Congress talks Rwanda sanctions as VP Vance seizes Congo file Kigali faces mounting pressure in Washington as Trump’s flagship peace deal for eastern Congo falters, prompting bipartisan calls for sanctions and deeper scrutiny of Rwanda’s role in the conflict.

#Egypt to adopt restrictions on children’s social media use to fight ‘digital chaos’.

The House of Representatives said in a statement late Sunday that it will work on a legislation to regulate children’s use of social media and “put an end to the digital chaos our children are facing, and which negatively impacts their future.”

Legislators will consult with the government and expert bodies to draft a law to “protect Egyptian children from any risks that threaten its thoughts and behavior,” the statement said.

The statement came after President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi on Saturday urged his government and lawmakers to consider adopting legislation restricting children’s use of social media, “until they reach an age when they can handle it properly.”

The president’s televised comments urged his government to look at other countries including Australia and the United Kingdom that are working on legislations to “restrict or ban” children from social media.

About 50 per cent of children under 18 in Egypt use social media platforms where they are likely exposed to harmful content, cyberbullying and abuse, according to a 2024 report by the National Center for Social and Criminological Research, a government-linked think tank.

In December, Australia became the first country to ban social media for children younger than 16. The move triggered fraught debates about technology use, privacy, child safety and mental health and has prompted other countries to consider similar measures.

The British government said it will consider banning young teenagers from social media while tightening laws designed to protect children from harmful content and excessive screen time.

French President Emmanuel Macron urged his government to fast-track the legal process to ensure a social media ban for children under 15 can be enforced at the start of the next school year in September.

By Samy Magdy, The Associated Press

#UN report declares global state of ‘water bankruptcy’. The world is entering an era of “global water bankruptcy” with rivers, lakes and aquifers depleting faster than nature can replenish them, a United Nations research institute said on Tuesday.

It argues that decades of overuse, pollution, environmental destruction and climate pressure had pushed many water systems so beyond the point of recovery that a new classification was required.

“Water stress and water crisis are no longer sufficient descriptions of the world’s new water realities,” read a new report by the UN University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH).

These terms were “framed as alerts about a future that could still be avoided” when the world had already moved into a “new phase”, it said.

The report proposes the alternative term “water bankruptcy” -- a state in which long-term water use exceeds resupply and damages nature so severely that previous levels cannot realistically be restored.

This was reflected in the shrinking of the world’s large lakes, the report said, and the growing number of major rivers failing to reach the sea for parts of the year.

The world has lost enormous proportions of wetlands, with roughly 410 million hectares -- nearly the size of the European Union -- disappearing over the past five decades.

Groundwater depletion is another sign of this bankruptcy.

Around 70 percent of major aquifers used for drinking water and irrigation show long-term declines with rising “day zero” crises -- when demand exceeds supply -- the “urban face” of this new reality.

Climate change was compounding the problem, spurring the loss of more than 30 percent of the world’s glacier mass since 1970 and the seasonal meltwater relied upon by hundreds of millions of people.
‘Be honest’

The consequences were visible on every inhabited continent, but not every country individually was water bankrupt, UNU-INWEH director and report author Kaveh Madani told AFP.

Madani said the phenomenon was a “warning” that a policy rethink was essential.

Instead of approaching water scarcity as something temporary, governments must “be honest” and “file for bankruptcy today rather than delaying this decision”, he said.

“Let’s adopt this framework. Let’s understand this. Let us recognize this bitter reality today before we cause more irreversible damages,” Madani added.

The report draws on existing data and statistics and does not provide an exhaustive record of all water problems, but attempts instead to redefine the situation.

It is based on a peer-reviewed report, soon to be published in the journal Water Resources Management, that will formally propose a definition of “water bankruptcy”.

The report “captures a hard truth: the world’s water crisis has crossed a point of no return”, Tim Wainwright, chief executive of the WaterAid charity, wrote in a statement.

Some #scientists not involved in the report welcomed the spotlight on water but warned that the #global picture varied considerably and a blanket declaration might overlook progress being made at a local level.

The US has accused a South African flight academy of aiding China’s military by exporting US-origin technology and #NATO-level expertise.

More than 100 dead in torrential rain and floods across southern Africa,

South Africa has reported at least 19 deaths in two of its northern provinces following heavy rains that began last month and led to severe flooding.

Tourists and staff members were evacuated this week by helicopter from flooded camps to other areas in the renowned Kruger National Park, which is closed to visitors while parts of it are inaccessible because of washed out roads and bridges, South Africa’s national parks agency said.

In neighboring Mozambique, the Institute for Disaster Management and Risk Reduction said 103 people had died in an unusually severe rainy season since late last year. Those deaths were from various causes including electrocution from lightning strikes, drowning in floods, infrastructure collapse caused by the severe weather and cholera, the institute said.

The worst flooding in Mozambique has been in the central and southern regions, where more than 200,000 people have been affected, thousands of homes have been damaged, while tens of thousands face evacuation, the World Food Program said.

Zimbabwe’s disaster management agency said that 70 people have died and more than 1,000 homes have been destroyed in heavy rains since the beginning of the year, while infrastructure including schools, roads and bridges collapsed.

Flooding has also hit the island nation of Madagascar off the coast of Africa as well as Malawi and Zambia. Authorities in Madagascar said 11 people died in floods since late November.

The United States’ Famine Early Warning System said flooding was reported or expected in at least seven southern African nations, possibly due to the presence of the La Nina weather phenomenon that can bring heavy rains to parts of southeastern Africa.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa visited flood-stricken areas in the northern Limpopo province on Thursday and said that region had received around 400 millimetres (more than 15 inches) of rain in less than a week. He said that in one district he visited “there are 36 houses that have just been wiped away from the face of the Earth. Everything is gone ... the roofs, the walls, the fences, everything.”

The flooding occurred in the Limpopo and Mpumalanaga provinces in the north, and the South African Weather Service issued a red-level 10 alert for parts of the country for Friday, warning of more heavy rain and flooding that poses a threat to lives and could cause widespread infrastructure damage.

The huge Kruger wildlife park, which covers some 22,000 square kilometres (7,722 square miles) across the Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces, has been impacted by severe flooding and around 600 tourists and staff members have been evacuated from camps to high-lying areas in the park, Kruger National Park spokesperson Reynold Thakhuli said.

He couldn’t immediately say how many people there were in the park, which has been closed to visitors after several rivers burst their banks and flooded camps, restaurants and other areas. The parks agency said precautions were being taken and no deaths or injuries had been reported at Kruger.

The South African army sent helicopters to rescue other people trapped on the roofs of their houses or in trees in northern parts of the country, it said. An army helicopter also rescued border post officers and police officers stranded at a flooded checkpoint on the South Africa-Zimbabwe border.

Southern Africa has experienced a series of extreme weather events in recent years, including devastating cyclones and a scorching drought that caused a food crisis in parts of a region that often suffers food shortages.

The World Food Program said more than 70,000 hectares (about 173,000 acres) of crops in Mozambique, including staples such as rice and corn, have been waterlogged in the current flooding, worsening food insecurity for thousands of small-scale farmers who rely on their harvests for food.

___

Michelle Gumede And Gerald Imiray, The Associated Press

Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa. AP writers Charles Mangwiro in Maputo, Mozambique, and Farai Mutsaka in Harare, Zimbabwe, contributed to this report.

ISIS-linked fighters kill 14 in DR Congo attack.

A militia linked to the Islamic State group staged a simultaneous attack on three villages in the Democratic Republic of Congo, killing at least 14 people, the military and local sources said Friday.

The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) carried out the attacks overnight within a seven-kilometre radius (4.3 miles) in the northwest of North Kivu province.

The three villages were attacked simultaneously in an “ADF incursion,” said local leader Macaire Sivikunula.

Villagers panicked as gunfire rang out between 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm, he said, adding that 15 people were killed and 13 houses burned.

Residents who spoke with AFP confirmed the deadly attack.

The Congolese army said two of its soldiers were killed.

“There was an incursion by ADF terrorists in the Bapera sector... the death toll is 14, including 12 civilians and two soldiers,” Lieut. Marc Elongo, the army spokesperson in the region, told AFP.

The ADF, originally composed of former Ugandan rebels, has been entrenched in northeastern DRC since the mid-1990s, and has killed thousands of civilians.

Ugandan soldiers have been deployed alongside the Congolese army since 2021 to fight the ADF but the joint operation has failed to end the violence.

The #ADF primarily attacks defenceless civilians before retreating into the vast forests that cover the region before reinforcements arrive.

Multiple gunmen open fire at a South African pub, killing 9 and wounding 10.


BEKKERSDAL, South Africa — Nine people have died and at least 10 others were wounded after a group of gunmen carried out a shooting at a South African pub during the early hours of Sunday, authorities said.

The incident occurred just before 1 a.m. in the township of Bekkersdal which is located 46 kilometers (28 miles) west of Johannesburg. It is the second mass shooting in South Africa in three weeks.

About 12 unknown suspects in a white minibus and a silver sedan opened fire at pub patrons at KwaNoxolo tavern, in the Tambo section of Bekkersdal and continued to shoot randomly as they fled the scene, according to police.

“Some victims were randomly shot in the streets by unknown gunmen,” the police said of the incident that left nine people dead and 10 hospitalized.

Maj. Gen. Fred Kekana, the acting provincial commissioner of Gauteng, told the AP at the scene that the gunmen, some of whom wore balaclavas, had one AK-47 rifle and several 9-millimeter pistols.

Police did not release information about the victims, but police spokesperson Brigadier Brenda Muridili confirmed that an e-hailing driver was among those caught in the crossfire. She said the driver had just dropped off a client.

“He was shot and killed,” she told The Associated Press.

The motive for the shooting is unknown. A manhunt for the suspects in the multiple gunshot event has been initiated by Gauteng Serious and Violent Crime Investigations in collaboration with the Crime Detection Tracing Unit.

There have been several mass shootings at bars -- sometimes called shebeens or taverns in South Africa -- in recent years, including a mass shooting carried out by multiple suspects in an unlicensed bar near the South African capital that left at least 12 people dead and 13 injured earlier this month.

Another shooting killed 16 people in the Johannesburg township of Soweto in 2022. On the same day, four people were killed in a mass shooting at a bar in another province.

The second-largest political party in South Africa, the Democratic Alliance, called for a special task force to probe the two recent shootings in the province.

Surrounded by abandoned mine shafts, the Bekkersdal region is notorious for illicit mining operations, which have led to serious social problems, including gang violence and the proliferation of illegal firearms.

With almost 26,000 homicides in 2024, or more than 70 per day on average, South Africa has one of the highest homicide rates in the world. Firearms are by far the leading cause of death in homicides. Although the nation of 62 million has comparatively stringent gun control laws, officials say many murders are carried out using illegal firearms.

Gumede reported from #Johannesburg.

Michelle Gumede And Alfonso Nqunjana, The Associated Press

9 #African migrants died in freezing temperatures near #Morocco-Algeria border.

The bodies of seven men and two women were found in Ras Asfour, a remote mountainous Moroccan area known for its plunging temperatures in winter, the Moroccan Association of Human Rights said Saturday in a statement.

“They died from extreme cold, which their exhausted bodies could not withstand,” it said.

One of the migrants was from Guinea, the group said. The rest were from various countries throughout sub-Saharan Africa, though specific information about their identities remains unknown. Morocco’s Interior Ministry did not immediately respond to questions about the individuals who died.

Every year, thousands of migrants seeking better living conditions attempt to crossing illegal from North Africa to Europe, including from Morocco to Spain. Some aim for Ceuta and Melilla – two tiny Spanish enclaves in North Africa – by scaling border fences or swimming. Others attempt to reach Spain’s Canary Islands, taking a longer route through the Atlantic Ocean.

The North African nation’s security forces regularly report blocking such attempts.

Throughout Europe and Africa, North Africa is known as a transit point for migrants en route to Europe’s southern border.

Security agreements with the European Union have strengthen authorities’ ability to deter migration in North Africa. Many who originally intended to migrate to Europe spend months or years working informally — doing construction, agriculture or domestic work. Others rely on aid while waiting for opportunities to cross the Mediterranean Sea or Atlantic Ocean.

The Moroccan Association of Human Rights statement said six of the bodies were buried last week and two were kept at the request of their relatives. “We will make sure that this case is followed up on,” it said.

The Moroccan Organization of Human Rights — a different association — earlier this week called for the humanization of borders, the decriminalization of illegal migration and residence, and the creation of a mechanism to track missing migrants to prevent tragedies like the one in Ras Asfour.

Akram Oubachir, The Associated Press

‘They said they’d shoot us’: #Nigerian child recalls how he was taken in mass school abduction.


Onyeka Chieme, an elementary school student, waited with bated breath as the loud thuds got nearer. Upon seeing men armed with guns, he recalled jumping through the window with some friends. The gunmen gave chase on motorbikes, shooting into the air and startling him and the others to a halt.

“They said if we ran, they would shoot us,” Chieme told The Associated Press during a visit to his family in Papiri in the north-central Niger State. They watched in horror as the gunmen set fire to a statue of Mary and a Nigerian flag before carting the children away on motorbikes and in buses.

Chieme is one of the 303 schoolchildren — many of them between 10 and 17 years old — and 12 teachers abducted from the school on Nov. 21 in one of the country’s biggest mass school abductions. The attack came days after 25 students were abducted in similar circumstances in the neighboring Kebbi state.

Fifty of the Niger State students escaped in the hours that followed the attack and more than two weeks after, Chieme was freed on Sunday together with 99 others. However, 153 are still held with the teachers, among them Chieme’s brother.

The Nigerian government did not say how they were released or whether any suspect had been arrested. Arrests are rare and ransom payments common in such cases, and authorities have provided vague information about rescue efforts.

“On the first night we got there, I thought they were going to kill us,” Chieme said from his home as his parents watched. “But their leader said we should not fear, it is just money that they wanted. If they paid the money, they would release everyone to go home.”
Separated and some were blindfolded

Chieme described harrowing experiences during the more than two weeks in the bush, where the abducted students and staff were forced to sleep in the open. They were separated, he said, with the older ones blindfolded and their hands tied.

Every day, they woke up on the stubby grass with food and water from a nearby river. Those who did not keep quiet were often beaten, and guns were never out of sight, he said.

Occasionally, aircraft would fly above them, and the gunmen would instruct them to hide beneath trees to avoid being discovered.

“They don’t want the airplanes to see us,” Chieme said, referring to Nigerian military jets that officials said were searching forests for the children. Analysts say the gangs use captives as shields to avoid being bombarded.

Nigeria fights multiple armed groups operating across the country. They include deadly religious sects, including Boko Haram and its splinter group, Islamic State West Africa Province, as well as amorphous groups popularly called bandits who ride en masse on motorbikes to attack communities and kidnap people for ransom.

After attacks, communities and families pay ransoms to the bandits, sometimes millions of naira (thousands of dollars). No group has claimed responsibility for the Papiri abduction.

On the day of their release, Chieme said the students were asked to form a queue. Some of them, terrified that it meant a punishment, ran to the back of the line. The gunmen counted the first 100 students, took them out of the bush, before transferring them onto military buses.

The other 153 and the teachers were left behind, including his brother, he said. Their fates are not known.

AP could not independently verify his account.
Families are increasingly worried about their children’s safety

School abductions have defined the security crises in Nigeria, where armed groups have targeted schools to attract more ransom and attention.

Nearly 1,800 schoolchildren have been abducted in almost a dozen school attacks since 2014, when Boko Haram extremists made global headlines after kidnapping 276 girls from their school in the northeastern Chibok village.

Analysts say the Nigerian government negotiates with armed groups and pays ransom for the release of the children to temper outrage. Officials have not admitted to ransom payments.

“When you do that (pay ransoms), it encourages the abductions to continue,” Aisha Yesufu, an activist and co-convener of the Bring Back Our Girls movement. The group is still seeking the release of nearly 100 Chibok girls held since the 2014 attack.

The abductions have added another layer of worry to Nigeria’s underfunded education sector. The country has the world’s highest out-of-school children population. One in every five out-of-school children is in Nigeria, according to UNICEF.

In Papiri and other parts of Nigeria affected by insecurity, families are becoming reluctant to send their children to school.
Mixed feelings of joy and anguish

Chieme’s return has left his family with mixed feelings. The parents are happy he is back, but continue to worry about his brother still in the bush.

“If he dies, I don’t think I can survive it,” said Anthony Chieme, his father.

“It is better my child dies in my room where I see his corpse and his grave than die in the hands of bandits in the bush where you see nothing.”

Precious Njikonye, another parent, said she often visited the school since last month’s attack, hoping to see her son one day. This week, her hope materialized when he was among the 100 freed on Sunday and they were reunited.

“Everyone who has a child ... knows how painful it is to not be able to account for where the child is,” she said, overwhelmed with relief. “I never thought I would see him again.”

—-

Ope Adetayo And Afolabi Sotunde, The Associated Press

Adetayo reported from Lagos, #Nigeria.

West #African bloc says region is in a state of emergency after surge in coups.

ABUJA, Nigeria — Coups and attempted coups in West Africa, along with escalating security challenges, have left the region in a state of emergency, a leader of the regional bloc said Tuesday.

Omar Touray, president of the Economic Community of West African States Commission, spoke to the bloc’s mediation and security council two days after a failed coup attempt in Benin, the latest in a string of military takeovers and attempted takeovers. Last month, a military coup in Guinea-Bissau removed former President Umaro Embalo.

Also on Tuesday, Nigeria’s Senate approved a request from President Bola Tinubu to deploy troops in Benin at its government’s request. Nigeria had carried out airstrikes on armored vehicles during the attempted takeover there, also at the government’s request.

“Events of the last few weeks have shown the imperative of serious introspection on the future of our democracy and the urgent need to invest in the security of our community,” Touray said. “Faced with this situation, Excellencies, it is safe to declare that our community is in a state of emergency.”

It was not immediately clear whether his declaration was a formal one and what it might entail.

The bloc has faced criticism over its uneven response to the coups in recent years.

Touray’s declaration may be an attempt to restore credibility for the bloc following a threatened but never acted-on intervention following a coup in Niger in 2023, said Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel program at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.

“#ECOWAS is concerned that coups will become the new mainstream in West Africa,” Laessing said. “Now they try to show they mean business.”

Dyepkazah Shibayan and Wilson Mcmakin, The Associated Press