Continued……In a recent attack on Goma, M23 forces reportedly killed Major-General Peter Cirimwami, the province’s military governor, during his visit to frontline troops on January 23. According to UN and military sources, 13 peacekeeping troops lost their lives in confrontations with M23, including nine South African soldiers serving under the Southern African Development Community (SADC) mission, alongside three Malawians and one Uruguayan soldier.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged Rwanda to withdraw its forces from the DRC and halt its support for M23.

The situation escalated following the breakdown of peace talks between Rwandan and DRC leaders, which were set to take place on December 15 in Luanda, Angola. Since the start of 2025, the UN Refugee Agency reports that over 400,000 individuals have been displaced, exacerbating an already critical humanitarian crisis in the Great Lakes region.

The ongoing resource conflict in the DRC, which has raged for three decades, has resulted in approximately 6 million deaths and the displacement of over 7 million people.

Sources:


https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0qwlkydxxko

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/26/un-chief-calls-for-rwandan-forces-to-leave-drc-as-rebels-press-offensive

https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/01/1159401

https://www.unhcr.org/news/briefing-notes/unhcr-gravely-concerned-worsening-violence-and-humanitarian-crisis-eastern-dr

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/24/military-governor-drc-north-kivu-province-killed-m23-rebel-offensive

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2l07e550qko

https://apnews.com/article/congo-united-nations-peacekeepers-649174404c6b638bb0fb24dd2edc1ea6

https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/statement/2025-01-26/statement-attributable-the-spokesperson-for-the-secretary-general-%E2%80%93-the-democratic-republic-of-the-congo-scroll-down-for-french-version

https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/n24/118/80/pdf/n2411880.pdf

https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/n24/118/80/pdf/n2411880.pdf

Local sources have accused the UAE-backed Rapid Support Forces of attacking a hospital in Darfur, killing about 70 people and leaving 29 more injured. North Darfur's capital of El Fasher has been under RSF siege for 8-months now and is the last of the state's five capitals not under full RSF control.

The RSF is accused of mass atrocities in the state of Darfur. On 2 November 2023 for example, it was reported that the RSF, in a single massacre, had killed 1,300 people and injured 2,000 in West Darfur.

Continued……. The people of Darfur have been subjected to ethnic cleansing throughout all the vicious cycles of wars in Sudan. For instance, between 2003 to 2008, the Sudanese government's military and their armed militias (the Janjaweed or 'devils on horseback') waged a g*nocide in Darfur that k*lled about 300,000 civilians and displaced around 2.7 million people.

Most of the RSF are former Janjaweed militia responsible for the genocide in the 2000s. Their current atrocities are not only a product of the proxy war that began on 15 April 2023, but also part of a long-standing ethnically motivated war waged predominantly against Sudan’s non-Arab peoples for decades, with the people of Darfur continuously targeted.

Sources:

https://sudantribune.com/article296469

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/26/hospital-attack-sudan-besieged-el-fasher-who

https://theconversation.com/sudans-army-has-been-battling-to-keep-darfurs-el-fasher-from-paramilitary-forces-why-the-citys-so-important-236168

https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/12/sudan-alarming-el-fasher-siege-hostilities-must-end-un-report

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/25/dozens-killed-in-drone-attack-on-hospital-in-sudans-darfur-medical-source

https://theconversation.com/sudans-army-has-been-battling-to-keep-darfurs-el-fasher-from-paramilitary-forces-why-the-citys-so-important-236168

https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/horn-africa/sudan/b198-halting-catastrophic-battle-sudans-el-fasher

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/10/corpses-on-streets-sudans-rsf-kills-1300-in-darfur-monitors-say

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/jul/24/rsf-janjaweed-hemedti-out-to-finish-darfur-sudan-genocide-uk-cannot-stand-by

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/darfur

Burkina Faso announced on 16 January that over 1 million internally displaced people had made their way back to 165,375 households and 697 localities by 31 December 2024 after the new government eliminated t*rrorist death squads in the country’s west, notably the Cascades and Southwest regions. Burkina Faso’s revolutionary government now has its eyes on liberating the northeast. 

Burkina Faso President Ibrahim Traoré considers the fight against terrorism a war of decolonisation. Alliance of Sahel States (AES) member states—Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger—have accused former coloniser France and Ukraine of providing support for t*rrorist organisations, an issue that the AES has brought before the United Nations Security Council. The 2011 NATO invasion of Libya destabilised the country, allowing its arms to flood the Sahara Desert, leading to a spike in t*rrorism-related deaths.

Continued…. Sources:

https://www.aujourd8.net/burkina-faso-1-010-136-deplaces-sont-retournes-dans-697-localites/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C96QQ28PJNc

https://www.un.int/mali/sites/www.un.int/files/Mali/rev_allocution_mali_agnu_24_septembre_2022_2.pdf

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/burkina-faso-mali-niger-accuse-ukraine-of-supporting-terrorism-in-sahel/3308995

https://www.visionofhumanity.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/GTI-2022-web-09062022.pdf

DRC QUESTIONS RWANDA’S ROLE IN UN AFTER
PEACEKEEPERS KILLED

Asked whether Kinshasa now regrets demanding the (still incomplete) withdrawal of the UN peacekeeping mission in the country (MONUSCO) - in light of the advances being made by Rwanda-backed M23 rebels in eastern Congo - DRC’s foreign minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner responded by saying that areas no longer under UN jurisdiction have seen greater stability than MONUSCO-administered areas.

If she is right, what was one of the UN’s biggest and best funded ($1 billion annually) missions really about?

She accuses the international community of complicity in destabilising the DRC. M23 would not be able to wage war so successfully if not for Kigali’s backing, and Rwanda itself would likely not possess the capacity to back the M23 without international support.

Continued…. Despite issuing condemnation, the West - in particular, the US, UK and France - have refrained from taking concrete measures against Rwandan president, Paul Kagame.

Rwanda is heavily reliant on external funding. According to the World Bank, Kigali received $1.25 billion in official development assistance in 2021 - equivalent to 74% of central government spending. The EU in 2022 announced it would fund a Rwandan military campaign in Mozambique at $20 million. In 2024, Paris announced $400 million in funding for health, the environment and education. The UK also agreed a deal with Rwanda to host deported migrants worth $310 million in 2022.

All these initiatives have been undertaken with the full knowledge of Rwanda’s involvement in DRC’s destabilisation. Might economic interests be a consideration, especially considering how crucial Congolese minerals such as cobalt and gold are to global markets, and the role Kigali plays in acquiring them from the DRC?

Sources:

News:
https://x.com/sherwiebp/status/1883580216188301772

Rwanda and Int’l community
https://cic.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/The-Resurgence-of-the-M23-EN.pdf

M23 economic interests
https://apnews.com/article/congo-mining-m23-un-security-council-b11207ba887b352d702c3e4603d0c891

Continued….. 6.https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8xpqvz0e88o

7.https://reliefweb.int/report/libya/sudan-situation-sudanese-refugees-and-asylum-seekers-libya-19-jan-2025

8.https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/7/10/sudanese-refugees-dwell-in-ethiopian-forest-away-from-bandits-and-militias

9.https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/10/17/ethiopia-fighting-abuses-putting-sudanese-refugees-risk#:~:text=Ethiopia%20currently%20hosts%20over%2090%2C000,also%20fled%20Sudan%20into%20Ethiopia.

10.https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.darfurwomenaction.org/press_release/over-120-civilians-killed-and-over-130-women-committed-suicide-to-escape-rape-by-rsf&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1737631498285360&usg=AOvVaw1Q3WOTa1I5_vfADEa-Nhdi

On 14 January, Niger’s students took to the streets in a mass mobilisation with a clear message of support for their government, known as the National Council for the Safeguarding of the Homeland (CNSP), in the face of imperialist threats. 

‘We are committed to fighting relentlessly against imperialism, a historic fight to which we devote ourselves, body and soul,’ said Effred Mouloul Al Hassane, secretary-general of the Union of Nigerien Students.

Recently, Nigerien President Abdourahamane Tiani said France was threatening his country.

Continued……‘Unfortunately, the enemy we face is not terrorism, but above all, France.’ Pan-Africanists in Niger and worldwide have celebrated Niger’s new government for nationalising uranium mines, ending its French military occupation, and becoming the first country in Africa to break ties with US Africa Command (AFRICOM). However, the country is still under attack by what many believe to be Western-backed death squads. Nigerien officials have also caught French spies working to destabilise their territory.

‘It’s only after we emerge [as a powerful nation] that we can move towards development, and that’s only if we remain united,’ said Brigadier General Abdou Harouna, the governor of Niamey, who attended this rally. ‘It’s essential that we work together, that we stand shoulder to shoulder to achieve this goal.’

Sources:

https://www.actuniger.com/societe/20700-niamey-la-jeunesse-scolaire-se-mobilise-massivement-pour-soutenir-le-cnsp-et-appeler-a-lunite-dans-la-lutte-contre-limperialisme.html

https://news.1rj.ru/str/Aesinfosfr/4990

https://fr.sputniknews.africa/20241116/le-niger-annonce-la-detention-dun-espion-presume-de-la-france—1069263671.html

https://news.1rj.ru/str/Aesinfosfr/5544

https://www.africom.mil/pressrelease/35590/us-withdrawal-from-niger-completed

https://www.neimagazine.com/news/niger-seizes-control-of-somair-uranium-mine/

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/french-company-orano-loses-control-of-uranium-mine-to-niger-admin/3414093

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/last-french-troops-leave-niger-military-cooperation-officially-ends-2023-12-22/

WHY S. AFRICA NEEDS LAND EXPROPRIATION

On 23 January, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa signed into law the Land Expropriation Bill, introduced in 2022. This will enable the government to expropriate privately owned (in particular, White-owned) land for public purposes or in the public interest.

The final piece of legislation is a watered-down version of what the country’s opposition Economic Freedom Fighters party (EFF) has for years been fighting for. While the EFF had advocated for zero compensation for the expropriated land, the new law states that this will only be applied as a last-resort measure. That prompted the EFF to reject the new law, describing it as an ‘absurdity’ and ‘an attempt to fool our people.’

Continued…. The party argues that the new law will not be able adequately to address the existing land inequalities caused by centuries of racial oppression of Black South Africans. The EFF is particularly opposed to the ‘willing buyer, willing seller’ clause in the act, which requires consensus between the expropriating authority and the owner of the property on the amount of compensation. (In the event that the two sides cannot agree on the amount, courts have to determine an amount of compensation that is considered just and equitable.)

The debate around land expropriation has raged on in South Africa for decades. In this video from 2018, African Stream Editor-in-Chief Ahmed Kaballo explains why land reform is a non-negotiable requirement for South Africa to address the ever-growing economic and social inequality between Black South Africans and the descendants of White colonial settlers. Kaballo made the remarks back in December 2018, shortly after South Africa’s parliament overwhelmingly passed a committee report recommending amending the constitution to allow for expropriation without compensation.

Video credit: Press TV UK

Sources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNoWJxK9QoY

https://mg.co.za/politics/2025-01-24-newly-signed-expropriation-bill-heading-for-court-cabinet-clearing-house/

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-01-25-tensions-rise-in-gnu-john-steenhuisen-calls-for-urgent-dialogue-following-expropriation-act-signing/?dm_source=top_reads_block&dm_medium=card_link&dm_campaign=top_reads&dm_content=maverick_news

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNoWJxK9QoY

https://x.com/EFFSouthAfrica/status/1882484477949337711
________________________

Hear Us Roar: https://news.1rj.ru/str/AfricanStream

BOASTFUL RUTO DISPLAYS IGNORANCE OF FRANCE’S HISTORY

Ever eager to project his importance on the international stage, Kenya’s president William Ruto took to X on Monday to say that he’d had a call with Emmanuel Macron about the war in DR Congo - boasting that his French counterpart had given his blessing to regional efforts to end the fighting. But in his eagerness to be seen as a ‘big-league’ player, Ruto - who is also Chair of the East African Community - seems to have forgotten some basic facts.

France is accused of having had a hand in the ongoing instability of the DRC, due to its complicity in the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. It supported the genocidal regime, training and arming its soldiers under the guise of a United Nations Security Council humanitarian intervention, dubbed Operation Turquoise. With France’s support, the perpetrators of the genocide were able to escape into DRC.

Continued……. Former French Colonel Guillaume Ancel - in his book ‘Rwanda: End of Silence’ (2018) - admits that when the Rwandan perpetrators escaped to the DRC, they were provided with arms by France in the refugee camps. “I witnessed one of these deliveries in the second half of July 1994,” he writes, adding that “the commanders explained that we were delivering weapons to those who had carried out massacres to prevent them from turning against the French army. It became clear they were following directives from the highest levels of the State.”

Today, France continues to support Rwanda and - by extension - the Kigali-backed M23 rebels, who have committed atrocities against the people of the DRC. Hence, Ruto’s tone-deaf post on X has rightly drawn heavy criticism from Africans questioning why he is even reaching out to France for support, at a time when Francophone countries are cutting ties with Paris and freeing themselves of its neo-colonial influence.

Sources:

https://en.sputniknews.africa/20240225/what-is-frances-role-in-eastern-drc-conflict--tensions-with-rwanda-1065237633.html

https://thegreatlakeseye.com/post?s=France%27s--stance--on--DRC--crisis--a--big--concern--_1327

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/jul/28/why-is-the-drc-wasting-precious-resources-on-an-outdated-testament-to-french-colonial-power

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/02/dr-congo-rwandan-backed-m23-rebels-perpetrating-summary-killings-and-rapes/

https://www.theafricareport.com/373043/what-remains-of-the-fdlr-in-eastern-drc/

CIA MADE AFGHANISTAN A NARCO-STATE

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) played a pivotal role in the creation of the first true narco-state in history, Afghanistan.

In a covert operation known as ‘Operation Mosquito’ during the 1980s, the US plunged into Afghanistan’s drug trade, seeking to destabilise the Soviet occupation by inundating Russian soldiers with narcotics. Alfred McCoy, in his groundbreaking book, ‘Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade,’ exposes how the CIA funnelled an astonishing $3 billion to the mujahideen leaders battling the Soviets, a strategy that ultimately facilitated the rise of the Taliban.

In this clip, a former CIA officer, John Kiriakou, reveals how, under the eyes of intelligence agents, Afghanistan’s landscape turned into a vast expanse of poppy fields, producing illicit opium that funnelled millions of dollars into the CIA’s shadowy operations, all while evading legal scrutiny.