform.
“To Russia and Ukraine, get to the table right now, before it is too late. Thank you!!!“
Russian forces have almost surrounded thousands of Ukrainian troops who stormed into Russia’s Kursk region last summer in a shock incursion which Kyiv had hoped to use as leverage over Moscow in any peace talks.
But the president, who has drawn the US closer to Moscow while heaping criticism on Kyiv since coming into office in January, offered a more conciliatory view of President Vladimir Putin in comments later in the day, saying he believed the Russian leader wanted peace.
“I think he wants to get it stopped and settled and I think he’s hitting them harder than — than he’s been hitting them. And I think probably anybody in that position would be doing that right now,” Trump said of Putin’s military onslaught.
“I’m finding it more difficult, frankly, to deal with Ukraine,” Trump said.
Ukraine’s position in Kursk has deteriorated sharply in the last three days, open source maps show. The Russian counteroffensive has nearly cut the Ukrainian force in two and separated the main group from its principal supply lines.
“The situation (for Ukraine in Kursk) is very bad,” Pasi Paroinen, a military analyst with the Finland-based Black Bird Group, told Reuters.
Russian forces also damaged energy and gas infrastructure inside Ukraine overnight in their first major missile attack since the US paused intelligence sharing with Ukraine.
Ten people, including a child, were injured, Ukrainian officials said.
Call for truce
President Volodymyr Zelensky, seeking to shore up Western support for Ukraine after the apparent US diplomatic pivot toward Moscow, responded to the attack by calling for a truce covering air and sea.
“The first steps to establishing real peace should be forcing the sole source of this war, Russia, to stop such attacks,” Zelensky said on the Telegram messaging app.
Moscow has rejected the idea of a temporary truce, which has also been proposed by Britain and France, and said it would never let peacekeepers from NATO countries into Ukraine, after the two countries suggested a European force could police any permanent settlement.
Russia, one of the world’s biggest oil producers, is already subject to wide-ranging sanctions imposed by the United States and partners after Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
US sanctions on Russia include measures aimed at limiting its oil and gas revenues, including a cap of $60 per barrel on Russia’s oil exports. The US government is studying ways it could ease sanctions on Russia’s energy sector if Moscow agrees to end the Ukraine war, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Trump did not go into detail on the possible sanctions against Russia.
Despite tension with Trump, Zelensky said late on Thursday he would travel to Saudi Arabia next Monday for a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman before talks there later in the week between US and Ukrainian officials.
Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, has already held extensive talks with Russian officials. He said he was in discussions with Ukraine for a peace agreement framework to end the three-year-old war and confirmed that a meeting was planned next week with the Ukrainians in Saudi Arabia.
Russia holds around a fifth of Ukraine’s territory, including Crimea which it annexed in 2014, and its forces are steadily advancing in the eastern Donetsk region.
Kyiv has been pressing for robust security guarantees for any peace deal but the US has declined to commit, pointing to a potential critical minerals agreement that Trump says would be enough. Zelensky has yet to sign the minerals agreement and clashed with Trump publicly a week ago.
White House national security adviser Mike Waltz said he and Secretary of State Marco Rubio would be at the talks with the Ukrainians in Saudi Arabia, and that he thought they would get things back on track.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said he had a “constructive call” with Rubio on Friday.
Philippine ‘Angels’ aim to de-escalate South China Sea encounters
- Beijing claims most of the South China Sea despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis, and its coast guard has clashed repeatedly with that of the Philippines, sparking fears of an armed conflict
MANILA: Seawoman Second Class Stephane Villalon’s voice reverberated on the bridge of her Philippine ship as she issued a radio challenge to a much larger Chinese Coast Guard vessel in a disputed area of the South China Sea.
The five-foot-tall (152-centimeter) radio operator is one of the Philippine Coast Guard’s 81 “Angels of the Sea,” graduates of an all-women training program aimed at defusing encounters in the critical waterway.
“China Coast Guard vessel 5303, this is Philippine Coast Guard vessel BRP Bagacay MRRV-4410. You are advised that you are currently sailing within the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone,” she said during an encounter videotaped last month.
“You are directed to depart immediately and notify us of your intention.”
Villalon’s action during the incident was precisely what the coast guard envisioned when it launched the Angels program four years ago.
Beijing claims most of the South China Sea despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis, and its coast guard has clashed repeatedly with that of the Philippines, sparking fears of an armed conflict.
“(The program) helps with our engagement with the China Coast Guard because we are utilizing women, who are naturally not aggressive, not confrontational,” Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Algier Ricafrente told AFP.
That framing of women’s nature drew charges of sexism when the program first launched in 2021.
Congresswoman Arlene Brosas argued at the time it trivialized the South China Sea dispute by suggesting “maternal” voices might calm situations.
But while Philippine geopolitics analyst Andrea Wong agreed overemphasizing “female characteristics” was problematic, she told AFP the program was a “positive effort” capable of utilizing women’s strengths in a real way.
“The most important thing is harnessing their full potential, whether it be their language skills (or) communication skills.”
For Villalon, the radio operator, the program’s central premise needs no defending.
“A woman’s patience, composure and the ability to respond or to communicate with empathy makes us unique, makes us more fit for this role,” the 28-year-old told AFP.
While the Philippine Coast Guard has hundreds of operators, it is the Angels who are routinely dispatched for missions in tense areas of the South China Sea, Ricafrente said.
“Angels of the Sea is a testament that there are things that women can do more effectively than men, especially in our thrust of communicating with our maritime law enforcement counterparts,” he said.
“They don’t feel threatened when they talk to women.”
Villalon said she felt proud to represent Filipinos in spaces typically dominated by men, especially with regional tensions rising.
“I focus on my job ... (and) just deliver my speech,” she said of her approach during encounters with Chinese vessels, adding she drew inspiration from her mother, a housewife who taught her to always stand her ground.
Villalon told AFP her Chinese counterpart’s tone went from aggressive to calm as she addressed him during last month’s episode near the contested Scarborough Shoal.
Spokesman Ricafrente said the coast guard was committed to exhausting every means of de-escalating tensions in the South China Sea.
“Nobody wants war, nobody wants conflict... the business of the coast guard is peace,” Ricafrente said, quoting Coast Guard Commandant Ronnie Gil Gavan, who dreamt up the Angels program while still a district commander.
Ricafrente said the coast guard hopes to train another batch of Angels this year to coincide with the arrival of new ships from Japan and France that will be used for patrols in the South China Sea.
While some question the program’s effectiveness, Villalon — who will soon start Mandarin classes to improve her communication skills — — said she believes in the importance of using “words instead of weapons.”
“I have come to realize that I am the kind of woman who is brave,” Villalon said.
“Not just because I am willing to fight, but because I want to make fighting unnecessary.”
Pope has ‘calm night’ to mark three weeks in hospital
- The Vatican said earlier Thursday that Francis, head of the worldwide Catholic Church since 2013, is in “stable” condition with no repeat of Monday’s respiratory failure
VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis spent a “calm night” as he marked three weeks in hospital with pneumonia, the Vatican said Friday, the day after the 88-year-old issued his first audio message.
The Holy See had on Thursday evening reported the pontiff’s condition was “stable” for the third day in a row, with no repeat of the respiratory crises that have punctuated his time at Rome’s Gemelli hospital.
It then released an audio recording made earlier in the day in which Francis, breathless, thanked those who have been praying for his recovery.
“I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your prayers for my health from the Square, I accompany you from here,” the Argentine said in a message broadcast in St. Peter’s Square.
HIGHLIGHT
It was the first time the world has heard Francis’s voice since he was admitted to the Gemelli hospital, which has a special suite for popes on the 10th floor, on Feb. 14.
“May God bless you and the Virgin protect you. Thank you,” he said, taking labored breaths as he spoke in his native Spanish.
It was the first time the world has heard Francis’s voice since he was admitted to the Gemelli hospital, which has a special suite for popes on the 10th floor, on Feb. 14.
Pilgrims have been gathering in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican every evening to pray for the pope’s recovery, and hundreds of people there on Thursday applauded when they heard his message.
“We were very happy that he could speak,” said John Maloney, a 76-year-old English pilgrim.
“It’s a good sign that he’s actually able to speak,” he told AFP, adding: “He’s got a long way to go so he’s in the hands of God.”
But for Claudia Bianchi, a 50-year-old Italian from Rome, “It struck me to hear him so tired.”
“It was a positive sign, so it gives us hope that he still has the strength to speak. And he always seems to want to be with us,” added another Rome local, Alessandra Dalboni, 53.
The Vatican said earlier Thursday that Francis, head of the worldwide Catholic Church since 2013, is in “stable” condition with no repeat of Monday’s respiratory failure.
Francis continued with his breathing exercises and physiotherapy, did not have a fever, and managed to do a bit of work in both the morning and afternoon, it said.
The Vatican has been providing twice daily updates on the pope’s health, a morning one on how the night went, and an evening medical bulletin.
But on Thursday it said that “in view of the stability of the clinical picture, the next medical bulletin will be released on Saturday.”
Nonetheless, “the doctors are still maintaining a reserved prognosis,” it said, meaning they will not say how they expect his condition to evolve.
‘Women’s bodies have become a political battleground,’ UN chief warns
- Speaking on the eve of International Women’s Day, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urges world leaders to stand united in fight for gender equality and women’s rights
- ‘Women have broken barriers, shattered ceilings and reshaped societies. Yet, these hard-fought gains remain fragile, and far from enough,” he says
NEW YORK CITY: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Friday, the eve of International Women’s Day, that “women’s bodies have become a political battleground.”
He urged global leaders to stand united in the fight for gender equality and the protection of women’s rights, as he reaffirmed his own commitment to tackling the persistent challenges females face worldwide and underscored the need for urgent and comprehensive action on the issue.
Guterres noted that this year marks the 30th anniversary of the historic Beijing Declaration, which enshrined the rights of women as human rights, and called for equality, development and peace for all women.
Since then, he said, progress has been made, including more girls in schools and more women in positions of power, but the path to true gender equality remains fraught with obstacles.
“Women have broken barriers, shattered ceilings and reshaped societies,” Guterres added. “Yet, these hard-fought gains remain fragile, and far from enough.”
He highlighted the effects that ongoing crises all around the world continue to have on women. From the scourge of gender-based violence to pervasive economic inequality, he painted a sobering picture of the challenges women still face.
Every 10 minutes, a woman is killed by a partner or family member, Guterres said. Meanwhile, 612 million women and girls live in areas affected by armed conflict, their rights often disregarded. Less than two-thirds of women worldwide participate in the labor market, and those who do earn much less than men.
Digital tools, though brimming with promise, also often silence women’s voices, amplify bias, and fuel harassment, he added.
“Women’s bodies have become political battlegrounds,” Guterres said. “And online violence is escalating into real-life violence. Instead of mainstreaming equal rights, we are witnessing the mainstreaming of chauvinism and misogyny. We cannot stand by as progress is reversed. We must fight back.”
Despite the setbacks, he said solutions are within reach. He pointed in particular to the UN’s “Spotlight Initiative,” launched in 2016, which he said has made significant strides in combating gender-based violence, prevented 21 million women and girls from experiencing violence, and helped to keep 1 million girls in school.
Its success demonstrates that when global organizations unite behind comprehensive strategies, real change is possible, Guterres added.
As part of the UN’s ongoing efforts to advance the cause of gender equality, he announced the launch of the “Gender Equality Clarion Call,” an initiative that aims to defend and advance the rights of women and girls. It is built around four priorities: unified leadership, action against pushbacks, coordinated impact, and protection for defenders of women’s human rights.
“The Clarion Call is a bold, urgent pledge to defend and advance the rights of women and girls,” Guterres said.
He also acknowledged the progress within the UN itself on gender parity, noting that since 2020 the organization has achieved gender balance in its senior leadership positions, including resident coordinators and international professional categories. This, he said, proves that systemic change is achievable through committed, concerted action.
However, Guterres warned that the work is far from done, as he called on governments, businesses and other organizations to take similar steps to advance gender equality.
