Presidents of Congo and Rwanda meet in Qatar to discuss insurgency in eastern Congo

Presidents of Congo and Rwanda meet in Qatar to discuss insurgency in eastern Congo
Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani during a meeting with Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame in Doha, Mar. 18, 2025. (QNA)
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Presidents of Congo and Rwanda meet in Qatar to discuss insurgency in eastern Congo

Presidents of Congo and Rwanda meet in Qatar to discuss insurgency in eastern Congo
  • Congo and Rwanda reaffirmed their commitment to an immediate and unconditional ceasefire on Tuesday
  • Peace talks between the two countries were unexpectedly canceled in December

DAKAR: The presidents of Congo and neighboring Rwanda met Tuesday in Qatar for their first direct talks since Rwanda-backed M23 rebels seized two major cities in mineral-rich eastern Congo earlier this year, the three governments said.
The meeting between Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame to discuss the insurgency was mediated by Qatar, the three governments said in a joint statement.
The summit came as a previous attempt to bring Congo’s government and M23 leaders together for ceasefire negotiations on Tuesday failed. The rebels pulled out Monday after the European Union announced sanctions on rebel leaders.
Congo and Rwanda reaffirmed their commitment to an immediate and unconditional ceasefire during the meeting in Qatar on Tuesday.
Peace talks between Congo and Rwanda were unexpectedly canceled in December after Rwanda made the signing of a peace agreement conditional on a direct dialogue between Congo and the M23 rebels, which Congo refused at the time.
The conflict in eastern Congo escalated in January when the Rwanda-backed rebels advanced and seized the strategic city of Goma, followed by Bukavu in February.
M23 is one of about 100 armed groups that have been vying for a foothold in mineral-rich eastern Congo near the border with Rwanda, in a conflict that has created one of the world’s most significant humanitarian crises. More than 7 million people have been displaced.
The rebels are supported by about 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, according to UN experts, and at times have vowed to march as far as Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, about 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) to the east.
The UN Human Rights Council last month launched a commission to investigate atrocities, including allegations of rape and killing akin to “summary executions” by both sides.


Families urge Tunisia to release detained pro-migrant activists

Updated 12 sec ago
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Families urge Tunisia to release detained pro-migrant activists

Families urge Tunisia to release detained pro-migrant activists
Romdhane Ben Amor, the head of FTDES, an NGO, said the 10 detainees’ organizations “were engaged in humanitarian work, not political advocacy“
The authorities, however, “criminalized their actions“

TUNIS: The families of detained Tunisian pro-migrant and anti-racism activists, imprisoned since May, launched an appeal on Tuesday for their release.
Romdhane Ben Amor, the head of FTDES, an NGO, said the 10 detainees’ organizations “were engaged in humanitarian work, not political advocacy.”
The authorities, however, “criminalized their actions,” he said at a press conference.
The aim, Ben Amor said, was to “further weaken migrants and refugees and to push them to accept ‘voluntary returns’ organized by the (UN’s) International Organization for Migration.”
Tunisia is a major transit country for African migrants hoping to cross the Mediterranean to Europe in search of economic opportunities and a better life.
In 2023, Tunisian president Kais Saied denounced what he called “hordes of sub-Saharan migrants” who threatened to “change the country’s demographic composition.”
That was followed by a crackdown on migrants and last year’s arrest of activists.
Among those at the press conference was Emna Riahi, the mother of Sherifa Riahi, the former head of Terre d’Asile Tunisie.
She demanded that her daughter, a parent of two young children, be released and have a trial after charges against her of money laundering and terrorism were dropped.
Also present were the daughters of Mustapha Djemali, the 80-year-old founder of the Tunisian Council for Refugees and former North Africa chief for the UN’s refugee agency.
Yusra and Emna Djemali said their father had lost 35 kilogrammes (77 pounds) while in prison and had been denied medication “for four or five months.”
All these activists “are imprisoned to make it seem as though the president’s racist rhetoric was based on real facts,” said Ben Amor, lamenting what he called the “complicit silence” of the European Union and international organizations.


The families of detained Tunisian pro-migrant and anti-racism activists, imprisoned since May, launched an appeal on Tuesday for their release. (AP/File)

Netanyahu says Israeli strikes across Gaza that killed hundreds are ‘only the beginning’

Netanyahu says Israeli strikes across Gaza that killed hundreds are ‘only the beginning’
Updated 35 min 25 sec ago
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Netanyahu says Israeli strikes across Gaza that killed hundreds are ‘only the beginning’

Netanyahu says Israeli strikes across Gaza that killed hundreds are ‘only the beginning’
  • “The previous releases proved that military pressure is a necessary condition for freeing hostages,” he said

GAZA: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Tuesday’s airstrikes in Gaza are “only the beginning” and that all ceasefire negotiations will take place “under fire.”
In a recorded statement broadcast on national television, Netanyahu said Israel would press ahead until it realizes all of its war goals — destroying Hamas and freeing all hostages held by the militant group.
“The previous releases proved that military pressure is a necessary condition for freeing hostages,” he said.


China, Kuwait sign agreement to expand solar power projects

China, Kuwait sign agreement to expand solar power projects
Updated 18 March 2025
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China, Kuwait sign agreement to expand solar power projects

China, Kuwait sign agreement to expand solar power projects
  • China to oversee expansion of Al-Shagaya, Al-Abdiliya plants
  • Shagaya part of Kuwait’s plan to generate 15% of its energy from renewable sources by 2030

LONDON: Kuwait and China signed a framework agreement this week which included a commitment to cooperate in renewable energy and solar plants technology.

The framework agreement was reached after six months of negotiations, according to Adel Al-Zamel, the undersecretary at the Ministry of Electricity and Water and Renewable Energy, who signed the agreement in Kuwait with Ren Jingdong, the deputy director of the Chinese National Energy Administration.

The agreement outlines a plan, overseen by the Chinese side, for the third and fourth zones of the Al-Shagaya and Al-Abdiliya solar plants projects. Each project will have a joint production capacity of 3,500 megawatts, with the potential to increase to 5,000 megawatts, the Kuwait News Agency reported.

Shagaya Renewable Energy Park, which is in a desert zone near the Kuwait-Saudi border, plays an integral part in Kuwait’s plan to generate 15 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2030.

Kuwait and China last month signed an agreement to develop the Mubarak Al-Kabeer port, which is part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative and will have a capacity to handle more than 8 million containers.

On March 22 the two countries will celebrate the 54th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations.

Kuwait’s Ambassador to China Jassem Al-Najem and other Kuwaiti and Chinese officials were present during the agreement’s signing ceremony.


In Lebanon, Israeli strikes point to a precarious ceasefire

In Lebanon, Israeli strikes point to a precarious ceasefire
Updated 18 March 2025
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In Lebanon, Israeli strikes point to a precarious ceasefire

In Lebanon, Israeli strikes point to a precarious ceasefire
  • The war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon marked the deadliest spillover of the Gaza war
  • The Israeli military has reported striking five Hezbollah members in three separate incidents in south Lebanon since Mar. 15

BEIRUT: As Israel resumes heavy strikes in the Gaza Strip, escalating Israeli attacks in south Lebanon have killed five Hezbollah members in the last few days, according to security sources in Lebanon, underlining the fragility of a US-backed ceasefire.
The war between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon marked the deadliest spillover of the Gaza war, rumbling across the frontier for months before escalating into a devastating Israeli offensive that wiped out the group’s command and many of its fighters, along with much of its arsenal.
While the ceasefire brought about a big reduction in the violence, each side accuses the other of failing to fully implement it. Israel says Hezbollah still has infrastructure in the south, while Lebanon and Hezbollah say Israel is occupying Lebanese soil by not withdrawing from five hilltop positions.
The Israeli military has reported striking five Hezbollah members in three separate incidents in south Lebanon since Mar. 15. In one of the incidents on Sunday, the Israeli military said it struck two Hezbollah militants “who served as observation operatives and directed terrorist activities.” Security sources in Lebanon said five Hezbollah members were killed.
The Israeli military said on Sunday that a gunshot hit a parked car in the Israeli community of Avivim, and that the shot most likely came from Lebanon. No one claimed responsibility.

STRIKES DESTROY PREFAB HOUSES
In Lebanon, Israeli strikes in two towns on Monday destroyed prefabricated houses brought to the area for people whose homes were destroyed in the war, security sources said.
Noting an increase in Israeli strikes in recent days, the UNIFIL peacekeeping force in south Lebanon “urges all actors to avoid any action that could upset the current delicate calm,” spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said.
“We continue to urge Israeli forces to fully withdraw south of the Blue Line, and we continue to support the Lebanese Armed Forces in their deployment in the south of Lebanon,” he added.
The Blue Line was drawn by the United Nations in 2000, when Israeli forces withdrew from south Lebanon, and separates the country from Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
The ceasefire agreed in November required Hezbollah to have no weapons in the south and Israeli troops to withdraw as the US-backed Lebanese army deployed into the region.
Israel said earlier this month it had agreed to US-backed talks with Lebanon aimed at demarcating the border. It also released five Lebanese held by the Israeli military in what it called a “gesture to the Lebanese president.”
Hezbollah officials have put the onus on the Lebanese state to liberate the remaining land still occupied by Israel. Still, leading Hezbollah official Ali Damoush said on Friday the group would not give up its arms while there was an occupation.
Analysts say Hezbollah would have to think very hard before taking any decision to escalate against Israel, noting that its overland resupply route to Iran was severed by the fall of its ally Bashar Assad in Syria and that many of its supporters are homeless because of the devastation caused by the war.
“So far, Hezbollah is keen not to respond and to leave the decision to the government and the Lebanese army,” said Qassem Kassir, a Lebanese analyst close to Hezbollah.


Syria says Israeli strikes aiming to undermine ‘stability’

Syria says Israeli strikes aiming to undermine ‘stability’
Updated 18 March 2025
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Syria says Israeli strikes aiming to undermine ‘stability’

Syria says Israeli strikes aiming to undermine ‘stability’
  • A foreign ministry statement denounced “in the strongest terms the recent Israeli air strikes on Daraa,” in southern Syria
  • It added that “these deliberate attacks, launched without reason, reveal Israel’s total disregard for international law and norms”

DAMASCUS: The Syrian Arab Replic's foreign ministry on Tuesday condemned a series of deadly Israeli strikes a day earlier, accusing Israel of seeking to sow instability in the country.
A foreign ministry statement denounced “in the strongest terms the recent Israeli air strikes on Daraa,” in southern Syria, on Monday which authorities said killed three civilians.
“This aggression is part of an Israeli campaign against the Syrian people and the stability of the country,” the statement said.
It added that “these deliberate attacks, launched without reason, reveal Israel’s total disregard for international law and norms” and “represent a direct threat to regional and international security.”
The Israeli military said it had struck “military targets” in southern Syrian including “command centers and military sites.”
On Tuesday afternoon, the Israeli military said it launched new air strikes targeting “two cannons” in the region of Khan Arnabah, in the south of Syria, close to the 1974 ceasefire line separating Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights.
Since the overthrow of president Bashar Assad on December 8, Israel has launched hundreds of strikes on military sites in Syria, saying it was acting to prevent the former Syrian army’s weapons falling into the hands of the new authorities whom it considers jihadists.
The toppling of Assad was led by Islamist-rebels, including those who once formed Al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria, though the new government has sought to distance itself from that past.
The Israeli military has also deployed to the UN-patrolled buffer zone on the Golan Heights, separating the Israeli-occupied part of the Golan from that still controlled by Syria.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has demanded the demilitarization of southern Syria and said his country would not tolerate the presence of forces from the new authorities south of the capital Damascus.