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[New Times] The Chief Prosecutor of the International Residual Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT), Serge Brammertz, has said that his office has launched an investigation into genocide fugitive Protais Mpiranya's illicit funds made from business over the last two decades.
In May, Burundi held a presidential election which was won by Evariste Ndayishimiye, candidate of the ruling National Council for the Defense of Democracy - Forces for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) party.
Ndayishimiye was hurriedly sworn in after the untimely death of president Pierre Nkurunziza in June.
Rights violations continue
The Council encouraged donor countries which had suspended aid to Burundi to continue dialogue towards resumption of development assistance.
A report by a UN watchdog in September said human rights violations were still being committed in Burundi, including sexual violence and murder.
The country was plunged into a crisis in April 2015 when Ndayishimiye’s predecessor Pierre Nkurunziza decided to run for a controversial third term, which he ultimately won in July 2015.
His candidature, which was opposed by the opposition and civil society groups, resulted in a wave of protests, violence and even a failed coup in May 2015.
Hundreds of people were killed and over 300,000 fled to neighboring countries.
In October 2007, the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA) quit the national unity government, leaving the peace agreement signed in 2005 on the brink of collapse. The SPLA claimed that the governing party, the National Congress Party, had ignored its concerns over boundary between the north and south and how to divide the countrys oil wealth.
Sudan faced international criticism once again in January 2008, when Musa Hilal, a Janjaweed leader, was appointed to a top government position as an adviser to the minister of federal affairs. Human Rights Watch called Hilal the poster child for Janjaweed atrocities in Darfur.
Government forces and the janjaweed resumed their attacks in the Darfur region in February 2008, forcing as many as 45,000 people to flee their homes. The government claimed it was targeting the Justice and Equality Movement, a rebel group that has become increasingly powerful and is believed to be linked to the government of Chad. Civilians in the region, however, say the attacks have continued after the rebels escape. The Justice and Equality Movement launched a bold attack in May, coming within a few miles of Khartoum before being repulsed by government troops. It was the first time that the conflict in Darfur has threatened to spill over into Khartoum.
In July 2008, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), indicted Bashir with genocide for planning and executing the decimation of Darfurs three main ethnic tribes: the Fur, the Masalit, and the Zaghawa. Moreno-Ocampo also said Bashir purposefully targeted civilians and used rapes, hunger, and fear to terrorize civilians. Many observers feared that Bashir would respond to the charges with further violence. The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Bashir in March 2009, charging him with war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Darfur region. An indictment for genocide was rejected by the court, and Moreno-Ocampo appealed the decision. Bashir responded by shutting down the 13 aid agencies that operate
PHOTO | DPA PICTURE-ALLIANCE | AFP
Kenya has won the UN Security Council seat after beating Djibouti in second round of voting Thursday.
The contest between Kenya and Djibouti headed to the second round of voting Thursday after the first phase saw Nairobi’s victory insufficient to win the UN seat.
In this race, it was competing against Djibouti, a country from the same eastern African region as Nairobi and which it beat at the African Union endorsement election last year.
In the wake of AU endorsing Kenya, Djibouti touted support from the Francophone Organisation as well as the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, both of which includes members from Africa.
The outcome of the vote will have great implications on not only the power and image of AU but also the cohesion of IGAD,” said Mr Wilfred Nasong’o Muliro, who teaches international relations and security at the Technical University of Kenya.
[Radio Dabanga] The Hague -- The International Criminal Court (ICC) Appeals Chamber confirmed that Ali Muhammad Ali Abdelrahman (also known as Ali Kushayb) will remain in the custody of the ICC.
[Egypt Online] Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry asked the UN Security Council (UNSC) to shoulder its responsibility and work on resuming talks on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) under the sponsorship of the African Union till reaching out a binding deal that meets the needs of the three countries, Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, and defuse tension in the region and Africa.
A new Trump executive order threatening the court’s operations has been condemned by prominent global institutions and individuals as it appears to give cover to human rights abuses committed in the course of U.S. foreign wars while demanding accountability from foreign countries in similar circumstances.
Param-Preet Singh of the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch, praised the decision of the ICC to greenlight an investigation of brutal crimes in Afghanistan, reaffirming the court’s essential role for victims when all other doors to justice are closed.
After years of collecting information on the Afghanistan war, the court’s chief prosecutor, Ms. Fatou Bensouda of The Gambia, said that enough information had been found to prove that U.S. forces “committed acts of torture, cruel treatment, outrages upon personal dignity, rape and sexual violence” in Afghanistan in 2003 and 2004, and later in clandestine C.I.A. facilities in Poland, Romania and Lithuania.
She requested permission to open an investigation into claims of war crimes and crimes against humanity attributed to the U.S. military and intelligence personnel, the Taliban and Afghan forces.
Shaharzad Akbar, the head of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, said the court had made the right decision to procede over U.S. objections.
In the spring of 2012, the former rebels who were integrated into the army in 2009 mutinied, saying the government—rife with corruption—had reneged on terms of the cease-fire that was signed on March 23, 2009. The rebels, called the M23 movement, are led by Gen. Bosco Ntaganda, a Tutsi who is wanted by the International Criminal Court. M23 fought government troops throughout the year, taking over city after city. The violence peaked in November, when the rebels took Goma in eastern Congo. Rwanda, which is led by Tutsi Paul Kagame, is widely suspected of not only supplying arms to the rebels but also fighting alongside them.
The UN and leaders from 11 central African nations, including the presidents of Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, and Congo, signed a framework agreement in February 2013, pledging to work together to end the conflict with the rebels. In March, the UN Security Council authorized an intervention brigade of 3,000 troops to disarm the rebels. The brigade supplemented the 15,000 UN peacekeeping troops already in Congo. After heavy fighting in August, the UN brigade forced the rebels out of Goma. However, the signers of the framework agreement had made little progress in the peace process.
Ntaganda turned himself in to the U.S. embassy in Kigali, Rwanda, in March 2013. He was transferred to the Hague, where he will face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. It was not clear why he chose to surrender.
The M23 rebels surrendered in November 2013. The UNs more aggressive approach, an improved Congolese Army, and a reduction in aid to Rwanda contributed to the defeat of the rebels.
See also Encyclopedia: Congo (Kinshasa)
U.S. State Dept. Country Notes: Congo (Kinshasa)
