Members of shuttered Rwandan churches gather in homes as leaders quietly protest
Kigali, Rwanda RNS On a recent Sunday morning, a dozen people congregated in a home in the Nyabisindu neighbourhood of Rwanda’s capital to ponder their next steps after the government shuttered numerous churches for noncompliance with health and safety regulations. “We are appalled by the government’s denial of our freedom to worship our God,” said […]
Essay: In the DRC fighting with rebels in the country’s east has intensified, sparking fears of a wider war
Scholar DALE PANKHURST explains the ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo in an article first published on The Conversation…
Quick facts – Countries with confirmed cases of new mpox variant
Reuters The World Health Organization declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years, following an outbreak of the viral infection in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has spread to neighbouring countries. A new form of the virus, clade Ib, triggered global concern as it seems to be spreading […]
WHO declares mpox a global public health emergency for second time in two years
Reuters The World Health Organization on Wednesday declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years, following an outbreak of the viral infection in Democratic Republic of Congo that has spread to neighbouring countries. An emergency committee met earlier on Wednesday to advise WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on whether […]
Rwanda’s President Kagame sworn in to extend lengthy tenure
Kigali, Rwanda Reuters Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame was sworn into office on Sunday for a five-year term, after a landslide win in last month’s election extended his near quarter century in office. The 66-year-old former rebel leader won the July poll with 99.18 per cent of the vote, after eight other candidates including his most […]
Rwanda government shuts more than 5,000 churches, claiming code violations
Nairobi, Kenya RNS In a crackdown, Rwanda has shut down more than 5,600 places of worship over failure to meet the conditions required for operation. Churches, mosques, caves and tents affected by the shutdown were found to have fallen short of the standard requirements set by 2018 laws, according to officials conducting the two-week process […]
Essay: Rich countries are paying poorer ones to manage their refugee crises – three reasons this is dangerous
Scholars of refugee rights and public policy, ALI BHAGAT and GENEVIEVE LEBARON say, in an article first published on The Conversation, that offshoring asylum seekers is cruel, inefficient and overall bad migration policy…
Surviving Rwanda: God, remembrance and reconciliation on the genocide’s 30th anniversary
MARÍA TERESA HERNÁNDEZ, of Associated Press, speaks to survivors, now in Canada, of the 1994 genocide…
DR Congo government says M23 rebels, Rwanda disrupting local air traffic
Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo Reuters Democratic Republic of Congo’s government on Monday accused M23 rebels and Rwandan forces backing them of sending false navigation signals to disrupt air traffic over the country’s eastern North Kivu province, where Congo’s army is locked in fighting with the M23. The Tutsi-led M23 have been waging a fresh […]
Essay: Irregular, not illegal – what the UK Government’s language reveals about its new approach to immigration
GILLIAN MCFADYEN, in an article first published on The Conversation, looks at how the UK’s new Labour government is changing immigration policy…