Author: Amnewsworld

The Congolese government has asked the United Nations to expel its spokesman in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to an official letter seen by AFP on Wednesday (August 3). “The government will appreciate very much if arrangements are made for Mathias Gillmann to leave Congolese territory as soon as possible,” Congolese Foreign Minister Christophe Lutundula wrote to the head of Monusco. “The presence of this official on national territory is not likely to foster a climate of mutual trust and serenity that is so essential between the Congolese institutions and Monusco,” Lutundula said. “The comments made by Mr…

South African police arrested more than 40 men over suspected illegal mining on Tuesday in Krugersdorp outside Johannesburg. Authorities in Gauteng province have stepped up their operations against illegal miners in recent days following reports of the gang rapes of eight women and armed robbery of a video production crew. The suspects in that case are allegedly illegal miners, but none of those detained on Tuesday have been directly linked to the incident which outraged the Krugersdorp community. Gauteng Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Elias Mawela said while the 40 men were arrested for their “own deeds”, the process of taking DNA…

A visit to Taiwan by the US House of Representatives’ Nancy Pelosi would put pressure on China to respond militarily. But Beijing will be careful to not trigger direct military confrontation with the US, say experts. The speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, began her Asia tour on Monday, with a lot of attention still on whether she will make a stopover in Taiwan or not. Over the last week, some US government officials and foreign policy analysts have expressed concerns about the likelihood of such a trip escalating tensions between Beijing and Washington, while China’s Defense…

The death toll from weekend flooding in the eastern Ugandan town of Mbale has risen to 22, with 10 seriously injured, police said Monday. Two rivers burst their banks after heavy rains caused mudslides, causing widespread damage and forcing hundreds of residents to leave their homes. “The death toll from the floods in Mbale has risen to 22. Ten others are in critical condition,” Ugandan police spokesman Fred Enanga told AFP. Some of the victims were found trapped in a minibus, he said, adding: “They were mainly relatives and friends who were on their way to a party but were…

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “outraged” by the deaths Sunday of two people when peacekeepers opened fire at a border post with Uganda in the troubled eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Guterres “stresses in the strongest terms the need to establish accountability for these events” and endorses “the detention of military personnel involved in this incident and the immediate investigation,” a statement from the secretary-general’s deputy spokesman, Farhan Haq, said. In a video of the incident shared on social networks, men, at least one dressed as a police officer and another as a Congolese soldier, are seen advancing…

A court in the U.S decided Commander Khalifa Haftar was liable for war crimes for extrajudicial killings and torture in Libya. Several Libyan families claim the chief of the eastern-based Libyan National Army is responsible for the bombing or torture of their relatives. A federal judge in Virginia said Haftar was convicted since he hadn’t cooperated with justice. She added the senior field marshal could go on appeal and more court hearings were necessary to determine the compensation amounts. The families filed their lawsuit in 2019 and 2020 under the 1991 US law, the Torture Victim Protection Act, which allows…

Colorful balloons fill the skies over New Jersey as the 39th annual New Jersey Lottery Festival of Ballooning kicks off. It’s the largest summertime hot air balloon and music festival in North America. Green Brook’s June Lanza has been coming to the New Jersey Lottery Festival of Ballooning for more than three decades and this year she wanted her nearly 5-year-old granddaughter Jessie to experience it. At dawn on Friday, Lanza, her daughter Tracie Lantz, from Florida, and Jessie watched as some 35 hot air balloons prepared to fill the sky at Solberg Airport for the kick-off of this weekend’s…

Galyna Kios had been sheltering with family and neighbors in her gloomy basement, cooking on a makeshift wood-fired stove, when the Russians came. The troops had been biding their time outside Mala Rogan, 32 kilometers (20 miles) from Ukraine’s northeast border with Russia, but decided to take the village two weeks into the war. Now the residents are facing the daunting task of rebuilding their lives, after the Russians withdrew. AMN/Media Report/Ukraine.

A funeral organised for the victims of the anti-MONUSCO protests in the city of Butembo, Northeastern DRC turned into a dispute on Friday. Protesters and authorities did not succeed to reach an agreement on the location of the burial and some protesters took the coffins from the local morgue. Three UN peacekeepers and seven demonstrators were killed on Tuesday amid violent protests against UN’s force in the region. “We have come to ask MONUSCO to leave, as we have always feared, MONUSCO has used weapons against us, which caused more than 11 victims. We are digging graves for the dignified burial of…

The presidential race is heating up in less than two weeks until the Kenyan general elections. The main opposition candidates, William Ruto and Raila Odinga are multiplying campaign meetings to secure voters as opinion polls suggest tight results. Ever since Deputy President Ruto unveiled his manifesto at the end of June, he has pledged to tackle to cost of living and transform the economy to create jobs. “His manifesto also seems to have a lot of traction with several Kenyans, says Tom Mboya, a governance expert, It is focused on what they call ‘bottom-up economics,’ which seems to focus primarily on…