Latest news with #UNexperts
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda will sign peace deal on June 27
The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda will sign a peace agreement in Washington on June 27 that aims to ending fighting in eastern Congo, the two countries and the US state department said. Congo has accused Rwanda of backing M23 rebels in its mineral-rich eastern region across the border with Rwanda. UN experts say the rebels are supported by about 4,000 troops from Rwanda, which has denied backing M23. The decades-long conflict escalated in January, when the M23 rebels advanced and seized the strategic Congolese city of Goma, followed by the town of Bukavu in February. The draft agreement includes 'provisions on respect for territorial integrity and a prohibition of hostilities; disengagement, disarmament, and conditional integration of non-state armed groups', the joint statement said on Wednesday. The agreement also includes a commitment to respecting territorial integrity and the conditional integration of non-state armed groups. Congo and Rwanda are not formally at war and in the past had held peace talks that have largely stalled, including those hosted by Qatar. Corneille Nangaa, leader of the Congo River Alliance, a coalition of rebel groups, told The Associated Press in April that international sanctions and Congo's proposed minerals deal with the United States in search of peace would not stop the fighting. M23 is one of about 100 armed factions vying for control in eastern Congo. But unlike the others, they are mainly made up of ethnic Tutsis who failed to integrate into the Congolese army. The group says it is defending ethnic Tutsis and Congolese of Rwandan origin from discrimination, although critics say their Rwanda-backed campaign is a pretext for economic and political influence over eastern Congo. Rwanda's long-time president Paul Kagame accuses Congolese president Felix Tshisekedi of overlooking the concerns of the ethnic Tutsis and ignoring previous peace agreements.
The Independent
a day ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Congo and Rwanda sign preliminary peace agreement in Washington
Representatives from Congo and Rwanda have signed the text of a peace agreement between the two countries in Washington, according to a joint press release from the nations and the U.S. State Department on Wednesday. Congo has accused Rwanda of backing M23 rebels in the east of the country. U.N. experts says the rebels are supported by about 4,000 troops from the neighboring nation. The decades-long conflict escalated in January, when the M23 rebels advanced and seized the strategic Congolese city of Goma, followed by the town of Bukavu in February. "The Agreement includes provisions on respect for territorial integrity and a prohibition of hostilities; disengagement, disarmament, and conditional integration of non-state armed groups," said the statement posted to the State Department's website. The agreement signed included a commitment to respecting territorial integrity and the conditional integration of non-state armed groups. Both sides also committed to a ministerial-level meeting next week and invited the leaders of both countries to attend. This is not the first time peace talks have been held. Talks hosted by Qatar in April fell apart. Corneille Nangaa, leader of the Congo River Alliance, a coalition of rebel groups, told The Associated Press in April that international sanctions and Congo's proposed minerals deal with the United States in search of peace would not stop the fighting. M23 is one of about 100 armed groups that have been vying for a foothold in mineral-rich eastern Congo near the border with Rwanda. The conflict has created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises and has displaced more than 7 million people.
South China Morning Post
15-05-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Malaysia, Bangladesh urged to act on labour trafficking before ending migrant worker freeze
Rampant labour trafficking that left tens of thousands of Bangladeshis stranded without jobs in Malaysia must be addressed first before signing any deal to end a year-long freeze on entry for a fresh cohort of migrant workers, activist groups have warned. Bangladesh , one of Asia's poorest nations, sent as many as 450,000 people to work in the Southeast Asian country between 2021 and 2023, according to labour authorities in Dhaka, most staffing low-paid jobs on building sites, farms and restaurants. But Malaysia imposed a freeze on new migrant hiring on May 31 last year, after a labour scam was uncovered, revealing Bangladeshi workers had been duped into paying up to US$5,000 to syndicates operating in both countries for jobs that did not exist. That left many stranded in Malaysia, forced to overstay illegally, deep in debt and easy targets for exploitation in the country's notorious black market for labour. The labour scandal was so serious that UN experts stepped in to urge prosecution of the syndicates and 'certain high-level officials' in both governments, who had allowed the scam to unfold, raking in hundreds of millions of dollars in fees. Migrant workers from Bangladesh working in a timber and furniture factory in Malaysia. Photo: Shutterstock Bangladeshi officials were due to meet with Malaysia's Interior Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail and Human Resources Minister Steven Sim in Malaysia's administrative capital of Putrajaya on Thursday in an effort to reopen the job market, according to a Bloomberg report.
