Day: March 30, 2022

KINSHASA– A helicopter of the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), or MONUSCO, was shot down yesterday, by rebels of the March 23 Movement (M23), with eight people on board, said the DRC armed forces (FARDC).

The tragedy took place as several FARDC military positions had been attacked since early Monday by M23 rebels, in the Rutshuru territory of the north-eastern North Kivu province, the same area where the MONUSCO helicopter crashed.

“The helicopter was shot down in the midst of a mission to assess the population movements, caused by the M23 attacks in the region for humanitarian actions,” read the statement issued by the military governor of North Kivu, while accusing the M23 of having shot down the plane, in an area where rebels are staging an offensive.

According to the statement, the downed helicopter had eight peacekeepers and UN observers on board. For the moment, the military authorities have indicated that they are working hard to find the wreckage of the downed aircraft and survivors.

According to a MONUSCO briefing, released earlier, the helicopter, which was on a reconnaissance mission, crashed around noon, local time. The MONUSCO has not yet confirmed the FARDC accusations and the casualty.

The M23 is a group of former rebels of the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP). The name came from the March 23, 2009, agreement between the CNDP and the Congolese government, which M23 leaders claimed had not been respected by the government.

The cause of the air crash remains unknown, and a search-and-rescue mission is underway.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrapped up a three-nation tour of the Middle East and North Africa on Wednesday with appeals for Algeria to limit ties with Russia and look to improve relations with neighboring Morocco.

“The countries of North Africa and the Middle East have experienced themselves the consequences of Russia’s military campaigns before,” Blinken said, noting Russian interventions in Syria and Libya and the impact on energy and food security that the Ukraine conflict is having.

“The international community must increase the pressure on Russia to end this unprovoked and unjustified war,” he said.

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has in the past referred to Russia as a “brotherly country,” and has maintained pressure on Morocco over its claim to the disputed territory of the Western Sahara, where Algeria backs independence fighters.

‘Stand with the victim’

After meeting with Tebboune, Blinken said the Ukraine conflict should cause all countries to re-evaluate relations with Russia and express their support for the territorial integrity of other states.

“I know that that’s something Algerians feel strongly about,” he said.

“There are times when one issue emerges that is so clearly black and white,” he said. “It’s important to stand with the victim and to stand with the principles that have also been violated.”

Algeria has had close ties with Russia since its independence from France in 1962 and is a major purchaser of Russian weaponry.

It is also locked in a bitter dispute with Morocco over the status of the former Spanish colony of Western Sahara. Algiers opposes a plan by Rabat to retain control of the territory while granting it semi-autonomous status.

Algerian officials provided no immediate readout of Tebboune’s meeting with Blinken.

Blinken and other U.S. officials have praised the Moroccan plan as “serious, realistic and credible” but have not explicitly endorsed it as the path to a resolution. Earlier this month, Algeria angrily recalled its ambassador to Spain after the Spanish government offered the same assessment — an enormous departure from its earlier stance of considering Morocco’s grip on Western Sahara an occupation.

Blinken did not repeat the phrase at his news conference in Algiers and instead said only that the U.S. fully supports U.N. efforts to resolve the situation.

“We’re very focused on diplomacy,” he said.

Blinken came to Algeria a day after meeting senior Moroccan officials in Rabat, where he praised Morocco’s improvements in ties with Israel.

And on Monday, Blinken had been in Israel’s Negev Desert where he and the Israeli foreign minister participated in a historic gathering with their counterparts from Arab nations, including Morocco, that have normalized relations with Israel.

‘Abraham Accords’

Morocco, along with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, was one of the countries to fully normalize relations with Israel during the Trump administration’s push to negotiate the so-called “Abraham Accords,” in which the U.S. pledged significant support in exchange for such recognition.

For its part, Morocco won U.S. recognition for its claim to Western Sahara in return for its agreement with Israel.

In a rare endorsement of a Trump foreign policy initiative, the Biden administration has signaled its full backing for the Abraham Accords and pledged to try to expand and strengthen them.

But, while the administration has not revoked Trump’s decision on Western Sahara, it has taken few steps to advance it, and plans to build a U.S. consulate there have not advanced since Trump announced them in 2020.

That has led to questions about whether Washington is fully on board with Moroccan sovereignty over the former Spanish colony.

Source: Voice of America

Burundi’s media authority announced Wednesday that it would lift a nationwide ban on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), nearly three years after the broadcaster was forced to stop operating in the East African country.

The National Communication Council withdrew the license for the broadcasting giant in 2019, accusing it of breaching press laws and unprofessional conduct.

“We reached the decision to reopen BBC radio starting today,” the regulator’s president, Vestine Nahimana, said.

The broadcaster had met the conditions set by the government, Nahimana said, adding that President Evariste Ndayishimiye had initiated the easing of restrictions on sanctioned news outlets.

Voice of America was suspended alongside BBC Radio in May 2018. While BBC has met the government’s conditions to broadcast, VOA has not.

The two broadcasters were suspended barely two weeks before a constitutional referendum intended to shore up the power of former President Pierre Nkurunziza and enable him to rule until 2034.

The government-controlled media regulator accused the BBC of damaging the reputation of Nkurunziza during a discussion program and said the broadcaster had ignored previous warnings.

The suspension followed a damning BBC investigation into alleged secret torture sites run by the government to silence dissent. The state denied the report, dismissing it as “fake news.”

Nkurunziza died of heart failure in June 2020.

Following Ndayishimiye’s election, Western nations including the United States and the European Union have eased sanctions on the country, crediting elections, a decrease in violence, and government reforms. But campaign groups insist human rights are still being widely abused.

Before the ban, the BBC and VOA used to broadcast daily in the national language Kirundi as well as in French and English, and drew large numbers of listeners, especially in rural areas.

Burundi is the poorest country in the world as measured by GDP per capita, at less than $240 (215 euros) in 2020, according to the World Bank.

It is ranked among the worst countries in the world for press freedom, with many local and international news outlets blacklisted and independent journalists forced into exile since a major political crisis in 2015.

Source: Voice of America