Rwanda escorts Sadc troops from DRC to Tanzania, says army spokesperson
Rwanda's army is escorting the troops of a Southern African force through Rwandan territory to Tanzania as they pull out from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a spokesperson for the Rwandan army said on Tuesday.
The Southern African Development Community (Sadc), which groups 16 states, said in mid-March it had terminated the mandate of its mission and would begin a phased withdrawal of its force, known as SAMIDRC, from DRC.
The force was sent to assist Kinshasa's fight against rebel groups in DRC's eastern borderlands in December 2023.
Many of its troops sought shelter in United Nations peacekeeping bases after Goma, eastern DRC's largest city, fell to Rwanda-backed M23 rebels in February.
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Eyewitness News
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UN says 'deadly attacks' around Gaza aid sites 'a war crime'
GENEVA - United Nations (UN) human rights chief Volker Turk said on Tuesday that "deadly attacks" on civilians around aid distribution sites in the Gaza Strip constituted "a war crime". Rescuers in the Palestinian territory said Israeli fire targeting civilians near an aid distribution centre in the southern city of Rafah killed 27 people on Tuesday, raising an earlier toll. It came after a similar incident on Sunday when rescuers said 31 people were killed at the same location, witnesses saying they had been on their way to collect aid. "Deadly attacks on distraught civilians trying to access the paltry amounts of food aid in Gaza are unconscionable," Turk said in a statement. "For a third day running, people were killed around an aid distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. This morning, we have received information that dozens more people were killed and injured." The US-backed GHF is a recently formed group that Israel has cooperated with to implement a new aid distribution mechanism in Gaza. The United Nations does not work with the foundation because of concerns that it does not meet core humanitarian principles of neutrality, impartiality and independence. Turk called for a prompt and impartial investigation into each attack, and for those responsible to be held to account. "Attacks directed against civilians constitute a grave breach of international law, and a war crime," he said. "Palestinians have been presented the grimmest of choices: die from starvation or risk being killed while trying to access the meagre food that is being made available through Israel's militarised humanitarian assistance mechanism. "This militarised system endangers lives and violates international standards on aid distribution, as the United Nations has repeatedly warned."

TimesLIVE
5 hours ago
- TimesLIVE
Rwanda-backed M23 rebels executed civilians in DRC: Human Rights Watch
Rwanda-backed M23 rebels in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) executed at least 21 civilians over two days in February in the eastern city of Goma, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report published on Tuesday. The report covers incidents on February 22-23 in a Goma neighbourhood, offering a snapshot of the violence during the latest escalation of the decades-long conflict. 'Commanders and combatants who directly ordered or carried out abuses should be held criminally accountable,' Human Rights Watch said in the report. M23 rebels have seized eastern DRC's two largest cities, Goma and Bukavu, in an offensive that began in January. The unprecedented advance has killed thousands of people and forced hundreds of thousands to flee. The 21 slain civilians included six men and one woman shot in the head near Katindo military camp in Goma on February 22. HRW said M23 were responsible, citing a witness.


Eyewitness News
10 hours ago
- Eyewitness News
UN chief calls for probe into deaths near Gaza aid site
GAZA CITY - UN chief Antonio Guterres called Monday for an independent investigation into the killing and wounding of scores of Palestinians near a US-backed aid centre in Gaza the day before. Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli gunfire killed at least 31 people and wounded 176 near the aid distribution site in the southern city of Rafah on Sunday, with medics at nearby hospitals also reporting a deluge of gunshot wound victims. The Israeli military denied firing at people "while they were near or within" the site. But a military source acknowledged "warning shots were fired towards several suspects" overnight about a kilometre away. "I am appalled by the reports of Palestinians killed and injured while seeking aid in Gaza yesterday. It is unacceptable that Palestinians are risking their lives for food," Guterres said in a statement, without assigning blame for the deaths. "I call for an immediate and independent investigation into these events and for perpetrators to be held accountable." Israel's foreign ministry called the statement "a disgrace", and faulted Guterres for not criticising Hamas. The Israeli government has worked with the group running the site, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), to introduce a new mechanism for distributing aid in Gaza that has bypassed the longstanding UN-led system. The UN has declined to work with the group out of concerns about its neutrality. 'BULLETS WERE CHASING PEOPLE' One 33-year-old who was present on Sunday told AFP it was "around 5 or 5:30 am, before sunrise" when the gunfire broke out at a spot known as the Al-Alam roundabout, where a crowd had gathered from the early hours of the morning to wait before heading to the GHF centre about a kilometre away. "Of course it was the Israeli army who shot live bullets," said the witness, who declined to be named for fear of Israeli reprisals. "Thousands of people were waiting at Al-Alam roundabout... but the army fired and everyone ran away. There was fear and chaos. I saw with my own eyes martyrs and wounded in the area." Another witness elsewhere in the crowd, 35-year-old Mohammed Abu Deqqa, said "at first, we thought they were warning shots". "But it didn't take long before the shooting intensified. I began to see people lying on the ground, covered in blood. That was around 5:30 am, " he said. "People started running, but many couldn't escape. The bullets were chasing people even as they tried to flee." AFP photos taken around 5:40 am showed civilians loading bodies onto donkey carts shortly after sunrise. Gaza civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said teams of rescuers arrived around 6:00 am and began assisting with the dead and wounded, though civilians and other paramedics had already taken some to Nasser hospital and a Red Cross field hospital. 'WARNING SHOTS WERE FIRED' The military on Sunday said an initial inquiry indicated its troops "did not fire at civilians while they were near or within the humanitarian aid distribution site' and urged "media to be cautious with information published" by Hamas. But according to an Israeli military source, "warning shots were fired towards several suspects who advanced towards the troops" overnight. The incident took place "approximately one kilometre away" from the GHF distribution centre, outside of operating hours, the source said. Army spokesperson Effie Defrin said Sunday that "Hamas is doing its best, its utmost, to stop us from" distributing aid, and vowed to "investigate each one of those allegations" against Israeli troops. A GHF spokesperson also accused Hamas of circulating "fake reports", saying: "All aid was distributed today without incident." In a video message from Nasser hospital later on Sunday morning, visiting British surgeon Victoria Rose described a scene of "absolute carnage", saying "all the bays are full, and they're all gunshot wounds". The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that its field hospital in Rafah received 179 people, including 21 pronounced dead on arrival. The ICRC reported that all the wounded "said they had been trying to reach an aid distribution site", adding that "the majority suffered gunshot or shrapnel wounds". 'INTENSE FORCE' GHF said that as of Monday, it had distributed more than 5.8 million meals' worth of food from its centres. Israel has come under increasing international pressure to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza following a more than two-month blockade on aid that was only recently eased. The UN has warned the entire population is at risk of famine and has also reported recent incidents of aid being looted, including by armed individuals. Talks aimed at reaching a ceasefire have so far failed to produce a breakthrough. Civil defence spokesman Bassal said 14 people were killed on Monday in an Israeli strike on a house in Jabalia, in the north. Asked for comment, the army said only that "strikes were conducted toward terror targets in northern Gaza". The Israeli military also issued an evacuation order for parts of Khan Yunis on Monday. The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says at least 4,201 people have been killed in the territory since Israel resumed its offensive on 18 March, taking the war's overall toll to 54,470, mostly civilians. Hamas's 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, also mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.