GENEVA: The Rwanda-backed M23 armed group has summarily executed children in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
The UN rights office warned the situation in eastern DRC was “deteriorating sharply, resulting in serious human rights violations and abuses.”
“Our office has confirmed cases of summary execution of children by M23 after they entered the city of Bukavu last week,” rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.
“We are also aware that children were in possession of weapons,” she said.
She urged “Rwanda and M23 to ensure that human rights and international humanitarian law are respected.”
M23 fighters and Rwandan soldiers have seized Goma and Bukavu, the capitals of North and South Kivu provinces respectively.
In South Kivu, more than 150,000 people have been forced to flee, UN refugee agency UNHCR said.
UN experts say Rwanda effectively controls M23 and has at least 4,000 troops fighting alongside it.
The DRC government accuses Rwanda of “expansionist ambitions” and says it is stealing vast amounts of minerals.
Shamdasani said the situation was “very chaotic,” and the UN rights office was “receiving a lot of information... which we are not able to confirm or verify.”
It had, however, confirmed a case of three boys, thought to be aged between 11 and 15, who had been killed in Bukavu on Sunday “during an altercation with members of M23.”
The boys were allegedly wearing uniforms and carrying weapons found in an abandoned DRC army camp, firing shots and looting stores, she said.
“What appears to have happened is that they were asked to surrender their weapons and they refused to do so and they were killed,” she said.
The rights office had also documented cases of “ill treatment, conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence, child and forced recruitment, intimidation and death threats,” she said.
Prison breaks from South Kivu’s Kabare and Bukavu jails on Friday had made matters worse.
“We have received protection requests from victims and witnesses (who) fear retaliation from escapees, given their active participation in the trials against some of these prisoners convicted of grave human rights violations and abuses, some of which amount to international crimes,” she said.
She said the UN had received “reports that journalists, human rights defenders and members of civil society organizations have been threatened, and forced to leave.”
UN rights chief Volker Turk “expresses his horror at the events unfolding in South and North Kivu, and the impact this is having on civilians,” she said.
“The risks of this spilling over into an even deeper and wider conflict are frighteningly real.”
The fighting has already spurred an exodus toward neighboring Burundi, UNHCR warned.
“Between 10,000 and 15,000 people have crossed into Burundi over the last few days,” spokesman Matthew Saltmarsh told reporters.
“Most of those arriving are Congolese, mainly from the Bukavu area,” he said.
He highlighted reports of thousands more people arriving through “unofficial border points,” including across rivers, “with reports of several individuals drowning.”
“Conditions in the communities near the border are extremely dire, with a lack of shelter, water and sanitation facilities,” he said.
UN condemns ‘summary executions’ of children by M23 in DR Congo
https://arab.news/wt5fr
UN condemns ‘summary executions’ of children by M23 in DR Congo
- “Our office has confirmed cases of summary execution of children by M23 after they entered the city of Bukavu last week,” rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said
- “We are also aware that children were in possession of weapons“
Last US soldier who went missing in Lithuania found dead
The army did not specify where exactly the soldier was found
VILNIUS: The last of the four American soldiers who went missing in Lithuania last week was on Tuesday also found dead, the US Army said, without providing additional details.
The three other soldiers were found dead on Monday after rescuers recovered their M88 Hercules armored vehicle from a swamp. Hundreds of local and foreign troops and others including engineers and divers had been involved in the operation.
Lithuanian authorities received a report last Tuesday that the soldiers went missing during a military drill at a training ground in the eastern city of Pabrade, near the border with Belarus.
“The fourth US Army Soldier... was found deceased near Pabrade, Lithuania the afternoon of April 1,” US Army Europe and Africa’s public affairs office said in a statement.
“The Soldier’s identity is being withheld pending confirmation of notification of next of kin,” it added.
The army did not specify where exactly the soldier was found.
Hundreds of people gathered at the US embassy in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius on Tuesday evening to pay their respects to the four soldiers, who had been in Lithuania for two months.
Carrying US flags, people laid flowers, lit candles and held a minute of silence for the soldiers.
Lithuania’s defense ministry expressed “deep sorrow” over the death.
“We extend our condolences to the families of all four soldiers lost in this tragic accident and thank all those involved in the search efforts,” it added on social network X.
US defense secretary Pete Hegseth thanked the “brave servicemembers who enabled this difficult recovery and to our Lithuanian hosts.”
“The recovery was conducted with urgency, resolve and deep respect for the fallen,” he said on X.
“We will never forget these soldiers — and our prayers are with their families.”
Lithuania, a NATO and EU member, hosts more than 1,000 American troops stationed on a rotational basis.
Mali, Burkina, Niger foreign ministers due in Moscow for talks
- Sahelian countries are led by juntas who seized power in coups between 2020 and 2023 and have turned away from former colonial power France and moved closer to Russia
- Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group and its successor Africa Corps are helping the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) battle extremists
ABIDJAN: The foreign ministers of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger are due in Moscow this week for the first talks between their countries’ newly created confederation and Russia, they said in a statement.
The three Sahelian countries are led by juntas who seized power in coups between 2020 and 2023 and have since turned away from former colonial power France and moved closer to Russia.
They quit the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) at the beginning of the year, accusing the regional bloc of being subservient to France, and have formed the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), originally set up as a defense pact in 2023 but which now seeks closer integration.
The three foreign ministers will be in the Russian capital on Thursday and Friday at the invitation of their counterpart Sergei Lavrov to “take part in the first session of AES-Russia consultations,” the ministers said in a statement posted on Facebook by the Malian foreign ministry, which holds the presidency of the confederation.
“This meeting is part of the shared desire of the heads of state of the AES confederation and the Russian Federation to extend their partnership and their political dialogue at the confederal level and to place them at the heart of their diplomatic, development and defense agenda,” they said.
Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group and its successor Africa Corps are helping the AES countries battle extremists, whose attacks have killed tens of thousands of people in the three countries.
Moscow has also concluded defense agreements with Mali, Burkina and Niger and has supplied military equipment.
It also cooperates with the AES on energy and mining.
King Charles back to work after ‘minor bump’ in cancer treatment
- Officials regarded the short hospital stay of a few hours as a “minor bump” in his medical journey
- Other engagements later in the week will include the king’s weekly meeting with Prime Minister Keir Starmer
LONDON: King Charles III on Tuesday carried out his first public engagement since a short spell in hospital last week for side effects from his cancer treatment.
Charles, 76, on Thursday postponed all his appointments for the rest of the day and for Friday on doctors’ advice after suffering some temporary symptoms, Buckingham Palace said.
Officials regarded the short hospital stay of a few hours as a “minor bump” in his medical journey.
In the first of his engagements for this week, Charles was all smiles as he handed out honors at Windsor Castle west of London to leading figures including reigning world heptathlon champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson who was recognized with an Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for her services to athletics.
Johnson-Thompson said afterwards the monarch “seemed in good spirits. You know it’s long, all day, because so many people are getting honored today.
“So he seems in really good spirits and I’m happy to see that he’s fit and well.”
Gardner and broadcaster Alan Titchmarsh, who received a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), also praised Charles’s “boundless energy.”
Other engagements later in the week will include the king’s weekly meeting with Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
A small number of appointments, however, had been rescheduled ahead of a state visit that Charles and his wife Queen Camilla will make to Italy next week.
Charles announced he had been diagnosed with an unspecified cancer in February last year.
He returned to work within two-and-a-half months and gradually ramped up his duties during the rest of 2024, including making several foreign trips which took him as far as Australia and Samoa.
Just six weeks after Charles’s cancer announcement came the news that his daughter-in-law Catherine, Princess of Wales, had also been diagnosed with cancer and had begun chemotherapy.
Catherine, who is married to heir to Charles’s eldest son Prince William, said in January that she was now in remission
Britain says anyone carrying out activity with Russian authorities now needs to register
- Russian political parties that are controlled by the Russian government will also need to declare what they are doing
- The program is a key tool for the “detection and disruption of harmful activity against our country”
LONDON: Britain’s government is placing Russia on the top tier of a government security program aimed at protecting the UK from malign foreign influence, the security minister said Tuesday.
Home Office minister Dan Jarvis told lawmakers that anyone or any company “carrying out activity as part of any arrangement” with Russian authorities — including government agencies, armed forces, intelligence services and the parliament — will need to register with the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme from July 1 or face five years in prison.
Russian political parties that are controlled by the Russian government will also need to declare what they are doing before they can carry out activity in the UK directly.
Britain’s government said the program is a key tool for the “detection and disruption of harmful activity against our country.”
Jarvis cited hostile Russian acts in recent years including the use of the deadly nerve agent Novichok to poison a Russian ex-spy and his daughter in 2018, the targeting of British members of Parliament through cyberattacks and other espionage tactics.
“And clearly Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine has highlighted its intent to undermine European and global security,” he added.
Iran was the first country to be listed under the program earlier this month. Lawmakers have questioned for months why China isn’t included.
“There is no question, in my mind, China should be in that enhanced tier,” said Chris Philp of the opposition Labour Party. “We know China engages in industrial-scale espionage, seeking to steal technology from government, universities and from industries. They repress Chinese citizens here and have sought to infiltrate our political system.”
Jarvis did not directly respond, only saying that his government is taking a “long-term and strategic approach” to managing its relationship with China.
Russia says told US about Ukrainian strikes on energy sites
- Ukraine reported a Russian attack had left tens of thousands without power on Tuesday
- Each side has accused the other of breaking a supposed deal to stop firing on energy sites
KYIV: Russia said Tuesday that it had complained to the United States about Ukrainian strikes on its energy sites, hours after Kyiv reported a Russian attack had left tens of thousands without power.
Each side has accused the other of breaking a supposed deal to stop firing on energy sites, though a formal agreement has not been put in place and what commitments each side has undertaken remain unclear.
Following separate meetings with US officials, the White House said both Ukraine and Russia had “agreed to develop measures for implementing” an “agreement to ban strikes against energy facilities of Russia and Ukraine.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed allegations of Ukrainian “violations” in a private meeting of top security officials on Tuesday.
“We passed a list of violations... to the US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after the meeting.
“I have passed this list to the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio,” he added.
Russia’s defense ministry earlier accused Kyiv of striking Russian energy sites in the Russian region of Belgorod and the partially Moscow-controlled Ukrainian region of Zaporizhzhia.
The allegations come hours after Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said tens of thousands were left without power in the southern Kherson region by a Russian strike.
Local authorities later said power supplies had been restored.
Russia has launched systematic aerial attacks on Ukrainian power plants and grid since invading in February 2022.
Putin last month rejected a joint US-Ukrainian proposal for an unconditional and full ceasefire.
Sybiga also said Kyiv and Washington were holding fresh talks on a minerals agreement that would give the United States access to Ukrainian natural resources in return for more support.
The two countries had planned to sign a deal in February on extracting Ukraine’s strategically important minerals, until a spectacular televised White House clash between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky derailed the agreement.
Trump on Sunday warned Zelensky he would have “big problems” if Kyiv rejected the latest US proposal, details of which have not been published by either side.
