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Month: July 2024
War-torn Afghanistan seeks to dust off its postal service, modernize
KABUL, Afghanistan — In parts of Afghanistan where there are no street names or house numbers, utility companies and their customers have adopted a creative approach for connecting. They use mosques as drop points for bills and cash, a “pay and pray” system.
Now the national postal service wants to phase this out by putting mailboxes on every street across the country, part of a plan to modernize a service long challenged by bureaucracy and war.
The lofty aspirations include introducing access to shopping via e-commerce sites and issuing debit cards for online purchases. It will be a leap in a country where most of the population is unbanked, air cargo is in its infancy and international courier companies don’t deliver even to the capital, Kabul.
The changes mean Afghans will pay higher service fees; a challenge as more than half the population already relies on humanitarian aid to survive.
The Afghan Post, like much of the country, still does everything on paper. “Nobody uses email,” said its business development director, Zabihullah Omar. “Afghanistan is a member of the Universal Postal Union, but when we compare ourselves to other countries it is at a low level and in the early stages.”
The postal service has 400 to 500 branches across the country and is key for completing administrative tasks like obtaining a passport or driver’s license. It distributes up to 15,000 passports daily.
Another popular service is the certification of documents for admission to higher education or overseas institutions. The main Kabul branch has dedicated counters for it along with VIP lanes and a women-only area.
Post offices in Afghanistan are vital for women wanting to access services or products they would otherwise be denied, since they are often barred from entering ministries or other official premises.
But the specter of the Taliban’s edicts targeting women and girls also looms at the Afghan Post.
At the entrance to the main Kabul branch, a sign tells women to correctly wear hijab, or the Islamic headscarf. One picture shows a woman with a red cross over her visible face. The other has a green check mark over the face because only her eyes are seen.
One woman visiting the branch was a 29-year-old medical graduate from western Farah province, who gave her name as Arzo. The Education Ministry wouldn’t let her in and dispatched her to the post office instead to get paperwork done.
She wanted to get her documents certified, a practical measure amid the country’s precarious economic situation and the sweeping restrictions on women and girls.
“Anything can happen at any time,” she said. “There are no jobs. There are many problems.”
It was her first time using a post office. She paid 640 afghanis, or $9, for each document and called the fees too high.
A more satisfied customer was 22-year-old Alam Noori from eastern Paktika province who came to collect his passport. “Piece of cake,” he said in English. In the past, he also used a post office to collect his driver’s license.
“I came to know about the post office through social media,” he said. “People in the city use it a lot because they are aware of it, but those in villages and districts aren’t.”
The Afghan Post’s business development director, Omar, wants services to be easier for people but conceded that it will take time.
“In most government agencies, people are wandering from public service to public service, so I want to serve people here, and that makes me very happy,” he said. “There is a need for a post office wherever there is a population.”
That’s where the plan to have a mailbox on every street comes in. They will be for paying bills, sending mail and submitting documents for processing.
But handwritten letters are disappearing, as they are in many parts of the world.
Hamid Khan Hussain Khel is one of the country’s 400 postmen, zipping around the capital on a motorcycle bearing Afghan Post’s jaunty blue and yellow. But he has yet to deliver a personal letter, despite serving the city’s population of 5 million for two years. He cited the popularity of smartphones and messaging apps.
He enjoys the work, which is less dangerous than it was during the decadeslong conflict.
“When we meet people, their satisfaction makes us happy,” he said. “I haven’t seen a person not smile when they get their documents.”
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Slovak PM Fico makes first public appearance since assassination attempt
US to complete withdrawal from Niger base Sunday
Retired General Breedlove says NATO must not capitulate to Russia
Washington — The United States will host a NATO summit in Washington next week, at which more military support for Ukraine in the face of Russia’s ongoing invasion will top the agenda.
Douglas Jones, deputy U.S. assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs, told VOA earlier this week that NATO will put forward “concrete ways” to accelerate Ukraine’s eventual membership in the alliance.
Retired U.S. Air Force four-star General Philip Breedlove was the commander of U.S. European Command and the 17th Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO Allied Command Operations from 2013 to 2016.
In an interview with VOA, Breedlove said that NATO should use next week’s summit to detail how it will help Ukraine “win the war against Russia and to expel Russian forces from Ukrainian lands.”
Allowing Russia to keep that Ukrainian territory it has occupied would amount to “capitulation,” Breedlove said, adding that whoever wins the U.S. presidential election in November must remember that capitulation to Russia’s ambitions in Ukraine “is not a way forward.”
The following transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity:
VOA: What are the main challenges for NATO ahead of the summit in Washington?
Retired four-star U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove: I think the main challenge is going to be how to move forward with Ukraine. There are quite a number of NATO nations that want to get started on Ukraine’s program to join [NATO], there are other nations that are not ready for that yet. And so I think that the compromise is this “bridge” to NATO, whereby Ukraine will be invited to join in the headquarters on a U.S. base somewhere. I hear that maybe Wiesbaden [Germany] is that place. More importantly though, since there will not be a formal offer to Ukraine for membership, the members of NATO are going to need to discuss how do we begin to guarantee the security of Ukraine.
VOA: How do you think the elections in Europe and the U.K. will affect — and maybe already have affected — NATO’s immediate future?
Breedlove: So I would broaden that scope. In elections in America, elections in many of our countries, we see a growing nationalistic trend, some isolationist trends, and these are all going to have to be addressed by NATO as a body. Because the strength of NATO is solidarity first, and so we have to figure out how to maintain that solidarity in the alliance when we have several nations that are now challenging norms. NATO has always made it through this. I remind people — and some of my French friends hate it when I do — but we were once thrown out of a capital of a NATO country. And so NATO has faced challenges in the past.
And I think that NATO will survive this current set of issues as well and frankly maybe be stronger. The absolute audacity, the criminality, the inhumane war that [Russian President] Mr. [Vladimir] Putin is waging on Ukraine is in a way drawing NATO closer together, even though there are less than perfect conversations about how we should go about fixing things. Broadly now, people understand what Mr. Putin is, what Russia represents, and the problems that this is going to give us in the future. And we see nations now realizing that they have to invest in their defense.
VOA: According to Politico, some Trump-aligned national security experts are saying that he is “mulling a deal” where NATO commits to no further eastward expansion, specifically into Ukraine and Georgia, and negotiates with Putin over how much Ukrainian territory “Moscow can keep” in exchange for a cease-fire. What would that mean for Georgia and Ukraine?
Breedlove: So, what you’re talking about, to me, amounts to capitulation. I don’t believe that Mr. [Donald] Trump would capitulate in quite that manner to Russia and give in to all of Russia’s demands. I think what we need to focus on is what changes in respect to Russia in these conversations, remembering that Russia is a nation that amassed its army, marched across internationally recognized borders and is now trying to subjugate one of its neighbors. I do not believe that even Mr. Trump will sign up to that as an end result.
At some point we will have to sit down at the table, and what it looks like coming away from the table, I think, is a long way from being determined. And I do not believe that the American people will support capitulation. … And so I think that whoever is the next president, as their team sits down to try to resolve this, we’re going to have to remember that capitulation is not a way forward.
VOA: If Georgia’s domestic political problems grow, what effect will that have on its prospects for joining NATO?
Breedlove: I think that the question should be asked like this: if Russia’s interference in Georgia’s internal affairs continues and gets worse, what does that mean? Because I believe that there is Russian bad money and Russian bad people and politics involved in Georgia right now. Georgia is a hybrid warfare battleground whereby Russia is trying to use all manner of influence to drag Georgia away from the West and to regain control of Georgian politics.
VOA: It’s clear that during next week’s summit, Ukraine will not be offered NATO membership. But apart from the offer to establish a “bridge” at a NATO base, what do you think can be done to bring Ukraine and NATO closer together?
Breedlove: Well, the first thing to do is to help them win this war. Our policies are very weak. We say things like “we’re going to be there for as long as it takes” or “we’re going to give them everything they need.” What we fail to say is — we’re going to be there as long as it takes to do what? We’re going to give them everything they need to do what? And that “to do what” should sound something like “to completely defeat the Russian forces inside of Ukraine and drive them back behind Russia’s borders.” But we are not doing that. And so one of the most important things about this upcoming summit … is that we need a demonstrative public declaratory policy on how we would support Ukraine to win the war against Russia and to expel Russian forces from Ukrainian lands.
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Amnesty International questions Nigeria’s choice of Shell evaluators
Abuja, Nigeria — Human rights group Amnesty International raised concerns Friday about the Nigerian government’s hiring of two firms with past dealings with Shell to assess the proposed $2.4 billion sale of the company’s onshore assets in the Niger Delta.
Amnesty said the choice cast doubt on the independence and transparency of the process and called again for accountability in the proposed sale.
Amnesty described the hiring of the Boston Consulting Group, or BCG, and S&P Global by the Nigerian oil regulator as “concerning,” saying the firms are in business with Shell.
Amnesty said S&P Global plays a role in rating Shell’s debt and credit worthiness, while BCG performs a variety of services for Shell.
Amnesty’s Isa Sanusi said that BCG and S&P could be influenced by their commercial interests and that they may become lenient in their review of problems caused by Shell’s activities.
“I don’t think that it is possible for these companies to be independent,” Sanusi said. “In fact, the whole exercise of assessing Shell’s plan has now been jeopardized by this conflict of interest. There’s no way a company working for Shell can be hired to examine the books of Shell. I don’t think that is right.”
In January, Shell announced plans to sell its onshore properties to a local consortium of five companies for $2.4 billion. Shell said the move would enable it to focus on more-profitable offshore business as it plans to transition away from fossil fuels.
But the proposed sale has sparked concern among environmental and human rights activists calling on authorities to delay the deal until a review of Shell’s activities and assets in the region is done.
The groups say years of exploration by Shell have caused massive environmental damage and a loss of livelihoods for residents.
Energy expert Emmanuel Afimia agreed with Amnesty International, saying, “The consultants have existing relationships with Shell. This might compromise the consultants’ ability to conduct an impartial review.
“We need to understand that the independence of these consultants is crucial to ensure a fair assessment, and their ties to Shell could undermine trust in the process,” she said.
Nigerian law mandates Shell provide money for cleanup and decommissioning of its assets before exiting.
But Shell, like other foreign energy firms, has often blamed sabotage and theft for oil spills. Earlier this year, the company released on its website a list of eight cleanup operations it planned to carry out — all for spills of less than 100 barrels of oil.
Amnesty said that unless the right thing is done, enormous human rights risks are at stake.
“There must be an examination of all the environmental liabilities, community liabilities and human rights liabilities,” Sanusi said. “Shell has to pay for it before going ahead to sell its assets in the region. It is about human life, and that should be the priority of Nigerian authorities.”
In March, the Netherlands-based nonprofit Center for Research on Multinational Corporations accused Shell of trying to avoid responsibility for oil spills and warned that if allowed, it could set a negative example for other foreign firms seeking to leave the Niger Delta.
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Chinese carmaker calls for hearing on new tariffs
Kenyan president bows to pressure, makes major concessions
Nairobi, Kenya — Kenyan President William Ruto on Friday ordered significant cuts in the federal budget along with other government reforms to pay off a crushing debt burden in a move seen as a concession to popular disapproval of a tax bill that sparked violent protests.
Following weeks of protests during which dozens of people reportedly were killed, Ruto withdrew a finance bill intended to raise $2.7 billion — most of it from tax increases — to pay off debt.
Ruto instead offered a compromise: a plan is to cut $1.39 billion from the budget and borrow the difference.
To make it work, Ruto said, his government will eliminate 47 state corporations with overlapping or duplicative functions and reduce by 50% the number of government advisors, among many other actions.
Filling the positions of chief administrative secretaries is suspended, Ruto said, and government funds will not be used for the operations of the offices of the first lady, the spouse of the deputy president and the prime cabinet secretary.
And there’s more.
“Public servants who attain retirement age of 60 shall be required to immediately proceed on retirement with no extensions,” Ruto said.
Also, government purchase of new motor vehicles is suspended for 12 months, except for security agencies, and all nonessential travel by state and public officers is suspended, the president said.
Some of the actions were on a list of demands made by protesters.
Ruto also said he has appointed an independent task force to carry out a comprehensive, forensic audit of the country’s public debt.
“This audit will provide Kenyans with clarity on the extent and nature of our debt and how public resources have been expanded and also recommend proposals for managing public debt in a manner that is sustainable and does not burden future generations,” he said.
Nearly 40 people died and 360 were injured nationwide since the protests started three weeks ago, according to Kenya’s National Commission on Human Rights.
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CAR pleads with fleeing civilians to return after rebels attack villages
YAOUNDE, CAMEROON — Central African Republic officials are pleading with civilians to go back to their villages, after up to 10,000 civilians were displaced this week by fighting between rebels and C.A.R. forces.
Officials say a rebel group known as the Return, Reclamation, Rehabilitation, or 3R, has relaunched hostilities in the central African nation. This week, military sources said 3R rebels attacked nearly 10 villages between the towns of Bocaranga and Bazoum in northeastern C.A.R., near the Cameroon border.
The C.A.R. military says bodies of five government troops and six civilians have been found in villages since the attacks began Tuesday. The military says it is still searching for bodies and transporting injured civilians to hospitals for treatment.
On Thursday, officials said several hundred troops and humanitarian workers were deployed to the villages to push back the rebels and protect civilians.
Glwadys Siopathis led a delegation of humanitarian workers to villages affected by the fighting. She says about 10,000 civilians — including children — are hiding in the bush, and are hungry, thirsty and malnourished.
She says a majority are reluctant to return to their homes because they believe rebels have simply retreated and could again attack villages for supplies.
The C.A.R. says that besides its troops, forces of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic, or MINUSCA, have been deployed to protect civilians and their goods.
Both forces say huge quantities of ammunition were seized and several rebels were either neutralized or captured, but did not give further details. The C.A.R is pleading with civilians to return to villages where they will be protected by government troops.
Bruno Yapande, C.A.R.’s territorial administration minister, says the government of the Central African Republic has ordered its military to immediately seal border areas where rebels traditionally attempt to pass through when attacked by government troops.
He says several border security checkpoints have been erected to sort out rebels who disguise themselves as cattle ranchers or infiltrate civilian communities to escape to neighboring countries.
Yapande spoke Friday on C.A.R. state TV. He did not say which countries the rebels may be attempting to escape to, but the C.A.R. shares borders with Cameroon, Sudan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of Congo and Chad.
Last week, Cameroon and C.A.R. officials met in the C.A.R.’s capital, Bangui, and signed an agreement to jointly combat what they describe as increasing insecurity and criminality caused by armed gangs and rebels operating in towns and villages along their border.
The C.A.R. says the 3R, formed in 2015, is one of several rebel groups in the central African state. 3R rebels claim that they protect Muslim cattle ranching populations from regular attacks by Christian anti-Balaka militias.
C.A.R. officials say the rebel group has several hundred armed fighters who fight to control villages on the C.A.R. border and regularly escape to eastern villages in Cameroon when attacked by government forces. The C.A.R. accuses the rebel group of killing, maiming, raping, looting, and regularly displacing civilians from the villages.
The Central African Republic descended into violence and political chaos in 2013 when Muslim-led Seleka rebels seized power and forced then-President Francois Bozize from office in the majority Christian nation. A Christian-dominated militia called the anti-Balaka fought back, with both the Seleka and anti-Balaka being accused of targeting and killing civilians.
The U.N. says fighting in the C.A.R. has forced close to a million Central Africans to flee to neighboring countries, including Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria and Chad.
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Hungary’s Orban arrives in Moscow for talks with Putin, a rare visit from a European leader
India’s Modi will meet with Putin on 2-day visit to Russia starting Monday, Kremlin says
MOSCOW — The Kremlin on Thursday said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Russia next Monday and Tuesday and hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The visit was first announced by Russian officials last month, but the dates have not been previously disclosed.
Russia has had strong ties with India since the Cold War, and New Delhi’s importance as a key trading partner for Moscow has grown since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China and India have become key buyers of Russian oil following sanctions imposed by the U.S. and its allies that shut most Western markets for Russian exports.
Under Modi’s leadership, India has avoided condemning Russia’s action in Ukraine while emphasizing the need for a peaceful settlement.
The partnership between Moscow and New Delhi has become fraught, however, since Russia started developing closer ties with India’s main rival, China, because of the hostilities in Ukraine.
Modi on Thursday skipped the summit of a security grouping created by Moscow and Beijing to counter Western alliances.
Modi sent his foreign minister to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization at its annual meeting in Kazakhstan’s capital of Astana. The meeting is being attended by Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Indian media reports speculated that the recently reelected Modi was busy with the Parliament session last week.
Modi last visited Russia in 2019 for an economic forum in the far eastern port of Vladivostok. He last traveled to Moscow in 2015. Putin last met with Modi in September 2022 at a summit of the SCO in Uzbekistan. In 2021, Putin also traveled to New Delhi and held talks with the Indian leader.
Tensions between Beijing and New Delhi have continued since a confrontation in June 2020 along the disputed China-India border in which rival troops fought with rocks, clubs and fists. At least 20 Indian troops and four Chinese soldiers were killed.
After his reelection to a third straight term. Modi attended the G7 meeting in Italy’s Apulia region last month and addressed artificial intelligence, energy, and regional issues in Africa and the Mediterranean.
In the early 1990s, the Soviet Union was the source of about 70% of Indian army weapons, 80% of its air force systems and 85% of its navy platforms.
India bought its first aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya, from Russia in 2004. It had served in the former Soviet Union and later in the Russian navy.
With the Russian supply line hit by the fighting in Ukraine, India has been reducing its dependency on Russian arms and diversifying its defense procurements, buying more from the U.S., Israel, France and Italy.
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Britain’s Labour Party sweeps to power in historic election win
LONDON — Britain’s Labour Party swept to power Friday after more than a decade in opposition, official results showed, as a jaded electorate appeared to hand the party a landslide victory but also a mammoth task of reinvigorating a stagnant economy and dispirited nation.
Labour leader Keir Starmer will officially become prime minister later in the day, leading his party back to government less than five years after it suffered its worst defeat in almost a century. In the brutal choreography of British politics, he will take charge in 10 Downing St. hours after the votes are counted – as Conservative leader Rishi Sunak is hustled out.
“A mandate like this comes with a great responsibility,” Starmer acknowledged in a speech to supporters, saying that the fight to regain people’s trust “is the battle that defines our age.”
Speaking as drawn broke in London, he said Labour would offer “the sunlight of hope, pale at first but getting stronger though the day.”
Sunak conceded defeat, saying the voters had delivered a “sobering verdict.”
Labour’s triumph and challenges
For Starmer, it’s a massive triumph that will bring huge challenges, as he faces a jaded electorate impatient for change against a gloomy backdrop of economic malaise, mounting distrust in institutions and a fraying social fabric.
“Nothing has gone well in the last 14 years,” said London voter James Erskine, who was optimistic for change in the hours before polls closed. “I just see this as the potential for a seismic shift, and that’s what I’m hoping for.”
Anand Menon, professor of European Politics and Foreign Affairs at King’s College London, said British voters were about to see a marked change in political atmosphere from the tumultuous “politics as pantomime” of the last few years.
“I think we’re going to have to get used again to relatively stable government, with ministers staying in power for quite a long time, and with government being able to think beyond the very short term to medium-term objectives,” he said.
Britain has experienced a run of turbulent years — some of it of the Conservatives’ own making and some of it not — that has left many voters pessimistic about their country’s future. Britain’s exit from the European Union followed by the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine battered the economy, while lockdown-breaching parties held by then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his staff caused widespread anger.
Johnson’s successor, Liz Truss, rocked the economy further with a package of drastic tax cuts and lasted just 49 days in office. Rising poverty and cuts to state services have led to gripes about “Broken Britain.”
While the result appears to buck recent rightward electoral shifts in Europe, including in France and Italy, many of those same populist undercurrents flow in Britain. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has roiled the race with his party’s anti-immigrant “take our country back” sentiment and undercut support for the Conservatives, who already faced dismal prospects.
The exit poll suggested Labour was on course to win about 410 seats in the 650-seat House of Commons and the Conservatives 131.
With a majority of results in, the broad picture of a Labour landslide was borne out, though estimates of the final tally varied. The BBC projected that Labour would end up with 410 seats and the Conservatives with 144.
Conservative vote collapses as smaller parties surge
Even that higher tally for the Tories would leave the party with the fewest seats in its nearly two-century history and cause disarray.
The result is a catastrophe for the Conservatives as voters punished them for 14 years of presiding over austerity, Brexit, a pandemic, political scandals and internecine Tory conflict. The historic defeat leaves the party depleted and in disarray and will likely spark an immediate contest to replace Sunak as leader.
In a sign of the volatile public mood and anger at the system, some smaller parties picked up millions of votes, including the centrist Liberal Democrats and Farage’s Reform UK. Farage won his race in the seaside town of Clacton-on-Sea, securing a seat in Parliament on his eighth attempt, and Reform has won four seats so far.
The Liberal Democrats won many more than that on a slightly lower share of the vote because its votes were more efficiently distributed. In Britain’s first-past-the-post system, the candidate with the most votes in each constituency wins.
Labour was cautious but reliable
Hundreds of seats changed hands in tight contests in which traditional party loyalties come second to more immediate concerns about the economy, crumbling infrastructure and the National Health Service.
Labour did not set pulses racing with its pledges to get the sluggish economy growing, invest in infrastructure and make Britain a “clean energy superpower.”
But the party’s cautious, safety-first campaign delivered the desired result. The party won the support of large chunks of the business community and endorsements from traditionally conservative newspapers, including the Rupert Murdoch-owned Sun tabloid, which praised Starmer for “dragging his party back to the center ground of British politics.”
Conservative missteps
The Conservative campaign, meanwhile, was plagued by gaffes. The campaign got off to an inauspicious start when rain drenched Sunak as he made the announcement outside 10 Downing St. Then, Sunak went home early from commemorations in France marking the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion.
Several Conservatives close to Sunak are being investigated over suspicions they used inside information to place bets on the date of the election before it was announced.
Sunak has struggled to shake off the taint of political chaos and mismanagement that’s gathered around the Conservatives.
In Henley-on-Thames, about 65 kilometers west of London, voters like Patricia Mulcahy, who is retired, sensed the nation was looking for something different. The community, which normally votes Conservative, may change its stripes this time.
“The younger generation are far more interested in change,’’ Mulcahy said. “But whoever gets in, they’ve got a heck of a job ahead of them. It’s not going to be easy.”
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89 migrants die, dozens missing when boat capsizes off Mauritania
Nouakchott, Mauritania — Nearly 90 migrants bound for Europe died when their boat capsized earlier this week off the coast of Mauritania, the state news agency and a local official said Thursday. Dozens more remain missing.
“The Mauritanian coast guard recovered the bodies of 89 people aboard a large traditional fishing boat that capsized on Monday, July 1, on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean” about 4 kilometers from the country’s southwest city of Ndiago, the state news agency said.
The coast guard rescued nine people, including a 5-year-old girl, it said.
The agency quoted survivors saying that the boat had set sail from the border of Senegal and Gambia with 170 passengers on board, bringing the number of missing to 72.
A senior local government official gave AFP similar information, on condition of anonymity.
The Atlantic route is particularly dangerous because of strong currents, with migrants often traveling in overloaded, often unseaworthy, boats without enough drinking water.
But it has grown in popularity because of the increased vigilance in the Mediterranean.
The number of migrants landing at Spain’s Canary Islands in 2023 more than doubled in one year to a record 39,910, according to the Spanish government.
Off the coast of North Africa, Spain’s Canary Islands lie 100 kilometers away at their closest point.
But many boats, often long wooden vessels known as pirogues, leave from much farther away, setting sail from Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Gambia and Senegal.
More than 5,000 migrants died while trying to reach Spain by sea in the first five months of this year, or the equivalent of 33 deaths per day, according to Caminando Fronteras, a Spanish charity.
That is the highest daily number of deaths since it began collating figures in 2007, and the vast majority were on the Atlantic route.
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International students navigate financial challenges to pay US tuition
Russia, China leaders meet at summit in display of deepening cooperation
Militia attack on a Congo gold mine kills 6 Chinese miners, 2 Congolese soldiers
Goma, Congo — A militia attack on a gold mine in northeastern Congo killed six Chinese miners and two Congolese soldiers, a civil society group said Thursday, the latest assault as violence worsens in the resource-rich region.
The attack on Wednesday targeted the village of Gambala and the nearby “Camp Blanquette” gold mine in the Ituri province, according to Jean Robert Basiloko, a member of a local civil society group. A militia known as the Cooperative for the Development of the Congo, or CODECO, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Eastern Congo has been torn by decadelong fighting between government forces and more than 120 armed groups, often involving bombs targeting civilians as the militias seek a share of the region’s gold and other resources. Violence in the region has worsened in recent months as security forces battle the militias.
On Wednesday, the militiamen set homes ablaze and then attacked the mine, which is guarded by a competing armed group, the Zaire Militia, Basiloko told The Associated Press.
They attackers killed six Chinese miners and two Congolese troops, he added, and abducted two other miners, whose whereabouts remain unknown.
CODECO and the Zaire Militia are involved in a complex conflict, mixing economic ambitions and power struggles. The Zaire Militia, a dissident faction of CODECO, fiercely opposes its former allies.
CODECO is a loose association of militia groups mainly from the ethnic Lendu farming community. Attacks by CODECO killed nearly 1,800 people and wounded more than 500 in the four years through 2022, according to the African Center for the Study and Research on Terrorism.
The United Nations has said some of the attacks could constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.
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