Day: December 16, 2023

Beni, Congo — Two candidates running for parliament in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s December 20 general election were killed in separate incidents Friday, as a rights group warned in a report Saturday that electoral violence risks undermining the vote. 

A candidate for the ruling coalition in the South Kivu province in the eastern Congo region was killed by unknown gunmen while he was returning from a campaign event Friday evening, a regional government official told Reuters. 

Another ruling coalition candidate in Beni, in the North Kivu province, also in eastern Congo, died from gunshot wounds late Friday night after his campaign convoy was ambushed, Jeremie Muhindo, director of the Beni hospital, told Reuters. 

Congo will vote in a general election next week. Alongside the violence, opposition parties and independent observers have warned that issues including illegible voter cards, blocked campaign plans and electoral list delays threaten the legitimacy of the results. 

Election-related violence risks undermining the election, said Human Rights Watch in a report on Saturday.

“Since early October, Human Rights Watch has documented clashes across the country between supporters of rival political parties that have resulted in assaults, sexual violence and at least one death,” the report said. 

It added that the violence was coming from both supporters of the ruling coalition as well as supporters of opposition parties, and said incidents continue to be reported. 

An evangelical church, the Church of Christ in Congo, said in a statement Friday its temple in the capital Kinshasa was vandalized during violent clashes between supporters of an opposition politician and those of the ruling coalition. 

In a separate incident unrelated to the election, at least 11 civilians — including six women — were decapitated in an attack on a village in Ituri province Friday, a deputy mayor said. The attack has been blamed on militants linked to the Islamic State-affiliated Allied Democratic Forces, which operates in the eastern Congo region. 

“There was a funeral in the village. The assailants surprised the victims while they were gathered. Eleven people were killed, others had managed to escape,” Katembo Salamu, deputy mayor of Mangina municipality in Ituri, told Reuters.  

DUBAI, UAE — Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces battled the army outside the central city of Wad Madani on Saturday, pressing an attack that has opened a new front in the 8-month-old war and forced thousands to flee, witnesses said.

Crowds of people — many of whom had taken refuge in the city from violence in the capital Khartoum — could be seen packing up their belongings and leaving on foot in video posted on social media.

“The war has followed us to Madani so I am looking for a bus so me and my family can flee,” 45-year-old Ahmed Salih told Reuters by phone.

“We are living in hell and there is no one to help us.” He said he planned to head south to Sennar.

Sudan’s army, which has held the city since the start of the conflict, launched airstrikes on RSF forces to the east of the city, the capital of Gezira state, as it tried to push back the assault that started Friday, witnesses said.

The RSF responded with artillery and RSF reinforcements were seen moving in the direction of the fighting, the witnesses added.

RSF soldiers have also been seen in villages to the north and west of the city in recent days and weeks, residents said.

The United Nations said 14,000 people had fled the area so far, and a few thousand had already reached other cities. Half a million people had sought refuge in Gezira, mainly from Khartoum.

The Sudanese Doctors Union warned in a statement that hospitals in the area, which had become a humanitarian and medical hub, were emptying out and could be forced to shut.

It also said that more than 340 children and staff relocated from the Maygoma orphanage in Khartoum needed urgent help relocating again.

The fighting has raised fears for other army-held cities in southern and eastern Sudan where tens of thousands of people have been sheltering.

“I urge the RSF to refrain from attacks and for all parties to protect civilians at all costs. Perpetrators of terror will be held accountable,” the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said.

The army and RSF last week cast doubt on an East African mediation initiative aimed at ending a war that has triggered the largest internal displacement in the world and warnings of famine-like conditions.

In Khartoum and cities in Darfur that the RSF has already taken, residents have reported rapes, looting and arbitrary killing and detention. The group is also accused of ethnic killings in West Darfur.

The RSF has denied those accusations and said anyone in its forces found to be involved in such crimes would be held accountable.

On another front, activists reported fresh clashes after weeks of relative calm around the city of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state.

RSF forces surrounding that city had earlier stopped their advance there after other armed groups said they would get involved.

Residents also reported heavy strikes by the army in Nyala, South Darfur, and in Bahri, one of the cities that make up the wider national capital with Khartoum.

While the army has not made a statement on the fighting in Wad Madani, Sudan’s foreign ministry branded the RSF as terrorists for a “declared attack on a number of safe villages and neighborhoods [in the] east of Gezira state which are devoid of military targets.”

The war between the RSF and the Sudanese army broke out in April after disputes over a transition to democracy and integration of the two forces. 

Government publishes photos of solemn event held on candidate status granting occasion – 1TV  1tv.ge

NPR News: 12-16-2023 8PM EST

cairo — Al Jazeera is preparing a legal file to send to the International Criminal Court (ICC) over what it called “the assassination” of one of its cameramen in Gaza, the Qatari-based network said on Saturday. 

The cameraman, Samer Abu Daqqa, was killed by a drone strike on Friday while reporting on the bombing of a school used as a shelter for displaced people in the southern Gaza Strip, according to the Qatar-based broadcaster. 

Al Jazeera said Israeli drones fired missiles at the school that left Abu Daqqa with fatal injuries. Reuters could not verify the details of the incident. 

“The Network established a joint working group, which comprises of its international legal team and international legal experts who will collaboratively initiate the process of compiling a comprehensive file for submission to the court’s prosecutor,” Al Jazeera said in a statement. 

“The legal file will also encompass recurrent attacks on the Network’s crews working and operating in the occupied Palestinian territories and instances of incitement against them.” 

Commenting on the incident, the Israeli army said in a statement it has “never and will never” deliberately target journalists. It also said that remaining in an active combat zone during exchanges of fire “has inherent risks.” 

The ICC already has an ongoing investigation into any alleged crimes within its jurisdiction committed on Palestinian territory and by Palestinians on the territory of Israel. 

In 2021, ICC judges ruled that the court has jurisdiction after the Palestinian authorities signed up to the court in 2015 and were granted United Nations observer state status. 

Israel does not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC over the Palestinian territories and has previously refused to cooperate with the court. 

The ICC office of the prosecutor does not typically comment on the details of ongoing investigations. 

The 10 weeks of war in Gaza have taken a heavy toll on journalists, with at least 64 reporters and media workers killed, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Friday. 

The CPJ called on international authorities to “conduct an independent investigation into the attack to hold the perpetrators to account.” 

An Israeli tank crew killed Reuters visuals journalist Issam Abdallah and wounded six reporters in Lebanon on October 13 by firing two shells in quick succession from Israel while the journalists were filming cross-border shelling, a Reuters investigation found. 

The Israeli military said the incident took place in an active combat zone and was under review. 

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev blames India and France for arming Armenia  Times of India

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