Insurgents

Fighters from an insurgent group linked to the Islamic State killed 16 civilians in the eastern Congo, the area of the Ebola outbreak.

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a statement on Friday that attributed 246 suspected infections and 65 deaths to a new Ebola outbreak in the remote Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). 

The U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Friday published a report accusing all parties to the messy civil war in the Congo of “violations of international humanitarian law that may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

Representatives of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) met in Qatar with M23 insurgents last week to discuss a ceasefire.

The Pakistani military said on Wednesday that 21 hostages were killed aboard a train hijacked by separatist militants from the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA). The BLA claimed it killed 50 people when it took responsibility for the terrorist attack.

Judith Suminwa, prime minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), told a meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Monday that roughly 7,000 people have been killed in fighting since January as a rebel offensive swept through the eastern Congo.

M23 insurgents in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) captured two more towns and reached the airport in the provincial capital of Bukavu on Friday, raising fears of a humanitarian disaster and criminal abuse of civilians.

The United Nations estimated on Wednesday that almost 3,000 people have been killed during the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Uganda has reportedly dispatched another thousand soldiers into the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), joining a rapidly-escalating battle in which a vicious Rwanda-supported insurgency called M23 has captured a regional capital and set its sights on the seat of government in Kinshasa.

Over half a million people have reportedly been displaced by the battle raging between Congolese security forces and M23 rebels for the city of Goma.

Syrian insurgent leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani when he was a high-ranking al-Qaeda member, on Sunday repeated his promise that the new Syria would be inclusive and respectful of minority groups.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Tuesday filed criminal complaints against subsidiaries of electronics giant Apple in France and Belgium, accusing them of using “blood minerals” sourced to mines controlled by armed gangs in the eastern DRC.

Members of Syria’s Alawite community — a small but formerly influential Shiite sect whose members included dictator Bashar Assad — are fearful of persecution at the hands of the Sunni Muslim extremist groups that deposed Assad in a swift attack on Damascus last week.

A spokesman for the victorious jihadi rebels in Syria said on Thursday that the national constitution and parliament will be suspended during a three-month “transition period,” after which a new constitution will be created.

Syrian rebel leader Abu Mohammad al-Jolani insists his forces have abandoned terrorism and wish to build a more free and inclusive Syria.

Archbishop Boutros Marayati of Syria’s second city, Aleppo, told his congregation last week the city’s Islamist conquerors provided “assurances” Christians and other religious minorities could “continue living normally.”

Russia may lose its base at the Syrian port of Tartus after the fall of dictator Bashar Assad, which would deprive the Russians of their only fueling port on the Mediterranean Sea and cripple Moscow’s ability to threaten the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) from the south.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Sunday urged the al-Qaeda-linked jihadi rebels who toppled Syrian dictator Bashar Assad to consider teaming up with Turkish forces against the Kurds.

A senior Iranian official said on Friday that his country will send missiles, drones, and more “military advisers” to Syria.

Syrian rebel commander Hassan Abdul Ghany says his forces have begun to penetrate the strategic city of Hama.

The Pentagon said on Tuesday that U.S. forces in Syria were compelled to conduct a “self-defense” strike against rocket launchers, mortars, and at least one tank in eastern Syria, where a jihadi insurgent group is fighting the Syrian government.

Hundreds of Iran-backed Shiite militia fighters from Iraq have reportedly crossed the border into Syria to help dictator Bashar Assad battle a surprise offensive from Islamist insurgents in Aleppo.

Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso signed a mutual defense agreement called the “Alliance of Sahel States” on Saturday, committing all three juntas to defend each other if any of them is attacked. The pact also requires each country to help suppress armed uprisings in the others.

Heavily armed gangs attacked two police stations in Vietnam on Sunday, killing nine officers and wounding a number of police and bystanders.

The Premium Times of Nigeria reported on Monday that a panel investigating human rights violations in the insurgent-plagued northeast has heard testimony from 50 witnesses on abuses perpetrated by the Nigerian military, including mass abortions and the murder of children.

The Colombian Defense Ministry announced on Saturday that cocaine seizures in 2022 added up to 671 metric tons, which was 1.7 tonnes more than the already record-setting total from 2021. 

The Chinese government is so concerned about the potential for kidnappings of Chinese workers and businessmen in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that it sent a delegation of top criminal investigators to met with Congolese officials and shore up security in the African nation, according to a Thursday report from the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) said on Sunday it received $41 million in funding from the U.S. government for emergency aid in Mozambique.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Wednesday expelled Mathias Gillmann, spokesman for the United Nations peacekeeping mission. The move followed a week of intense protests against the U.N. that resulted in 36 deaths, including four peacekeepers.

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Monday paid a visit to the turbulent northern province of Cabo Delgado to introduce the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Standby Force, a unit including troops from several southern African nations deployed against the Islamic State jihadis wreaking havoc in Mozambique for years.

The Belize men’s national soccer team was waylaid by heavily armed insurgents as they drove from an airport in Haiti to their hotel.