Another Meaningless Deal Signed for DRC and Rwanda in Washington

Associated Press

7:50am, 5 Dec 2025Updated: 4:44pm, 5 Dec 2025

US President Donald Trump praised the leaders of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda for their courage as they signed a deal on Thursday aimed at ending the conflict in eastern Congo and opening the region’s critical mineral reserves to the US government and American companies.

The moment offered Trump – who has repeatedly and with a measure of exaggeration boasted of brokering peace in some of the world’s most entrenched conflicts – another chance to tout himself as a dealmaker extraordinaire on the global stage and make the case that he is deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize. The US leader has not been shy about his desire to receive the honour.

“It’s a great day for Africa, a great day for the world,” Trump said before the leaders signed the pact. “Today, we’re succeeding where so many others have failed.”

Trump welcomed presidents Felix Tshisekedi of DR Congo and Paul Kagame of Rwanda, as well as several officials from other African nations who travelled to Washington to witness the signing, in the same week he contemptuously derided the war-torn country of Somalia and said he did not want immigrants from the East African nation in the US.

Lauded by the White House as a “historic” agreement brokered by Trump, the pact between Tshisekedi and Kagame followed months-long peace efforts by the US and partners, including the African Union and Qatar, and finalises an earlier deal signed in June.

But the Trump-brokered peace was precarious.

The Central African nation of DR Congo has been battered by decades-long fighting with more than 100 armed groups, the most potent being the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels. The conflict escalated this year, with M23 seizing the region’s main cities of Goma and Bukavu in an unprecedented advance, worsening a humanitarian crisis that was already one of the world’s largest, with millions of people displaced.

Fighting, meanwhile, continued this week in the conflict-battered region with pockets of clashes reported between the rebels and Congolese soldiers, together with their allied forces. Trump, a Republican, has often said that his mediation has ended the conflict, which some people in DR Congo say is not true.

Still, Kagame and Tshisekedi offered a hopeful tone as they signed on to the agreement.

“No one was asking President Trump to take up this task. Our region is far from the headlines,” Kagame said. “But when the president saw the opportunity to contribute to peace, he immediately took it.”

“I do believe this day is the beginning of a new path, a demanding path, yes. Indeed, quite difficult,” Tshisekedi said. “But this is a path where peace will not just be a wish, an aspiration, but a turning point.”

Indeed, analysts said Thursday’s deal also was not expected to quickly result in peace. A separate peace deal has been signed between DR Congo and the M23.

But Trump predicted with the signing the countries would leave behind “decades of violence and bloodshed” and “begin a new year of harmony and cooperation”.

“They spent a lot of time killing each other,” Trump said. “And now they’re going to spend a lot of time hugging, holding hands and taking advantage of the United States of America economically like every other country does.”

Tshisekedi and Kagame did not shake hands and barely looked at each other during the roughly 50-minute signing ceremony.

Thursday’s pact will also build on a Regional Economic Integration Framework previously agreed upon that officials have said will define the terms of economic partnerships involving the three countries.

Trump also announced the US was signing bilateral agreements with the nations that would unlock new opportunities for the US to access critical minerals – deals that would benefit all three economies.

“Everybody’s going to make a lot of money,” Trump said.

The region, rich in critical minerals, has been of interest to Trump as Washington looks for ways to circumvent China to acquire rare earths, essential to manufacturing fighter jets, mobile phones and more. China accounts for nearly 70 per cent of the world’s rare earth mining and controls roughly 90 per cent of global rare earths processing.

Trump hosted the leaders on Thursday morning for one-on-one meetings at the White House as well as a three-way conversation before the signing ceremony at the Institute of Peace in Washington, which the State Department announced on Wednesday has been rebranded “the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace”.

In eastern DR Congo, meanwhile, residents reported pockets of clashes and rebel advances in various localities. Both the M23 and Congolese forces have accused each other of violating the terms of the ceasefire agreed earlier this year. Fighting has also continued in the central plateaus across South Kivu province.

The conflict can be traced to the aftermath of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, where Hutu militias killed between 500,000 and 1 million ethnic Tutsi, as well as moderate Hutus and Twa, indigenous people. When Tutsi-led forces fought back, nearly 2 million Hutus crossed into Congo, fearing reprisals.

Rwandan authorities have accused the Hutus who fled of taking part in the genocide and alleged that elements of the Congolese army protected them. They say the militias formed by a small fraction of the Hutus are a threat to Rwanda’s Tutsi population.

Congo’s government says there cannot be permanent peace if Rwanda does not withdraw its support troops and other support for the M23 in the region. Rwanda, on the other hand, has conditioned a permanent ceasefire on DR Congo dissolving a local militia that it said is made up of the Hutus and is fighting with the Congolese military.

The UN has said that between 3,000 and 4,000 Rwandan government forces were deployed in eastern DR Congo, operating alongside the M23. Rwanda denied such support but says any action taken in the conflict is to protect its territory.

Renewed Fighting in Eastern DR Congo Threatens ‘Historic’ Peace Deal Brokered by Trump

By JUSTIN KABUMBA and RUTH ALONGA

8:06 AM EST, December 5, 2025

GOMA, Congo (AP) — Residents of eastern Congo said fighting has intensified despite a peace agreement that was signed by the Congolese and Rwandan presidents in Washingtion, D.C., with U.S. President Donald Trump in attendance.

Presidents Felix Tshisekedi of Congo and Paul Kagame of Rwanda met with Trump on Thursday to sign a wide-ranging deal that attempts to stop the ongoing war between the Congolese armed forces and the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group in the eastern part of Congo.

But residents said Friday the fighting has intensified in recent days, with the town of Kamanyola near the borders with Rwanda and Burundi bearing the brunt.

“People are fleeing; they are leaving the neighborhoods where the bombs are falling to go to areas considered calm, and others are fleeing towards Rwanda,” Kamanyola resident Urbain Dunia told The Associated Press by telephone Friday.

“Yesterday, we saw that agreements were signed, but we don’t see any positive impact on this situation, and that worries us,” said Samson Alimasi, also from Kamanyola. “We only see bombs falling without knowing which side they are coming from.”

Lauded by the White House as a “historic” agreement brokered by Trump, the pact between Tshisekedi and Kagame followed monthslong peace efforts by the U.S. and other partners including the African Union and Qatar. The agreement finalized a deal signed in June.

M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka blamed the Congolese Army.

“It’s the governing coalition that continues to bomb us. I’ve always told you that this regime never respects agreements. Besides, what happened in Washington doesn’t concern us,” Kanyuka said.

M23 leader Bertrand Bisimwa claimed in a post on X that the shelling reported by residents was coming from Burundian Army positions across the border. The AP was unable to independently verify the claim.

Throughout eastern Congo, residents have reported pockets of clashes. M23 and Congolese forces have repeatedly accused each other of violating the terms of the ceasefire agreed earlier this year.

The Congolese army in the region of South Kivu, where Kamanyola is located, issued a statement blaming M23 and denouncing alleged bombing of schools by M23.

Earlier this year, M23 seized Goma and Bukavu, two key cities in eastern Congo, in a major escalation of the conflict.

M23 is one of about 100 armed groups 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, officials say.

The rebels are supported by about 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, according to U.N. 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.

World Food Program Warns of Catastrophic Hunger in Cameroon Without Additional Funding

In this Nov. 6, 2017 file photo, the U.N. World Food Program’s logo at the agency’s headquarters in New York. (AP Photo/Robert Bumstead, File)

By NGALA KILLIAN CHIMTOM and WILSON MCMAKIN

1:34 PM EST, December 5, 2025

YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AP) — The World Food Program warned Friday that hunger could reach catastrophic levels in parts of Cameroon if a funding target of at least $67 million is not met.

Speaking in the capital Yaoundé, Gianluca Ferrera, the WFP representative for Cameroon and Sao Tome and Principe, said progress made in the fight against hunger could be reversed without adequate funding.

“Without this funding, most of the activities that WFP and partners have been implementing will have to stop, bringing forward a number of risks,” he said.

Cameroon is the world’s most neglected displacement crisis, according to a Norwegian Refugee Council report from earlier this year.

The country faces several severe crises: Boko Haram insurgency in the north, a separatist uprising in the two English-speaking regions, and the influx of refugees from the Central African Republic in the east. These crises, combined with climatic shocks, have created a displacement crisis and worsened the specter of hunger.

Over 3.3 million people require humanitarian assistance and more than 2 million are internally displaced according to the WFP.

Ferrera said over 52,000 children will no longer receive school meals starting in January due to a lack of funds. The WFP will also scale down operations with the risk of shutting down five of its offices in Cameroon. This will put over half a million people at risk of losing food and nutrition assistance.

“So we may go backward instead of going forward,” he said.

In 2022, the WFP received funding worth $106 million for Cameroon, but this year, the amount is merely $20 million.

These funding shortages come after the Trump administration championed an unprecedented withdrawal of U.S. foreign aid, which totaled $64 billion in 2023, the last year with comprehensive figures available.

For the Trump administration, the closure of USAID was a cause for celebration. In July, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the agency had little to show for itself since the end of the Cold War.

However, a in a Lancet medical study published in July, researchers credited USAID programs with preventing 91 million deaths in the first two decades of this century alone.

Abayomi Azikiwe, PANW Editor, Featured on Worldwide Satellite Television News Segment Spotlight Speaking on Racism and Xenophobia in the United States 

Watch this worldwide satellite television news segment Spotlight featuring Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire, discussing the openly racist and xenophobic atmosphere prevailing in the United States. 

To review the entire program just click on the following URL: Racism and xenophobia in US or here: Racism and xenophobia in the US | Urmedium

Also in the segment is Ajamu Baraka, co-founder of Black Alliance for Peace. This program aired live on Dec. 3, 2025.

The promotional language for the episode says: "The United States' president has unleashed a xenophobic attack on Somali immigrants, labeling them 'garbage.' Donald Trump told reporters they should 'go back to where they came from.'"

"The remarks came as US immigration authorities prepare for an enforcement operation targeting Minnesota's Somali community, one of the largest in the country."

Trump Continues Disinformation Campaign Against South Africa 

After boycotting the G20 Summit in Johannesburg, the United States administration is saying that President Cyril Ramaphosa is not welcome in Miami for next gathering of the economic grouping

By Abayomi Azikiwe

Editor, Pan-African News Wire

Monday December 1, 2025

Geostrategic Analysis

A recently held meeting of the annual Group of 20 (G20) Summit held in the Republic of South Africa was not attended by the United States President Donald Trump who continues to make false allegations of a “white genocide” inside the country.

In fact, it was the Dutch enslavers and colonists who landed uninvited at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652 and began a process of land theft and labor exploitation which lasted until 1994 when the first nonracial democratic elections were held bringing the African National Congress (ANC) to power.

Even some three decades after the political rise of the African majority in South Africa, the whites still control most of the land and natural wealth inside the country. If the ANC and the current Government of National Unity (GNU) wanted to level the playing field by expropriating all of the farms and mines controlled by the agribusiness interests and transnational corporations, it would clearly be justified as an act of historical reclamation. 

Trump even offered political asylum to the purportedly aggrieved white population to come to the U.S. Yet less than 100 whites took up his offer. Undoubtedly, if there was a real situation where the GNU was targeting the white population for liquidation, his offer would have gained far greater currency. (https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/trump-refugees-white-south-africans-9.6960596)

In the latest effort to spread false information on South Africa, Trump not only refused to attend the G20 Summit he illegally stated that their president would not be allowed into the U.S. for the next leadership meeting. This is the same administration which is supporting the genocide against the Palestinians and others in West Asia. The Trump White House has kidnapped and deported migrants from the U.S. to third countries which is a blatant violation of U.S. and international law.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said in his concluding statement on the G20 Summit and its proceedings over the period of the gathering that:

“It is regrettable that the United States of America, which is a founding member of the G20 and which takes over the Presidency of the G20 from South Africa in 2026, chose not to participate in the G20 Leaders’ Summit and the final meetings leading up to it. It is even more unfortunate that the reasons the US gave for its non-participation were based on baseless and false allegations that South Africa is perpetrating genocide against Afrikaners and the confiscation of land from white people. This is blatant misinformation about our country…. Earlier this week, we formally handed over the G20 Presidency for 2026 to the United States observing the appropriate diplomatic protocols. A few days ago, President Donald Trump made a statement to the effect that South Africa would not be invited to participate in the G20 in the United States.

He repeated untrue statements about genocide against Afrikaners and the confiscation of land from white people in our country. We must make it clear that South Africa is one of the founding members of the G20 and South Africa is therefore a member of the G20 in its own name and right. We will continue to participate as a full, active and constructive member of the G20. Despite the challenges and misunderstandings that have arisen, South Africa remains a firm and unwavering friend of the American people. We recall the great solidarity movement in the United States that stood by our side in our struggle for democracy and freedom.” (https://www.gov.za/news/speeches/president-cyril-ramaphosa-address-nation-conclusion-g20-south-africa-30-nov-2025)

Trump’s attacks on South Africa are indicative of their general attitude towards people of the Global South who are attempting to break away from the legacies of enslavement and colonialism imposed by imperialism. The domestic and foreign policies of the current administration have worsened the social conditions of people in the U.S. and around the world. 

Recent coalitions such as the Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa (BRICS) plus Summit are designed to foster multilateralism and replace the dominance of the U.S. dollar. BRICS Plus is considered an enemy of Washington and Wall Street since it prefigures a new system of international cooperation.

Inside the U.S., people of African descent are being attacked in many sectors of the economy and public services. It has been estimated that 300,000 African American women have lost their jobs since the ascendancy of the second non-consecutive Trump administration. (https://www.epi.org/blog/whats-behind-rising-unemployment-for-black-workers/)

The government has refused to acknowledge the actual history of African Americans, women, Latin Americans, Asians, Arabs, etc. They are threatening museums and higher educational institutions through the suspension of grant funding and the spreading of false information.

What is the G20?

The Group of 20 was founded in 1999 as a forum for the leading economies around the world. South Africa is a member as well as the African Union (AU) which represents the 55 member-states on the continent. 

Although the founders of the grouping said that it was designed to address grave economic crises which erupt periodically, it has not been able to recorrect the damage done in two of the most significant financial meltdowns in recent years. The stock market decline of 2000 was directly related to the failure to monitor the behavior of the transnational corporations which invested heavily in the emerging internet economy. Some seven to eight years later, a financial crisis related to subprime mortgage lending by banks and the theft of homes by “securitized trusts”, has never been rectified by the entities which are responsible. 

Millions of people lost their homes during the mid-to-late 2000s and beyond. Municipalities impacted by the so-called “Great Recession” still have not fully recuperated. 

The policies of the Trump administration have further institutionalized the massive transferal of wealth from the growing numbers of impoverished people, workers, farmers and youth to the ruling class for the purposes of enrichment and imperialist war. At present in the U.S., the numbers of homeless people are rising while millions are forced to stand in long lines every week to receive surplus food.

Consequently, the people of the U.S. will continue to suffer under the current administration and the overall system of capitalism. Rather than admit to the failures of the existing economic structures to provide adequate food, healthcare, housing and environmental protection to the workers and oppressed, the White House and the MAGA-dominated Congress would rather blame the masses of people for their own immiseration. 

MAGA Program Leading to Disastrous Consequences

The two states which were instrumental in the founding of the G20 were the U.S. and Canada. Yet, in the Trumpist iteration of capitalist policy, the nation of Canada has become an adversary to the White House. Trump demanded that Canada relinquish their sovereignty to U.S. imperialism. 

Greenland, which is controlled by the Kingdom of Denmark, another capitalist state like Canada, has also been targeted by the administration saying the territory should belong to the U.S. The majority of people living in Greenland are Indigenous which illustrates the racist and imperialist character of the foreign policy of Washington.

These cracks within the imperialist construct are being mirrored domestically as well. The disagreements within the MAGA Republican base around the release of the Epstein files, cuts to healthcare funding, suspensions and reductions of already inadequate SNAP benefits, the deployment of National Guard and Marines in urban areas, etc., portends much for the immediate future of electoral politics and the maintenance of social stability.  With tens of millions suffering from food insecurity, the potential for widespread social unrest is growing on a daily basis.

The ideology and practice of the fascist elites is endangering the majority of the population in the U.S. Consequently, it is imperative that the people organize and mobilize to reverse the current situation. The alternative of not aggressively opposing the existing political order can only result in the displacement and deaths of millions in the U.S. and around the world.

How Did We Get Here? Palestine and the Mandates of Deception

December 4, 2025

Palestinians detained during the British Mandate of Palestine. (Photo: via Wikimedia)

By Dr. M. Reza Behnam

The historical manipulation of international organizations by powerful states cleared the way for betrayal of the Palestinians and facilitated Zionism’s horrors and lawlessness.

Each day, we learn of Israel’s theft of yet another slice of Palestine. Piece by piece, acre by acre, the Palestinian nation has been seized by Zionist offensive forces and carved up for colonization in contravention of all treaties, accords, “peace” agreements, and the like. Meanwhile, the occupation remains accountable to no laws, treaties, or global organizations. It kills, destroys, pillages, imprisons, rapes, and tortures because it has been allowed to.

It is important to understand how the Zionist state’s wantonness and lawlessness unfolded, especially as the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) recently delegated trusteeship (authority) of Gaza to the Trump administration, essentially handing the US an internationally sanctioned “mandate” of the enclave.

It is the shameful story of the manner in which the League of Nations, created by the British and other imperialist powers, “gave” itself the “mandate” of Palestine in 1920; how 28 years later, the UN authorized a partition plan; and how in 2025 the US empire has sought, in collaboration with Israel, to assume “trusteeship” over Palestinian land in Gaza.

The Imperialist Mandate System

The British and French empires learned, through the horrors of World War I, that they

could further their colonial interests in the Middle East within the “legal” framework of international institutions, allied to their violence.

The League of Nations served that purpose when, in 1919, after the First World War, the victorious allied powers established the mandate system – traditional colonialism disguised as benevolence. The mandates, meant to be temporary, served to legalize British and French imperial gains over former Ottoman Empire colonies in the Arab Middle East.

Underlying the mandate system was the imperious racist assumption that the people who had lived for thousands of years on the land were incapable of governing themselves, and that they needed the “tutelage of an advanced nation” before achieving independence – an attitude that has yet to change.

The text of the 1919 League of Nations Covenant (Article 22) reveals the inherent racism of the imperialist powers. It stated:

“To those colonies and territories… which are inhabited by peoples not yet able to stand by themselves under the strenuous conditions of the modern world, there should be applied the principle that the well-being and development of such peoples form a sacred trust of civilization and that securities for the performance of this trust should be embodied in this Covenant….”

The British Mandate of Palestine

Betrayal of the Palestinian nation began in 1920 when the League assigned the role of mandatory power in Palestine to the British government.  The Mandate of Palestine (1922-1948) laid the foundation for the atrocities and colonial wars waged thereafter by Britain, Israel, and the US.

In total disregard for the political rights of the indigenous Arab majority (90% at that time), the British government included the text of the 1917 Balfour Declaration in its mandate, pledging to support a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine.

By formally approving the mandate in 1922, the League gave legitimacy under international law—law defined by the same imperial powers —to the Zionist project, as well as the green light to continue their aggressive expansionist pursuits. There was nothing in the mandate that gave Britain the right to give away a land that had been inhabited by another people for thousands of years.  Instead of decolonization and independence as required, the British government callously handed Palestine to European colonizers.

UN Mandate of Palestine

Palestine was, once again, betrayed when the disdainful “trusteeship” of the League of Nations was replaced with its political invalidation by the United Nations in 1947. Like its colonial predecessor, the UN—created largely by the United States—was structured to institutionalize the dominance and further the interests of major imperial powers.  After the devastation of the Second World War, the US assumed that autocratic power.

With the establishment of the UN in 1945 and the dissolution of the League of Nations in 1946, Britain transferred all of its mandate territories except Palestine to a UN Trusteeship system. Despite the rising cycle of violence and unrest, Britain continued its “trusteeship” until 1947 when it officially ceded its mandate, described as a “wasp’s nest,” to the UN.  It should be noted that all of the League of Nations mandates were ostensibly “guided” toward independence—except Palestine.

The UN solution to the Palestine “problem” was the adoption in 1947 of Resolution 181, recommending its partition into two unequal states, one Arab and one Jewish, with Jerusalem under international administration.  Although General Assembly resolutions are largely symbolic and are not legally binding on member states, Zionist leaders declared statehood in May 1948.  Resolution 181 did, consequently, sow the seeds of further Palestinian anti-colonial resistance and perpetual regional conflict and discord.

The Proposed US Mandate of Gaza

Like all previous imperial actions, the US has sought to obtain global legitimacy from international institutions to shield the Zionist colony and to impose control over the land of Palestine and the entire region. By protecting Israel, the US has sided with powers that exist in a liminal space, outside the law, no matter how dastardly their behavior.

The most recent act of US-initiated deception against the Palestinians came with the adoption by the UNSC of Resolution 2803, the so-called “Trump Gaza peace plan.” In so doing, it gave international credibility to his proposal and in effect, handed the United States a colonizing mandate over Gaza, passing the occupation and oppression of the Palestinians from Tel Aviv to Washington.

The US “guardianship” plan mirrors the legacy of colonial land theft in Palestine – seizure repackaged and rebranded as peaceful resolution.  Once again, plunder and dispossession have been shrouded in the guise of diplomatic “solutions.” By systematically sidelining the Palestinians, denying their voice, their right to self-determination and their very existence, the US is continuing the colonial dynamic—imperial policies and racism—that began with the Balfour Declaration and British mandate of Palestine.  It has not and will not succeed.

The Palestinian people and leaders cannot be fooled. Interactions and transactions, with their adversaries, forged over decades, have fostered a keen understanding of them. Despite unimaginable hardships and extreme duress, they have refused to surrender and to give up their struggle for national liberation.

Conclusion: Partnership, Not Obstruction

The historical manipulation of international organizations by powerful states cleared the way for the betrayal of the Palestinians and facilitated Zionism’s horrors and lawlessness. Although the UN has, since its birth, created a comprehensive body of international treaties, laws, condemnations, and countless reports, as well as multinational bodies, like the International Court of Justice, to provide legal interpretation and rulings, it has yet to insure justice for Palestine and its people.

What the Security Council has done, however, is allow the genocidal and rogue Zionist colony of Israel to remain a member of the world body and unaccountable for its 78-year war on Palestine.  Mirroring the US, the Council’s failure to impose restraints or consequences has cultivated within the Zionist state a sense of absolute entitlement and belief that, since October 7, 2023, it has unmitigated impunity to commit genocide, sow discord and wreak havoc across the region.

If it is to have any credibility now and in the future, the UN must take measures to redress more than a half-century of failure to fulfill its obligations and to correct the life-altering injustice it wrought with the passage of Resolution 181. One of the first steps it could and should take to restrain Israeli terrorism is to enact UNGA Resolution 377(V), “Uniting for Peace” (adopted in 1950). The resolution empowers the General Assembly to use armed force if the Security Council fails to exercise its primary responsibility of maintaining global peace and security.  Text of Section A on the “use of armed force” resolves:

“that if the Security Council, because of lack of unanimity of the permanent members, fails to exercise its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security in any case where there appears to be a threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression, the General Assembly shall consider the matter immediately with a view to making appropriate recommendations to Members for collective measures, including in the case of a breach of the peace or act of aggression the use of armed force when necessary, to maintain or restore international peace and security.”

Unquestionably, Israel is a regional and global threat, warring on Gaza, the West Bank, on its Arab neighbors and provoking confrontation with Iran. Given that the UNSC has failed its primary responsibilities of preventing genocide, maintaining peace and security, it is time for the majority—the 193 members of the General Assembly—to exert authority (two-thirds majority vote required).

In addition, the UN needs to state unequivocally that resisting occupation is a fundamental human right; it isn’t terrorism, it is survival; and that Palestinian resistance, including armed struggle, is legally reinforced under international law. Also, given Israel’s refusal to adhere to international and humanitarian law, as well as the principles of the UN Charter, the UN should determine that the Zionist colony lacks standing within the international community and should be expelled from the world body.

The Middle East and the global community are at a crossroads, and Palestine and its people are at its heart. The need for benign international intervention on behalf of the Palestinians is long overdue. The UN must acknowledge, however belatedly, its role in one of the greatest deceptions of history. And, if it is to live up to its charter and conventions, it has an obligation to work toward the liberation and self-determination of the Palestinian people, and ultimately to the restoration of their homeland.

– Dr. M. Reza Behnam is a political scientist specializing in the history, politics and governments of the Middle East. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle.

Hamas: Abu Shabab's Inevitable Fate Awaits All Traitors

By Al Mayadeen English

Hamas says Yasser Abu Shabab's killing is the fate of all collaborators, praises Palestinian clans for rejecting traitors and affirming national unity.

Hamas issued a strong statement Thursday following the killing of  Gaza's most infamous gangster, Yasser Abu Shabab, calling his death "the inevitable fate of anyone who betrays their people and homeland."

The movement praised the families and clans who had disowned Abu Shabab and withdrawn any tribal protection from him and his group, describing this stance as a crucial barrier that stands in the face of efforts aimed at fragmenting Gaza’s internal unity.

Hamas said that "Israel’s" reliance on "discredited gangs" to advance its agenda only underscores its failure in the face of Palestinian steadfastness, noting that an occupation unable to protect its own agents cannot shield those who serve it.

Israeli media, which described Abu Shabab’s killing in Rafah as "bad for Israel," reported that authorities are "investigating whether Hamas operatives infiltrated Abu Shabab’s area of control and carried out the assassination."

Israeli Army Radio noted that senior army officials had opposed the idea of forming militias that collaborate with "Israel" in Gaza, warning that “their fate is inevitable, that is, death," citing the failed South Lebanon experiment as proof. at “their fate is inevitable, that is, death," citing the failed South Lebanon experiment as proof.

Militia leader meets Kushner

According to Israeli Kan Channel, Abu Shabab had met with US envoy Jared Kushner on November 11 at the US command headquarters in southern occupied Palestine, where they discussed the role of his forces in areas outside Hamas’ control.

Abu Shabab, who the Gaza government had imprisoned on charges of theft and drug offenses, escaped from prison following an Israeli raid early in the 2023 escalation, later becoming the head of the militia collaborating with the Israeli occupation in Gaza.

Israeli Army Radio reported that "Israel" had supplied weapons to militia members, many of which were originally seized from Hamas inside Gaza, including Kalashnikov rifles, before being transferred to the militia operating mainly in the Rafah area.

Who is Abu Shabab?

Yasser Abu Shabab rose to prominence as the leader of a new armed group known as Popular Forces, operating primarily in the Rafah area of southern Gaza. The Popular Forces are widely described in international reporting and analysis as an “Israeli‑backed militia”.

Abu Shabab’s background reportedly includes previous criminal activity, including drug trafficking, charges for which he had been imprisoned before the outbreak of war. After his release (and amid the chaos of war), he positioned himself as an alternative power center to Hamas, leveraging clan and tribal connections in a context of the collapse of centralized authority.

Under his leadership, the Popular Forces have been accused of systematically looting humanitarian aid entering Gaza, particularly trucks bringing supplies into Rafah and nearby crossings. Observers argue that this looting and the armed group’s ability to operate, reportedly with weapons, vehicles, and logistical support, are only possible because of backing from “Israel", making Abu Shabab’s militia effectively a proxy force.

Israeli Occupation Shells South Syria, Advances in Quneitra

By Al Mayadeen English

4 Dec 2025

Israeli occupation forces have shelled Tal Ahmar and Koya in southern Syria, while advancing into several areas in Quneitra and Daraa.

Israeli occupation forces advanced into the Quneitra countryside and carried out artillery shelling targeting several areas in Syria, Syrian state news agency SANA reported Thursday evening.

According to the agency, an Israeli patrol consisting of three military vehicles moved toward the entrance of the western village of Samadaniyah and set up a checkpoint on the road connecting Rawadi and al-Ajraf.

Another Israeli patrol, also made up of three military vehicles, advanced along the al-Mantara Dam road in Quneitra as part of ongoing provocations in the region.

The IOF shelled Tal Ahmar in southern Quneitra and the outskirts of Koya in the Yarmouk Basin area of western Daraa with several artillery rounds.

Earlier on Thursday, an Israeli patrol of four vehicles advanced into southern Quneitra and established a checkpoint at the western Zubaida village junction, on the road linking Ruweiha village and Bir Ajam town, where it conducted inspections of passersby.

Israeli forces also advanced Thursday morning into the eastern Samadaniyah and al-Ajraf villages in northern Quneitra.

Syria faces persistent Israeli aggression

This comes amid a continuous pattern of Israeli aggression against Syria, launching airstrikes, ground incursions, and even setting up arbitrary checkpoints inside Syrian land.

On December 3, Israeli airstrikes struck the Damascus countryside, while occupation forces advanced into the Quneitra countryside in southern Syria and set up a checkpoint.

Local sources in the Damascus countryside reported that an Israeli drone carried out three consecutive airstrikes on the road linking Beit Jinn and Tell Bat al-Warda, without causing any civilian casualties.

Beit Jinn in particular has become a location of repeated Israeli violations.

On November 28, elite troops from the 55th Paratroopers Brigade of the 98th Elite Division raided the town, just a few hundred meters from the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) Zone. During their attempt to detain some of the individuals, resisting local residents opened fire, forcing a withdrawal. 

An Israeli Humvee vehicle used in the incursion was subsequently left behind. Then, according to Israeli reports, the Israeli Air Force raided the area and bombed the abandoned vehicle. 

Israeli occupation forces said they detained three individuals during the raid, but the ensuing confrontations and Israeli strikes left at least 20 people dead and 25 others injured in the Syrian village.  Thirteen Israeli troops were also injured in the confrontations.

Netanyahu ties talks with Syria to DMZ in Occupied Golan Heights

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated on December 2 that any potential negotiations with Syria would hinge on Damascus agreeing to establish a demilitarized zone stretching from the Syrian capital to the southern slopes of Mount Hermon in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

During a visit to an Israeli hospital to meet soldiers injured in recent attacks in southern Syria, Netanyahu emphasized that "Israel" considers control of the area vital for the safety of its settlers and that such conditions would be essential for any future agreement.

Netanyahu added that "Israel" expects Syria to create a buffer zone from Damascus to the surrounding areas, including the approaches and summit of Mount Hermon, noting that "Israel" maintains these territories to protect its citizens and that understanding these principles is key to reaching a possible agreement with Damascus.

Niger Accuses France's Orano of Radioactive Pollution

By Al Mayadeen English

4 Dec 2025 20:58

Niger's accusation escalates tensions over West Africa’s natural resources.

Niger has accused the French nuclear fuel company Orano of "predatory behavior" and environmental crimes, intensifying an already bitter conflict over control of the country’s uranium mining sector.

The military-led government warned that Orano could face criminal proceedings for “mass crimes” after authorities reported discovering 400 barrels of radioactive core material in Madaouela, near Arlit, a site where Orano previously operated uranium mines.

Nigerien Justice Minister Alio Daouda said that radiation levels in the area were significantly above normal, between 7 to 10 microsieverts per hour, compared to the typical 0.5 microsieverts. He also stated that two harmful substances were found that could cause respiratory problems and pose risks to nearby populations.

Orano denies role as uranium dispute escalates

Orano, which is 90% owned by the French state, said it had not received any formal notification of legal action and denied having any operational role at the site in question.

“Orano does not hold an operating license for the Madaouela site and has conducted no operations there,” the company stated in a written response to Reuters.

The dispute comes in the wake of Niger’s nationalization of the Somaïr mine in June, a move that stripped Orano of its 63.4% stake. Despite a World Bank tribunal order prohibiting Niger from accessing uranium stockpiles at the site, the government began transporting the material last week, asserting its sovereign right to do so.

Orano condemned the move as illegal and warned of serious safety and environmental concerns, saying it had no evidence that the uranium transport complied with international standards.

Sovereignty and resource control in West Africa

Niger ranks as the seventh-largest global producer of uranium, a critical fuel for nuclear power and medical treatments. France, which depends on nuclear energy for around 70% of its electricity, previously sourced about 15% of its uranium from Niger’s mines.

The takeover of the Somaïr mine reflects a broader trend in the region, where military-led governments in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Guinea are asserting increased control over natural resources, shifting away from French and Western influence.

Reuters reported that approximately 1,500 metric tons of uranium remain stockpiled at Somaïr, with potential buyers including entities from Turkey, Iran, and Russia.

SPLM-N Recaptures Strategic Area in Sudan’s South Kordofan

4 December 2025

SPLM-N commanders greets troops in the Nuba Mountains, South Kordofan, file photo

December 4, 2025 (SOUTH KORDOFAN) – The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) said on Thursday its forces had recaptured a key garrison in South Kordofan state, reversing a gain made by the Sudanese army earlier in the week.

The escalation comes as U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk warned on Thursday of intensifying violence across the Kordofan region involving the army, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and the SPLM-N.

The SPLM-N, led by Abdelaziz al-Hilu, said in a statement that its fighters had “regained control of the Mabsouta garrison” in New Tagali county after the army withdrew. The group vowed to continue its advance to “liberate all garrisons and military areas in the region.”

The army had seized Mabsouta on Tuesday. The town is considered a strategic location near Al-Murib, an SPLM-N stronghold in the Al-Abbasiya Tagali locality.

On Monday, the rebel group also reported recapturing Qardud Nyama, an area north of Al-Murib that had briefly fallen to the army.

The SPLM-N, which has fought government forces in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states since 2011, expanded its involvement in Sudan’s wider conflict in June 2023 by seizing small army garrisons.

In a significant shift, the group entered a political and military alliance in February with the RSF, which has been at war with the Sudanese army since April 2023.

97% of Khartoum Families Face Food Insecurity, Aid Groups Say

3 December 2025

Children in Khartoum and conflict zones are the first victims of malnutrition in Sudan

December 3, 2025 (KHARTOUM) – Ninety-seven per cent of households in Khartoum are facing food insecurity as the conflict-hit city struggles with a collapsing health system and soaring prices, a new assessment by international aid groups showed on Wednesday.

The report, released by Medical Teams International and Norwegian Church Aid (NCA), paints a grim picture of life in the Sudanese capital, where daily caloric intake has dropped below 1,800 calories for nearly three-quarters of the population.

“Our assessments show that 97% of households in the Khartoum region are now facing food shortages, and that daily caloric intake has dropped sharply,” said Dirk Hanekom, NCA Country Director in Sudan.

The conflict, which erupted in April 2023, has decimated the economy. With average monthly incomes falling to around $20 and inflation surpassing 500%, the report found that 72% of families are borrowing food and 69% are skipping meals to survive.

Health sector collapse

The joint assessment, conducted between August and September 2025, gathered data from over 1,250 households and revealed that only 43% of medical centres in the capital remain functional. Of those, only 14% can provide safe delivery services for pregnant women.

Supply chains have broken down, leaving 70% of facilities without antibiotics and 85% without antimalarial drugs. The collapse in services has driven Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) rates to 19.3%, up from 7.4% before the crisis.

Social and environmental crisis

The deteriorating economic situation has forced women and girls into desperate measures. The report recorded a spike in early and forced marriage rates, rising from 9% to 24%, while 17% of respondents reported engaging in “survival sex” to secure basic necessities.

Municipal services have also largely ceased. Waste collection coverage has plummeted from 68% before the war to just 9%, while open defecation has risen to 46% in some areas, creating a breeding ground for disease.

“Amid unimaginable hardship, Khartoum’s residents and returnees are fighting to survive and rebuild,” said Birhanu Waka, Country Director of Medical Teams International in Sudan, calling for urgent international funding to support the crumbling health system.

Drone Strike Kills 9 at Kindergarten Hospital in Sudan’s South Kordofan

4 December 2025

A still image taken from a video released by pro-military activists shows the Sudanese army bombing an SPLM-N camp on December 4, 2025.

December 4, 2025 (KALOGI) – At least nine people, including children, were killed on Thursday when a drone strike blamed on the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) hit a kindergarten and a hospital in the town of Kalogi, South Kordofan state, local sources and a medical group said.

The attack involved three missiles. The first struck a kindergarten, while a second was fired after residents gathered to rescue the wounded. A third missile hit the rural hospital as victims were being transported there, causing deaths, injuries, and significant structural damage, local sources told the Sudan Tribune.

The Sudan Doctors Network said the dead included four children and two women, with seven others injured.

“This bombing constitutes a serious violation of international humanitarian law,” the network said in a statement, accusing the RSF and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) of deliberately targeting civilian facilities with suicide drones.

The group blamed RSF leadership for the incident and called on the United Nations and human rights organizations to pressure the warring parties to halt attacks on schools, markets, and medical centres.

The strike occurs amid escalating violence in South Kordofan. The Sudanese army this week launched simultaneous operations in the eastern localities of Al-Abbasiya, Abu Kershola, and Habila, its first major offensive in the area since the conflict erupted in April 2023.

Clashes were also reported last week in the Kartala area of Habila between the army and the SPLM-N, which has been fighting alongside the RSF.

The two allied forces have recently intensified shelling of the besieged cities of Kadugli and Dilling, using heavy artillery and drones to target displacement centers and civilian infrastructure.

Health Minister: War Trauma Reveals Glaring Mental Healthcare Gaps in Sudan – Only 22 Psychiatrists and One Psychiatric Hospital Remain

04/12/2025 15:01 

KHARTOUM / PORT SUDAN

Women who fled from El Fasher to Tawila in North Darfur (File photo: UNHCR)

Sudan’s Health Minister, Prof Haitham Mohamed Ibrahim, has lamented that the current state of mental health during the ongoing conflict requires urgent interventions, with Sudan seeing an especially sharp increase due to the ongoing war. He called for “a comprehensive national vision for mental health and adequate budget allocations”.

Speaking to the press, the minister said mental health needs have become more visible during the war, particularly among those traumatised by attacks on civilians by the Rapid Support Forces. He underlined the importance of integrating mental-health support into basic healthcare services and training medical personnel to bridge the huge staffing gap — Sudan currently has only 22 psychiatrists.

The announcement came during a meeting of the Federal Emergency Operations Centre in Port Sudan, which reviewed the situation of internally displaced people, the challenges facing the ministry, the urgent needs in displacement camps, and the state of mental health amid the war and its horrors. Sudan’s Federal Ministry of Health reported two deaths and 81 infections from Hepatitis E, even as malaria, dengue fever and cholera rates fall across most states — with the exception of El Gezira, where case numbers continue to rise.

Mental health during the war

Health Minister Prof Haitham Mohamed Ibrahim said the current state of mental health during the ongoing conflict requires urgent interventions. He noted a global rise in mental-health disorders, with Sudan seeing an especially sharp increase, stressing the need for awareness campaigns, early detection and accessible treatment. He called for a comprehensive national vision for mental health and adequate budget allocations.

Speaking to the press, the minister said mental health needs have become more visible during the war, particularly among those traumatised by attacks on civilians by the Rapid Support Forces. He underlined the importance of integrating mental-health support into basic healthcare services and training medical personnel to bridge the huge staffing gap — Sudan currently has only 22 psychiatrists.

The minister also disclosed findings from a field assessment carried out by the Psychiatric Medicine Advisory Council in six states — Khartoum, River Nile, El Gezira, Gedaref, Kassala and Port Sudan — which examined the condition of psychiatric hospitals and treatment centres.

Psychiatric hospitals and centres out of service

He stressed the need to rehabilitate psychiatric wards and hospitals nationwide, noting that the Red Sea State hosts the country’s only functioning psychiatric hospital, which continues to operate with federal support.

The minister also announced a plan to restore services at shuttered psychiatric facilities, foremost among them Tigani El-Mahi Hospital. The plan includes supplying five electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) machines to Tigani El-Mahi, Gedaref, Madani and Port Sudan hospitals to improve patient care.

Exiled Human Rights Defenders Group Reveals Extent of Violations by SAF and RSF in Sudan War

04/12/2025 11:47 KAMPALA

A mother sits with the body of her ten-year-old daughter, Hajar Ishaq, who died of hunger and thirst as they emerged from El Fasher in search of a way out of their lives on the way to a Tawila area in North Darfur (Photo: RD Correspondent)

Report by Abdelmoneim Madibu for Radio Dabanga

Inside a dark detention room on the outskirts of Khartoum, Adam* hung suspended by his feet, his hands tied behind his back. He recounts:

“I was left hanging for a very long time… I could no longer feel my body. They kept beating me and asking about things I knew nothing about. All I had done was participate as an activist in the Resistance Committees.” He adds: “It seems my arrest was a direct result of my political activism, not for any legal reason.”

In West Darfur, Maryam* and four other women were walking along a displacement route when they were stopped by fighters from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). “They raped us one after the other,” she says. “They accused us of supporting the army. No one could protect us.” Adam’s wife still recalls the night thirty soldiers stormed their home: “They took him without saying why. Since that day, we don’t know where he is,” she says. “We heard rumours he was being held in an intelligence building known as a ‘ghost house’, but when we went to ask, they denied any knowledge of him.”

Another survivor, Musa*, recounts: “While we were in the vehicle, they ordered us to keep our heads down and beat us if we lifted them. When we arrived, they beat me with metal tools and electric cables.” He adds: “We were forced to unload trucks of cement and iron for hours, even when exhausted. There was barely any food, and the place was infested with insects.”

These accounts are only a glimpse of a series of testimonies documented in a new report compiled by the Exiled Human Rights Defenders Group. The report includes more than 15 statements from victims, survivors, and families of the forcibly disappeared inside and outside Sudan.

The report — reviewed by Radio Dabanga — paints a bleak picture of a war the United Nations has described as “a conflict of atrocities”, a cycle of abuses with no red lines and no distinction between man, woman, child, or elder. It documents arbitrary detention, torture, enforced disappearance, and sexual violence between April 2023 and August 2025, gathered through interviews with 17 individuals including survivors, eyewitnesses, and families, as well as documents, photos, and medical reports.

A war that created a climate of fear

The 23-page report states that since the outbreak of conflict on 15 April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF, the lives of millions have turned into an open tragedy:

7.7 million people have been internally displaced, 16 million face food insecurity, cities have been destroyed, the healthcare system has collapsed, and sexual violence, arbitrary arrests, and extrajudicial killings have become widespread.

Unlike previous conflicts, this war has swept across nearly the entire country. Both sides have taken and lost control of Khartoum, Kordofan, El Gezira, and Darfur. Civilians have been easy targets for violations at checkpoints, inside homes, or in secret detention centres.

Enforced disappearance on the rise

The report confirms that “ghost house” practices, notorious during the Bashir regime, have returned with even greater brutality.

Seven men testified to being detained without legal warrants, some disappearing for days or weeks.

Hamed has no idea where his father went after being taken from Wad Madani:

“They kidnapped him at night. They left no paper, no sign. He just disappeared.”

The wife of another detainee says she later heard rumours he was being held in an intelligence facility, but officials denied everything when she enquired.

Musa was arrested at a checkpoint in River Nile State. Contact with him was cut off for days before the family received a short message saying only: “He is alive.”

Torture and Forced Labour

The report documents multiple methods of torture used in detention sites run by either the army or the RSF:

suspension by the feet, beatings with cables and metal tools, electric shocks, deprivation of food and water, confinement inside airless metal containers, and forcing detainees into long hours of hard labour.

“They forced us to unload cement and iron from trucks. They beat us if we stopped even for a moment,” Musa says.

Ali recounts:

“I heard men screaming in the cells next to mine. I knew my turn would come.”

Khalid describes the detention conditions:

“The place was extremely cramped; there was nowhere to sleep. We took turns sleeping while sitting up. Food was one small piece of bread per person per day.”

Although Sudanese and international law guarantee the right to appear before a court within a set period, all interviewees confirmed they were never presented to a court nor allowed access to a lawyer.

Sexual violence: A weapon of war from Khartoum to Darfur

Perhaps the most brutal aspect of this conflict is the shocking rise in sexual violence across large parts of Sudan.

UN reports state that such crimes are often used as a weapon of war to terrorise communities.

Violations include rape, gang rape, sexual slavery, abduction, and forced marriage. Women and girls have been targeted based on ethnicity, geographic origin, or presumed allegiance.

In El-Geneina, the report documents attacks targeting Masalit women. One survivor said:

“They chose us because we are Masalit. They shouted that we support the army. They took five of us and raped us one after the other.”

Another said: “They would pick young girls and take them by force. No one could intervene — they were fully armed.”

In Khartoum and Omdurman, the report uncovered women-only detention rooms. A woman from Bahri recounts:

“They knocked on doors at dawn and took the girls. I heard the screams of my neighbours from the street.”

Another said: “Three of them raped me. They kept saying we were ‘army women’ and insulting us the entire time.”

In El Gezira and Darfur, the report describes abduction, trafficking, and sexual enslavement carried out by parties to the conflict.

In El Gezira state, families reported their daughters being abducted from roads and military checkpoints. Some were used as forced labourers for cooking and cleaning inside military camps, while also subjected to repeated rape.

One mother described the week-long disappearance of her 16-year-old daughter:

“They took my daughter. We searched everywhere. After a week, we found her dumped near the village. She was in severe shock.”

The report also notes accounts of women and girls being sold in exchange for weapons or money.

Other reports indicate sexual violence perpetrated by members of the Sudanese Armed Forces, particularly when retaking areas previously held by the RSF.

Under international law, such crimes amount to war crimes and may constitute crimes against humanity.

The psychological and physical effects on survivors are profound: severe injuries, unwanted pregnancies, social stigma, loss of status within the community, fear of movement, and chronic trauma.

Many struggle to access healthcare due to the collapse of the medical system and the scarcity of functioning hospitals.

‘Do not leave us Alone’

The report urges the international community, the African Union, and the United Nations to impose an arms embargo on both warring parties, prosecute perpetrators through the International Criminal Court, reveal the fate of the forcibly disappeared, and provide medical and psychological support for victims.

It also calls for protection of women and girls from sexual violence and the deployment of a monitoring mission to protect civilians.

The testimonies collected by the Exiled Human Rights Defenders Group show that the suffering of Sudanese people is not an unintended consequence of war, but rather the product of a systematic policy of violations and impunity — from ghost houses to displacement routes to refugee camps.

Victims continue to repeat the same plea voiced by one survivor at the end of his statement:

“Stop the war… protect civilians… hold accountable those who did this to us.”

A child sits beside a cooking stove in Tawila after his family fled El-Fasher. Source: UNICEF / Mohammed Jamal

* Names have been changed to protect identities of interviewees for security and confidentiality reasons.

UN Warns of New Wave of Atrocities in Sudan’s Kordofan Region

7:01 AM EST, December 4, 2025

CAIRO (AP) — The UN’s top human rights official issued a stark new warning Thursday about Sudan, saying he fears “a new wave of atrocities” amid a surge in fierce fighting in the Kordofan region.

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk urged “all states with influence over the parties to take immediate action to halt the fighting, and stop the arms flows that are fueling the conflict.”

Fighting between the paramilitary group the Rapid Support Forces, also known as the RSF, and the Sudanese military, who have been at war for over two years, has recently shifted to the oil-rich Kordofan region after the paramilitary group took over el-Fasher in Darfur.

According to the U.N. the conflict in Sudan has killed 40,000 people — though some rights groups say the death toll is significantly higher — and has created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis with over 14 million displaced.

The RSF’s takeover of el-Fasher, the Sudanese’s military’s last stronghold in Darfur, was marked by the executions of civilians, rapes and sexual assaults. Over 100,000 people have fled el-Fasher since October and thousands are feared trapped or believe to have been killed along the way, according to rights groups. The RSF had major gains since then.

“It is truly shocking to see history repeating itself in Kordofan so soon after the horrific events in el-Fasher,” Türk said.

“We must not allow Kordofan to become another el-Fasher,” he said.

He said over 269 people were killed in the town of Bara in North Kordofan in aerial strikes, artillery shelling, and summary executions since end of October, but that the numbers could be higher because telecommunications and internet outages have made numbers hard to verify.

He called for “the restoration of telecommunications to facilitate lifesaving assistance and to allow essential information to flow to civilians.”

His statement said an RSF drone strike on Nov. 3 killed 45 people, mostly women, in a tent in el-Obeid in North Kordofan, and that Sudanese military aerial strikes on Saturday killed at least 48 people, mostly civilians, in Kauda, South Kordofan.

The RSF was run out of Sudan’s capital Khartoum earlier in the year, and for months the fighting has been concentrated in oil-rich Kordofan, a region in southern and central Sudan that controls vital supply lines.

The battle is now centered around the city of Babanusa in West Kordofan province.

The RSF said in a statement Monday that the group took the Sudanese army’s 22nd division headquarters in Babanusa and on Tuesday released videos which it said shows of their fighters in the army headquarters. The Associated Press could not independently verify the statement. The Sudanese military has not commented.

The Sudan Doctor’s network, a group of Sudanese medical professionals across the northeastern African country, warned Wednesday that the clashes are threatening the fate of dozens of women and children who sought refuge in the army headquarters in the last year calling for their protection and to be transferred to safety “without harming them or detaining them arbitrarily on accusations of having relatives in the army.”

It also called for access to the city to provide humanitarian assistance.

Türk also warned that Kadugli and Dilling — towns in South Kordofan gripped by famine — are at particular risk after being under siege by the RSF and allied groups.

The UN migration agency estimates that over 44,000 people have fled the Kordofan region due to the escalation of fighting.

As Conflict Grips Sahel, Herders Are Pivoting to An Unusual City Life

By OPE ADETAYO

8:42 AM EST, December 3, 2025

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — Nouhoun Sidibè was a herder, like his father and grandfather, and took pride in his identity as a pastoralist. That’s until the day armed men descended on his home in northern Burkina Faso and seized all his livestock.

Within minutes on that day in 2020, the father of four lost everything.

For the next three years, he wandered from town to town looking for jobs in the landlocked West African nation that faces growing attacks by armed groups, with some of the fighters linked to al-Qaida. He had no luck, and decided to try neighboring Ivory Coast in 2023.

“I feel very, very lost. I was a chief, and now I have come here and I am working for someone else,” the 49-year-old Sidibè told The Associated Press at a stockyard in a swampy wasteland on the outskirts of Abidjan, the Ivory Coast capital. He and other migrants live in a cramped space with no bathroom or kitchen.

The sprawling conflict in the Sahel, a vast semi-arid stretch south of the Sahara desert, has sent thousands of herders to safer areas on the fringes of Abidjan, where they struggle to adapt to city life with rising costs and soaring unemployment. Sidibè now gets by helping cattle sellers vaccinate their herds.

He said the city was his only option: “You can’t keep livestock here, but since I didn’t have any anymore, there was nothing stopping me from coming.”

That could change. This month, Ivory Coast said it was strengthening security along its northern borders after noting “several unusual flows of refugees from Mali.”

Stripped of identity, too

Countries in the Sahel have been fighting armed groups for years, starting with unrest in northern Mali in 2012 that has spread to landlocked Burkina Faso and Niger.

The struggle is reshaping West Africa, with a spike in migration into seaside countries like Ivory Coast.

Experts say armed groups target herders and seize livestock for various reasons, including to finance their operations and exert control over communities. Herding is a major occupation in the Sahel, where the changing climate also creates tensions with struggling farmers — another driver of migration.

Ivory Coast, with its status as a regional hub and steady economic growth, has long been a destination for migrants, according to analysts. But that migration has jumped in recent years after military juntas took power in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger and took up the fight against armed groups.

Between January and March of this year, more than 72,000 people fled violence in Burkina Faso and Mali to Ivory Coast, according to data by UNICEF. That’s up from the 54,000 recorded by the International Organization for Migration between April 2021 and March 2024.

Nomadic herders are among the most vulnerable people fleeing. They are often ethnic Fulani, Muslims who have faced accusations of sympathizing with or being recruited by armed groups. Many reject those claims and point out they’re targeted by the fighters, too.

“There is no Fulani without his cattle, that is his identity,” Amadou Sonde, secretary general of the Federation of Burkinabè Fulani Associations in Ivory Coast, told the AP.

Sonde said he has been receiving thousands of people from Burkina Faso and Mali and helping them find jobs, a responsibility that has grown dramatically in recent years. The jobs include drivers, shop assistants and factory workers, often a world away from the pastoral life. Few have completed schooling.

“With the insecurity surrounding livestock and tensions between farmers and herders, there has been a trend among Fulani herd owners to switch to land acquisition, real estate or shops,” said Yao Kouamé, a research professor in sociology at Ivory Coast’s University of Bouakè.

‘The crisis is far from over’

Tanané Ibrahim fled his village in Burkina Faso after armed militants came for his herd of sheep and cattle three years ago. He doesn’t plan to return.

“What is the point? The entire population has left for the city. The village is deserted,” the 42-year-old said. “The (militants) did not even leave the chickens.”

He was surrounded by fellow migrants by the wasteland outside Abidjan where they tend to other people’s herds. They huddled as he brewed tea in small tin cups on a charcoal stove.

Experts say the conflict in the Sahel is worsening and there is no chance of the migrants returning home soon.

“The military juntas in the central Sahel states are becoming increasingly overwhelmed by assaults from multiple armed groups. The crisis is far from over,” said Oluwole Ojewale, a Senegal-based conflict expert at the Institute of Security Studies.

Like Sidibè, Ibrahim said he is struggling to adapt to city life and learn new skills to survive. He spoke with nostalgia about his nomadic past.

“It was total freedom. You’re with your animals, you can rest,” he said. “In the city, everything is crazy expensive. You have to work hard to get paid, and when you pay for what you need to live, you have nothing left, so you have to go back to work.”

Trump Stages Another Fake 'Peace Deal' for the African Great Lakes

By AAMER MADHANI, CHINEDU ASADU and RUTH ALONGA

4:00 PM EST, December 4, 2025

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump praised the leaders of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda for their courage as they signed onto a deal on Thursday aimed at ending the conflict in eastern Congo and opening the region’s critical mineral reserves to the U.S. government and American companies.

The moment offered Trump — who has repeatedly and with a measure of exaggeration boasted of brokering peace in some of the world’s most entrenched conflicts — another chance to tout himself as a dealmaker extraordinaire on the global stage and make the case that he’s deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize. The U.S. leader hasn’t been shy about his desire to receive the honor.

“It’s a great day for Africa, a great day for the world,” Trump said shortly before the leaders signed the pact. He added, “Today, we’re succeeding where so many others have failed.”

Trump welcomed Presidents Felix Tshisekedi of Congo and Paul Kagame of Rwanda, as well as several officials from other African nations who traveled to Washington to witness the signing, in the same week he contemptuously derided the war-torn country of Somalia and said he did he did not want immigrants from the East African nation in the U.S.

Lauded by the White House as a “historic” agreement brokered by Trump, the pact between Tshisekedi and Kagame follows monthslong peace efforts by the U.S. and partners, including the African Union and Qatar, and finalizes an earlier deal signed in June.

But the Trump-brokered peace is precarious.

The Central African nation of Congo has been battered by decadeslong fighting with more than 100 armed groups, the most potent being the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels. The conflict escalated this year, with M23 seizing the region’s main cities of Goma and Bukavu in an unprecedented advance, worsening a humanitarian crisis that was already one of the world’s largest, with millions of people displaced.

‘We are still at war’

Fighting, meanwhile, continued this week in the conflict-battered region with pockets of clashes reported between the rebels and Congolese soldiers, together with their allied forces. Trump, a Republican, has often said that his mediation has ended the conflict, which some people in Congo say isn’t true.

Still, Kagame and Tshisekedi offered a hopeful tone as they signed onto to the agreement.

“No one was asking President Trump to take up this task. Our region is far from the headlines,” Kagame said. “But when the president saw the opportunity to contribute to peace, he immediately took it.”

“I do believe this day is the beginning of a new path, a demanding path, yes. Indeed, quite difficult,” Tshisekedi said. “But this is a path where peace will not just be a wish, an aspiration, but a turning point.”

Indeed, analysts say Thursday’s deal also isn’t expected to quickly result in peace. A separate peace deal has been signed between Congo and the M23.

“We are still at war,” said Amani Chibalonza Edith, a 32-year-old resident of Goma, eastern Congo’s key city seized by rebels early this year. “There can be no peace as long as the front lines remain active.”

But Trump predicted with the signing the countries would leave behind “decades of violence and bloodshed” and “begin a new year of harmony and cooperation.”

“They spent a lot of time killing each other,” Trump said. “And now they’re going to spend a lot of time hugging, holding hands and taking advantage of the United States of America economically like every other country does.”

Tshisekedi and Kagame did not shake hands and barely looked at each other during the roughly 50-minute signing ceremony.

Rare earth minerals

Thursday’s pact will also build on a Regional Economic Integration Framework previously agreed upon that officials have said will define the terms of economic partnerships involving the three countries.

Trump also announced the United States was signing bilateral agreements with the Congo and Rwanda that will unlock new opportunities for the United States to access critical minerals -- deals that will benefit all three nations’ economies.

“And we’ll be involved with sending some of our biggest and greatest U.S. companies over to the two countries,” Trump said. He added, “Everybody’s going to make a lot of money.”

The region, rich in critical minerals, has been of interest to Trump as Washington looks for ways to circumvent China to acquire rare earths, essential to manufacturing fighter jets, cell phones and more. China accounts for nearly 70% of the world’s rare earth mining and controls roughly 90% of global rare earths processing.

Trump hosted the leaders on Thursday morning for one-on-one meetings at the White House as well as a three-way conversation before the signing ceremony at the Institute of Peace in Washington, which the State Department announced on Wednesday has been rebranded “the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace.”

Later Thursday, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce will host an event that will bring together American business leaders and the Congolese and Rwandan delegations to discuss potential investment opportunities in critical minerals, energy and tourism.

Ongoing clashes

In eastern Congo, meanwhile, residents reported pockets of clashes and rebel advances in various localities. Both the M23 and Congolese forces have accused each other of violating the terms of the ceasefire agreed earlier this year. Fighting has also continued in the central plateaus across South Kivu province.

The hardship in the aftermath of the conflict has worsened following U.S. funding cuts that were crucial for aid support in the conflict.

In rebel-held Goma, which was a regional hub for security and humanitarian efforts before this year’s escalation of fighting, the international airport is closed. Government services such as bank operations have yet to resume and residents have reported a surge in crimes and in the prices of goods.

“We are waiting to see what will happen because so far, both sides continue to clash and attack each other,” said Moise Bauma, a 27-year-old student in rebel-held Bukavu city.

Both Congo and Rwanda, meanwhile, have touted American involvement as a key step towards peace in the region.

“We need that attention from the administration to continue to get to where we need to get to,” Makolo said. “We are under no illusion that this is going to be easy. This is not the end but it’s a good step.”

Conflict’s cause

The conflict can be traced to the aftermath of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, where Hutu militias killed between 500,000 and 1 million ethnic Tutsi, as well as moderate Hutus and Twa, Indigenous people. When Tutsi-led forces fought back, nearly 2 million Hutus crossed into Congo, fearing reprisals.

Rwandan authorities have accused the Hutus who fled of participating in the genocide and alleged that elements of the Congolese army protected them. They have argued that the militias formed by a small fraction of the Hutus are a threat to Rwanda’s Tutsi population.

Congo’s government has said there can’t be permanent peace if Rwanda doesn’t withdraw its support troops and other support for the M23 in the region. Rwanda, on the other hand, has conditioned a permanent ceasefire on Congo dissolving a local militia that it said is made up of the Hutus and is fighting with the Congolese military.

U.N. experts have said that between 3,000 and 4,000 Rwandan government forces are deployed in eastern Congo, operating alongside the M23. Rwanda denies such support, but says any action taken in the conflict is to protect its territory.

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Asadu reported from Abuja, Nigeria, and Madhani from Washington. Justin Kabumba contributed to this report from Goma, Congo.

As Trump Hosts Congo and Rwanda’s Leaders for Peace Deal, Here’s What to Know About the Conflict

By MARK BANCHEREAU

11:58 AM EST, December 4, 2025

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump is hosting the leaders of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda on Thursday for a deal-signing aimed at ending the conflict in Congo.

The Central African nation has been battered by decades-long fighting with more than 100 armed groups, the most potent being the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels. In a major escalation earlier this year, M23 seized Goma and Bukavu, two key cities in eastern Congo.

Peace efforts mediated by Qatar and the United States this year have failed to put an end the conflict.

In recent weeks, residents reported pockets of clashes and rebel advances in various localities. Both the M23 and Congolese forces have often accused each other of violating the terms of a ceasefire agreed to earlier this year.

Here is what to know about the conflict:

Congo and neighboring Rwanda have long accused each other of supporting various rival armed groups in eastern Congo, a mineral-rich region and major hub for humanitarian aid.

The conflict in Congo can be traced to the aftermath of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, where Hutu militias killed between 500,000 and 1 million ethnic Tutsi, as well as moderate Hutus and Twa, Indigenous people.

When Tutsi-led forces fought back, nearly 2 million Hutus crossed into Congo, fearing reprisals. Tensions between Hutus and Tutsis have repeatedly flared in Congo since then.

Rwandan authorities have accused the Hutus who fled of participating in the genocide and alleged that elements of the Congolese army protected them. They have argued that the militias formed by a small fraction of the Hutus are a threat to Rwanda’s Tutsi population.

The M23 group is made up primarily of ethnic Tutsis who failed to integrate into the Congolese army and led a failed insurgency against the Congolese government in 2012. It was then dormant for a decade, until its resurgence in 2022.

M23 claims to defend Tutsi and Congolese of Rwandan origin from discrimination. Critics say it’s a pretext for Rwanda to obtain economic and political influence over eastern Congo.

Congo, the United States and U.N. experts accuse Rwanda of backing the M23, which had hundreds of members in 2021. Now, according to the U.N., the group has around 6,500 fighters.

While Rwanda denies that claim, it acknowledged last year that it has troops and missile systems in eastern Congo, allegedly to safeguard its security. U.N. experts estimate there are up to 4,000 Rwandan forces in Congo.

A mineral-rich region

Access to Congo’s critical minerals used in electronics has played a central role in the fighting. The country is the world’s largest producer of cobalt, a metal essential for lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles, smartphones and other devices.

Congo is also a leading supplier of coltan, the mineral used to make tantalum, which is an essential for component in fighter jets, laptops and other electronics. The country produced about 40% of the world’s coltan in 2023, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Australia, Canada and Brazil are among the other major producers.

Although Rwanda says its involvement in Congo is to protect its territory and punish those connected to the 1994 genocide, its interests are also tied to the valuable minerals.

A team of U.N. experts said in a report in July that Rwanda was benefiting from minerals “fraudulently” exported from areas under the control of the M23 group. Rwanda denied this.

China and the United States also have financial interests in Congolese mines.

Critical minerals are of interest to Trump as Washington looks for ways to circumvent China to acquire rare earth elements. China accounts for nearly 70% of the world’s rare earth mining and controls roughly 90% of global rare earths processing.

Little of the region’s wealth has trickled down to Congolese citizens, with 60% out of its 100 million residents living below the poverty line. Instead, fighting over natural resources has destabilized the country.

MARK BANCHEREAU

Banchereau covers 22 countries across West and Central Africa for The Associated Press. He is based in Dakar, Senegal.