Latest news with #AfricanCommunity
The Sun
06-07-2025
- The Sun
Tributes pour in for ‘murdered' Scots mum who was found seriously injured as man arrested
TRIBUTES have been paid to a mum who was allegedly 'murdered' in Dundee. Dr Fortune Gomo, 39, was found seriously injured on Saturday afternoon and was treated at the scene but later died. 2 A post-mortem has taken place and her death is now being treated as murder. A 20-year-old man has been arrested and charged in connection with her death and a report will be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal. He is due to appear at Dundee Sheriff Court on Monday, 7 July 2025. Fortune worked for Scottish Water, after graduating with a PhD in Geography and Environmental Science from Dundee University. A spokesman said: 'This has been a truly shocking event in our city and for our university community. 'It will be particularly distressing for those who knew and worked with Fortune throughout her time as a PhD student and postdoctoral research assistant in Geography, and for all of those in our close-knit community of African colleagues and students. 'Our thoughts are with her family and friends at this tragic time.' A large crowd gathered on South Road on Saturday night and a protest was held in the city centre on Sunday. Police attended and said the march went ahead 'without incident'. A 61-year-old woman, who has lived in the area for more than 50 years, said she was 'devastated' to hear about the woman's passing. She said: 'The first we really knew about it was the police taping the street off - I thought someone had been hit by a car. 'I came home around 11pm and could see there was still an extensive police presence. It was upsetting to see what was going. Inside Israel's frontline rescue crew… from pulling families out of rubble to dodging Iranian missiles 'I woke up around 2am and looked out and saw things being placed into evidence bags. 'It's devastating to hear the woman died.' Detective Superintendent Peter Sharp, the officer in charge of the inquiry, said: 'Firstly, my thoughts remain with Fortune's family at this incredibly sad time. "They are being supported by specialist officers and I would ask that their privacy is respected. 'Our enquiries are continuing and I remain satisfied that the incident poses no wider risk to the public. "At this early stage of the investigation we are following a number of lines of inquiry. "I am also acutely aware of content circulating on social media and urge the public not to speculate about the circumstances of the incident. 'The public will notice a visibly increased police presence in the area and I would encourage anyone who has any concerns to speak with our officers. 'I continue to appeal for anyone who was in the area at the time and witnessed the incident or has information that may assist us to contact Police Scotland on 101 quoting incident number 2283 of 5 July 2025. Information can also be given to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.'
NBC News
30-01-2025
- Politics
- NBC News
Congo says it will seek to recover lost territory as Rwanda-backed rebels advance south
As an East African bloc urged an immediate ceasefire in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwandan-backed M23 rebels who seized the city of Goma extended their advance on Wednesday, and Congo said it planned a campaign to recover lost territory. While saying he favors diplomacy, Congo President Felix Tshisekedi told the nation on Wednesday night that he would mount a military riposte and warned: 'The presence of thousands of Rwandan soldiers on our soil ... (is leading) to an escalation with unpredictable consequences.' The eight countries of the East African Community held an emergency summit and called for an immediate ceasefire in eastern Congo and for Congo to negotiate with M23. The United Nations Security Council similarly demanded a halt to the rebel offensive earlier this week. Congo and Rwanda are both members of the East Africa bloc along with Kenya, Tanzania and other states. Tshisekedi did not attend the summit while Rwanda's President Paul Kagame did. M23 rebels captured Goma, a city of 2 million people and capital of North Kivu province, on Monday. Rwandan forces backed up M23 in Goma, according to Congo, the U.N., the U.S. and other Western powers. Rwanda has denied this. The rebels advanced south on Wednesday in an apparent attempt to expand their area of control. They marched along the western side of Lake Kivu and neared Kavumu, where Bukavu's airport is located. This week's events represent the gravest escalation of the decades-old conflict in eastern Congo since 2012. The hostilities are rooted in the spillover of Rwanda's 1994 genocide into Congo and struggle for control of Congo's lucrative minerals. In Goma, a hub for displaced people, aid workers, U.N. peacekeepers and Congolese forces, the rebels were consolidating their hold on the city on Wednesday and patrolling the border with Rwanda. A flurry of diplomatic activity, including the United States telling Rwanda it was 'deeply troubled' by Goma's fall and Germany cancelling aid talks with Rwanda, was having no apparent effect on the ground. Isolated gunfire sounded on Wednesday in some outlying districts of Goma. Bodies from Monday's battles lay in the streets, hospitals were overwhelmed and U.N. peacekeepers were sheltering in bases. At a border crossing between Goma and its Rwandan twin city of Gisenyi, Reuters reporters saw dozens of Romanian mercenaries, who had been hired by Congo to bolster its defenses, crossing the border into Rwanda -- the start of their journey home, one said. Reported by Rwanda to number more than 280, they lined for police dogs to sniff their luggage and police to check documents and pat them down. They then boarded coaches to Kigali. M23 is the latest ethnic Tutsi-led, Rwandan-backed insurgency to fight in Congo since the aftermath of the genocide 30 years ago, when extremist Hutus killed Tutsis and moderate Hutus, and then were toppled by Tutsi-led forces led by Kagame. Kagame has been Rwanda's president ever since. Rwanda says some of the ousted perpetrators have sheltered in Congo since the genocide, posing a threat to Congolese Tutsis and Rwanda itself. Congo rejects Rwanda's complaints, and says Rwanda has used its proxy militias to loot its minerals. In an interview with Reuters on Wednesday, Rwanda's foreign minister called for a ceasefire throughout eastern Congo and urged Kinshasa to negotiate with the rebels. The East African leaders said they plan to hold a joint summit on the crisis with southern African leaders in the coming days. Tshisekedi on Wednesday visited neighboring Angola, which has mediated in the crisis, Angola's presidency said.
Voice of America
29-01-2025
- Politics
- Voice of America
African Union demands halt to fighting in eastern DR Congo
The African Union and other regional bodies on late Tuesday called for an immediate halt to fighting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The M23 rebel group seized control of eastern Congo's largest city, Goma, on Monday. According to some residents who spoke to VOA, Goma is calm after two days of heavy fighting. Residents who ventured out Wednesday saw bodies on the streets, some in military uniforms and others in civilian clothes. The regional bodies called for M23 to withdraw from the city, a move security experts say will be difficult for the rebel group to accept. The East African Community bloc has called for a summit to address the tension between the DRC and Rwanda, which Kinshasa accuses of backing M23. Rwandan authorities deny the charge. According to Congolese state media, President Felix Tshisekedi will not attend the talks. Meanwhile, calm returned to Kinshasa on Wednesday, a day after angry protesters attacked the embassies of Belgium, France, Kenya and Uganda as well as Rwanda. The protesters accused the other countries of supporting Rwanda. The embassies either condemned or expressed deep concern over the attacks. The United States closed its embassy in Kinshasa to the public on Tuesday and called on its citizens to review their safety and travel plans. On Wednesday it advised Americans not to travel to the DRC. Chacha Nyaigotti-Chacha, a Kenyan expert in international relations and diplomacy, said he does not think the protests will affect the DRC's relations with the affected countries. In regard to the fighting in the east, the DRC's government needs to address and solve its internal problems, said Chrispin Mvano, a Congolese political and security researcher in Goma. "The conflict in DR Congo isn't just about disputes with other countries,' Mvano said. 'It also stems from internal divisions among the Congolese people. Even as talks continue in Nairobi, lasting stability depends on resolving these internal issues. If Congolese leaders and communities don't engage in dialogue and address their differences in Kinshasa, the peace talks alone are unlikely to bring real stability." The DRC is home to over 100 armed groups, many fighting for control of resources and mining areas. In the latest conflict, the Congolese army and the allied Wazalendo militia retreated from the city, with some soldiers surrendering at the U.N. peacekeeping base in Goma. Great Lakes region security analyst Dismas Nkunda said Kinshasa needs to build a strong army to confront rebels. "M23, they are very well-equipped. ... If the DRC government does not up its game, then it's going to be very difficult for them to be able to maintain [a] semblance of peace when they have well-armed and well-supported armed groups like M23," Nkunda said. Congolese Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwama Wagner said in an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday that more than half a million people in eastern Congo were displaced this month and that the humanitarian situation there is getting worse.
