Continued……. As early as 1998, Burundian, Rwandan, Ugandan and/or Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD) soldiers emptied DRC warehouses. The looting remains a prominent feature across successive proxy campaigns, casting doubt on claims that Rwanda or M23 intervenes in the DRC only in the interests of marginalised Tutsis in the DRC.

Since M23’s resurgence in 2021, reportedly due to Rwanda fearing isolation following increased DRC-Uganda cooperation, the militia has displaced hundreds of thousands of people in eastern DRC. Reports indicate M23 is closing in around the city of Bukavu after entering Goma on 27 January. In Rubaya, which M23 captured in 2024, the group has generated around $300,000 monthly in taxes from tantalum mining. 
 
Video credit: @newzroomafrika (X)

Sources:

West vs Rwanda 2012
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/uk-freezes-21m-aid-to-rwanda-1.751902

https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/news/east-africa/suspended-aid-could-return-to-rwanda-but-on-different-terms--1314648

https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/22/world/africa/us-cutting-military-aid-to-rwanda-for-the-year.html

Goma seized
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ewelinaochab/2025/02/02/rwandan-backed-m23-rebels-seize-goma-and-advance-further-into-eastern-drc

M23 $300,000 a month
https://apnews.com/article/congo-mining-m23-un-security-council-b11207ba887b352d702c3e4603d0c891

Western interests in Rwanda
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/24/world/africa/rwanda-france-kagame.html

https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/14/europe/uk-rwanda-migrant-deal-gbr-intl/index.html https://www.mod.gov.rw/news-detail/rwanda-deploys-force-protection-troops-to-central-african-republic

Rwanda plunder ongoing for a while
https://docs.un.org/en/S/2001/357

After taking control of Goma, the largest eastern city in the Democratic Republic of Congo, M23 rebels - who are backed by Rwanda - are reportedly moving towards Bukavu in southern Kivu.

M23 is part of the political-military group Congo River Alliance (Alliance Fleuve Congo), whose commander, Corneille Nangaa, says his forces intend to advance all the way to Kinshasa to overthrow President Félix Tshisekedi. Nangaa previously led the DRC’s Electoral Commission, which oversaw the controversial and delayed 2018 elections that brought Tshisekedi into power.

His plan faces the challenge of the Congo’s vast size - roughly the same as that of Western Europe. The Alliance would need to advance 2,600 km (1,600 miles) to reach Kinshasa.

Continued……. Meanwhile, Rwanda is facing increasing international pressure to stop supporting the M23 and pull its troops out of Congo.

In a televised address after Goma’s capture, President Tshisekedi announced that a “robust and coordinated response” is underway to reclaim territory from the rebels. “Rest assured, the Democratic Republic of Congo will not allow itself to be humiliated or defeated. We will resist and we will prevail,” he stated on 29 January.

According to the UN, half a million Congolese have been displaced in January alone, worsening an already dire humanitarian crisis. The ongoing resource conflict in the country has displaced over 7-million people, resulted in more than 6-million deaths and been marked by horrific sexual and human-rights violations.

Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgn1k9nleno

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/congos-ex-election-chief-turned-rebel-boss-builds-insurgency-2025-01-27/

https://www.koaci.com/article/2025/01/31/afrique/politique/rdc-corneille-nangaa-au-nom-du-m23-annonce-leur-avancee-vers-kinshasa_184158.html

https://globaldashboard.org/2011/12/06/how-big-is-the-congo-very-big/

https://www.voanews.com/a/five-things-to-know-about-dr-congo/6941146.html

https://www.caritas.org/2010/02/six-million-dead-in-congos-war/

THE U.S. THINKS REVOLUTIONARIES ARE TERRORISTS

On 14 January 2025, outgoing US president Joe Biden announced that he would remove Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list. On 21 January, just one week later, newly inaugurated president Donald Trump reversed the decision, adding Cuba back to the list. But why was Cuba ever considered a sponsor of terrorism in the first place?

According to the US State Department’s website, “Cuba was designated as a State Sponsor of Terrorism in 1982 because of its long history of providing advice, safe haven, communications, training and financial support to guerrilla groups and individual terrorists.” But who were these terrorists that Cuba was helping? Well, it turns out they were revolutionary anti-colonial freedom fighters from Latin America and Africa.

Continued……. Beginning in 1975, Cuba sent soldiers to Angola to assist the revolutionary Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) in its fight against apartheid South African forces and CIA-backed death squads. 10,000 Cubans are reported to have died fighting to liberate Angola from neo-colonial, pro-apartheid forces. Cuba’s intervention in Angola was so significant that it brought the apartheid system to its knees.

Cuban revolutionaries also fought for Africa’s freedom in the Congo, where they backed pro-Lumumba forces in their battle against CIA-installed Mobutu Sese Seko. Cubans contributed to the liberation of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, fighting alongside the great pan-African, Amílcar Cabral.

Cuba fought for Africa, and Cuba has paid a price.

When the United States talks about a history of “Cuban support for terrorism,” what they are actually saying is that our African freedom fighters - from Agostinho Neto and the MPLA, to Amílcar Cabral and the PAIGC - are terrorists. This is not just an insult to Cuba, it’s a major insult to us!

Africans must stand unequivocally with Cubans as they face economic attack due to their solidarity with our people.

Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c17e0k92g41o

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/trump-reinstates-cuba-as-state-sponsor-of-terrorism/3456711#

https://www.state.gov/reports/country-reports-on-terrorism-2019/cuba/

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-06-16-mn-7734-story.html

DJIMON HOUNSOU ON HOLLYWOOD RACISM

In a now-viral clip, Actor Djimon Hounsou recently shed light on systemic racism in Hollywood during a disheartening CNN interview.

With over three decades in the film industry, several award nominations and a face instantly recognisable to any film enthusiast, Honsou revealed he is still struggling financially. Despite successfully playing numerous roles, he said his talent and contributions have repeatedly been overlooked - and not received the recognition they deserve.

The interview is sobering, reminding us that Africans globally should have no illusions: there is no such thing as ‘cracking the code’ to success in an inherently flawed system. Regardless of how brilliant we are, we are still viewed through the same racialised lens - regardless of achievements.

Continued……. Of course, there are a few us who have made it to the so-called top - they are the exceptions, not the rule, and are arguably put there to maintain the illusion that Black success is possible within the White supremacists structure.

That’s something confirmed by ‘Black faces in high places’ such as Oprah Winfrey - who’s been accused of gatekeeping on behalf of the systemically racist film industry. In 2023, for instance, actress Taraji P. Henson, following her role in The Colour Purple (produced by Winfrey), broke down in an interview with SiriusXm, saying, “I’m just tired of working so hard, being gracious at what I do [and] getting paid a fraction of the cost.”

Sources:

https://nypost.com/2023/12/20/entertainment/taraji-p-henson-sobs-over-being-underpaid-in-hollywood-the-math-aint-mathing/

https://vnhsmirror.com/224651/entertainment/wake-up-hollywood-the-racial-wage-gap-is-real/

https://www.bps.org.uk/psychologist/systemic-racism-permeates-all-levels-our-society

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUzqD5UcLwo

Continued……. It was the era of Jim Crow Laws on racial segregation, and Parks was charged with violation of the Montgomery City code.

Her arrest for civil disobedience motivated the African community to boycott Montgomery buses for over a year and ignited the civil-rights movement that changed America. This act of defiance became an important symbol for the movement, and Rosa became an international icon of resistance against racial segregation.

In her autobiography, My Story, she wrote:

“People always say that I didn’t give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn’t true. I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day. I was not old, although some people have an image of me as being old then. I was forty-two. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.”

Parks died on 24 October 2005, leaving behind a legacy of unwavering commitment to the struggle for our people’s freedom and dignity.

Continued…….. Julius Malema (@julius_s_malema on X), president of the Economic Freedom Fighters (@EFFsouthafrica), a South African political party that seeks a united Africa, replied that nothing would undermine South Africa's sovereignty. He emphasised that depending on foreign investment and aid compromises national sovereignty, asserting that threats from Trump would not deter South Africa's progress, currently governed by a coalition of parties of which EFF is not a part. White-led parties also oppose the law.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa also addressed Trump's remarks, affirming that South Africa is committed to law, justice and equality, and has not confiscated land.

Tesla CEO and major Trump donor Elon Musk replied to Ramaphosa on X, ‘Why do you have openly racist ownership laws?’

The new land policy replaced the apartheid-era Expropriation Act of 1975, which mandated compensation for landowners under the ‘willing seller, willing buyer’ principle. The revised law allows for expropriation without compensation when deemed ‘just and equitable’ and in the public interest, particularly for unused properties or those posing risks.

British colonial authorities enacted a 1913 law that restricted property rights for the Black majority, resulting in the white minority controlling most land and forcibly relocating Black South Africans to impoverished areas until the end of apartheid in the early 1990s. In 2017, a government report revealed white settlers held 72 per cent of privately owned farmland, yet they make up 7.3 per cent of the population, according to a 2022 census.

Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn01z1yy0jno?at_ptr_name=twitter&at_campaign=Social_Flow&at_link_type=web_link&at_link_id=480F2C6A-E220-11EF-B589-BA7A2E75F565&at_campaign_type=owned&at_bbc_team=editorial&at_medium=social&at_link_origin=BBCAfrica&at_format=image

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg9w4n6gp5o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsMT3-BraRU

The World Health Organisation says the latest offensive by Rwandan-backed M23 rebels - which reportedly saw them take control of much of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s largest city, Goma - has resulted in the deaths of at least 900 people. A few hours after that grim figure was released by the UN health body, M23 announced a ceasefire in and around Goma. The group claims the truce is for humanitarian reasons, but there are concerns that the actual plan is to use it to organise reinforcements and restock on arms - in anticipation of a possible DRC army counter-offensive.

Continued……On 31 January, DRC President Felix Tshisekedi said the Congolese military was preparing a ‘vigorous military response’ to M23’s advance. The development comes as regional bodies prepare for an emergency summit in Tanzania to address the mineral-fuelled conflict in the DRC.

Sources:

https://x.com/kivuresidence/status/1886494576086536633/photo/1

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/eastern-dr-congo-rebel-alliance-including-m23-declares-ceasefire/3470688

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/04/rwandan-backed-rebel-group-m23-declares-unilateral-ceasefire-in-drc

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjexnzl372wo

https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2025/1/30/drc-leader-vows-vigorous-response-as-rwanda-backed-fighters-advance

MALEMA: KAGAME ACTING ON BEHALF OF IMPERIALISTS

Julius Malema (@julius_s_malema on X) spoke sharply about Rwanda and Uganda following 14 South African soldiers being k*lled as Rwanda- and Uganda-backed M23 militia entered the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Goma city on 27 January.

The Economic Freedom Fighters party (@EFFsouthafrica) president said during a 3 February press conference that Kagame is not a friend but a puppet furthering Western interests, such as the migrant-relocation deal with the United Kingdom and Rwandan military deployments to Mozambique to secure French oil company TotalEnergie’s interests.

The UN issued an experts report in June 2024 that provided detailed evidence of Rwanda and Uganda’s support for M23.

Continued……. The fighting since M23 entered Goma city in eastern DRC has k*lled more than 900 people as of 3 February, according to the UN. Congolese government spokesman Patrick Muyaya said on 1 February that the figures could be much higher since the rebels ‘asked the population to clean the streets of Goma.’ The fighting has injured more than 2,880 people.

The Western-backed, three-decade-long war over natural resources k*lled at least 6 million Congolese by 2010 and internally displaced about 7 million as of last year’s figures. Just last month, M23’s success in seizing land in eastern DRC caused 500,000 people to flee their homes. The group entering Goma reportedly led hundreds of thousands to abandon the city.

Sources
EFF presser
https://youtu.be/dnWbXeIJuMA

Rwanda UK deal
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9568/

Rwanda France deal on Mozambique
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2021/1220/Rwanda-keeps-the-peace-in-Mozambique.-Why

Goma wartime stats
https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2025/2/2/more-than-700-killed-as-dr-congo-military-fights-m23-rebels

https://mynorthwest.com/world/un-says-the-death-toll-in-fighting-in-the-eastern-congo-city-of-goma-is-at-least-900/4039201

Three-decade resource war
https://www.caritas.org/2010/02/six-million-dead-in-congos-war

https://drcongo.iom.int/en/news/internal-displacement-overview-2024-published

Flee homes
https://www.dw.com/en/dr-congo-people-flee-homes-2025/a-71440536

https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/28/africa/violence-erupts-dr-congo-m23-goma-intl/index.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/01/29/congo-kagame-rwanda-m23-goma/8e31e318-de24-11ef-8889-d5c3924edafd_story.html

TRUMP LOCKS HORNS WITH S. AFRICA OVER LAND REFORM

South Africa’s president says he’s ready to school Donald Trump about what his country’s land-reform policy is really about. Cyril Ramaphosa was responding to his US counterpart’s threat to cut aid to Pretoria - over a newly signed law that allows it to seize privately-owned land (in some instances, without compensation).

Trump accused the South African government of ‘confiscating land’ and treating ‘certain groups’ poorly. He was likely referring to White South Africans who, as a result of racist colonial-era laws, own the lion’s share of the country’s arable land (over 72%, according to the last major land-ownership census in 2017) - despite making up less than 8% of the population. Black people, who account for about 80% of the country’s citizens, own less than 4% of the land.

It is these disparities that the new law seeks to address.

Continued……. Ramaphosa said the law is in line with international best practices regarding the need to balance “public usage of land and the protection of rights of property owners.”

It is not the first time that Trump has waded into the controversy over South Africa’s land issues. During his first term, he claimed there was a ‘genocide’ against White farmers in South Africa, a worn-out and refuted talking point by the country’s right-wing forces. Police data shows that 0.25% of murder victims in South Africa are White farmers.

Source

https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/news/world/trump-threat-to-south-africa-over-land-4911560

POISONED APPLE? TIM COOK AND PAUL KAGAME

In this clip, @tatiana_giraud (Instagram) - founder of TG Foundation, a charity helping Congolese survivors of rape - draws attention to possible links between Rwanda’s president Paul Kagame and Apple CEO, Tim Cook. Both Kigali and the multi-billion-dollar tech corporation benefit from illegally-obtained minerals from the resource war in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s east.

Apple has faced legal action over its alleged dependence on conflict minerals, which are used to power its devices - while mounting evidence shows that Rwanda acquires smuggled Congolese resources (often extracted via coerced or child labour), which it then sells to international players on the global market.

Continued………According to the UN, Kigali funds, trains and directs proxies in eastern DRC, such as the M23 rebels, which have seized a number of lucrative mines in the region. The UN also says thousands of Rwandan soldiers are active combatants in east DRC’s war.

The UN has apparently known about Kigali’s involvement in the destruction of Congo since as far back as 2010. In a leaked 600-page investigative report, its experts spoke of a possible genocide in the Congo. At the time, the targets were primarily Hutus who had fled to Congo after the 1994 genocide committed against Rwandan Tutsis: Rwandan forces followed them into the Congo - and, with local allies, allegedly committed numerous atrocities, including massacring hundreds of men, women and children at a time with hoes and axes.

In 2012, another leaked UN report found that there was strong evidence that Rwanda had been behind the creation of the M23 militia.

Nevertheless, in 2013, despite the alarms raised by its own experts, the UN invited Rwanda’s president Paul Kagame to a special dinner - to present Apple boss Tim Cook with an ‘International Quality of Life Award.’ @tatiana_giraud was taken aback when she learned this, and explains here why she smells a rat.

Sources:

https://media.un.org/photo/en/asset/oun7/oun7274712

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/20/why-has-drc-filed-criminal-charges-against-apple-over-conflict-minerals

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-18612612

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/aug/26/un-report-rwanda-congo-hutus

https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/violence-democratic-republic-congo