Category: Legal-Judicial

The National Weather Service said Monday that it is advising residents in some areas of California to prepare for “two major episodes of heavy rain and heavy mountain snow” that are expected “to impact California in quick succession during the next couple of days.”

The wet weather forecast is complicated further the service said by an “energetic and moisture-laden parade of cyclones that are aiming directly for California.”

Heavy precipitation is expected in central California with rainfall totals Monday of 7 to 13 centimeters near the coast, the weather forecasters said.

On Tuesday, slightly less precipitation will fall, impacting locations farther south into southern California.

The heavy rainfalls, the meteorologists said, “will lead to additional instances of flooding,” including “rapid water rises, mudslides, and the potential for major river flooding.”

The Sierra Nevada, meanwhile, will likely receive “heavy snow exceeding 6 feet [2 meters] across the higher elevations before the snow tapers off Wednesday morning.”

The NWS warned that the heavy snow expected in the Sierra Nevada could make travel “very dangerous to impossible at times.”

The heavy snowfall could also “increase the threat of avalanches and strain infrastructure,” the NWS warned.

Source: Voice of America

DAKAR, SENEGAL — The accounts are haunting. Abductions, torture, rapes. Scores of civilians, including women and children, have been killed by the M23 rebels in eastern Congo, according to a U.N. report

In addition, the M23 rebels have forced children to be soldiers, according to the report by a panel of U.N. experts. The 21-page document — based on interviews with more than 230 sources and visits to the Rutshuru area of Congo’s North Kivu province, where the M23 have seized territory — is expected to be published this week.

Conflict has been simmering for decades in eastern Congo. More than 120 armed groups are fighting in the region, most for land and control of mines with valuable minerals, while some groups are trying to protect their communities.

The already volatile situation significantly deteriorated this year when the M23 resurfaced after being largely dormant for nearly a decade.

The M23 first rose to prominence 10 years ago when its fighters seized Goma, the largest city in Congo’s east, which sits on the border with Rwanda. The group derives its name from a peace agreement signed on March 23, 2009, which called for the rebels to be integrated into the Congo army. The M23 accuse the government of not implementing the accord.

In late 2021, the reactivated M23 began killing civilians and capturing swaths of territory. M23 fighters raped and harassed women trying to farm family fields in rebel-controlled areas, according to the report. The rebels accused civilians of spying for the Congolese army, the report said, and often incarcerated them and, in some cases, beat them to death.

Populations living under M23 not only are subject to abuse but are forced to pay taxes, the panel said. At the Bunagana border crossing with Uganda, the rebels earned an average of $27,000 a month making people carrying goods pay as they entered and left the country, the U.N. said. Two locals living under M23 who did not want to be named for fear of their safety told The Associated Press they had been forced to bring the rebels bags of beans, pay $5 if they wanted to access their farms and take backroads if they wanted to leave the village for fear of reprisal.

The M23 did not respond to questions about the allegations but has previously dismissed it as propaganda.

The violence by the rebels is part of an overall worsening of the crisis in eastern Congo, with fighting by armed groups intensifying and expanding in the North Kivu and Ituri provinces, said the report.

“The security and humanitarian situation in North Kivu and Ituri Provinces significantly deteriorated, despite the continuous enforcement of a state of siege over the past 18 months,” and despite military operations by Congo’s armed forces, Uganda’s military and the U.N. mission in Congo, the report said.

Adding to the difficult situation in eastern Congo, attacks by the Allied Democratic Forces — believed to be linked with the Islamic State group — are increasing, the report said, and a nearly yearlong joint operation by Uganda’s and Congo’s armies “has not yet yielded the expected results of defeating or substantially weakening the ADF.” Since April, according to the report, ADF attacks killed at least 370 civilians, and several hundred more were abducted, including a significant number of children. The group also extended its area of operations to Goma and into the neighboring Ituri province.

The fighting is exacerbating eastern Congo’s dire humanitarian crisis. Almost 6 million people are internally displaced in Congo, with more than 450,000 displaced in North Kivu province, since clashes escalated in February. Hundreds of thousands are facing extreme food insecurity, and disease is spreading, aid groups say. Cholera cases are spiking in Nyiragongo, a region hosting many of the displaced people in North Kivu, with more than 970 cases discovered in recent weeks, said Save The Children.

Efforts to stem the violence have yielded little results.

A new regional force deployed to eastern Congo is facing pushback from residents who say they do not want more armed groups in the area. Tensions are also rising with Congo’s neighbor Rwanda, which it accuses of supporting the M23 rebels, findings backed by the U.N.

Earlier this week, the M23 said it was retreating from Kibumba, a town near Goma that it held for several weeks, as part of an agreement made last month at a summit in Angola, said M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka in a statement. However, residents from Kibumba said the rebels are still there and still attacking civilians.

“My neighbor was whipped because he refused to let M23 slaughter his goat,” said Faustin Kamete, a Kibumba resident. “They lied to the international community with their withdrawal,” he said.

Source: Voice of America

In response to the invitation by the Government of the Kingdom of Lesotho, the European Union has decided to deploy an EU Election Observation Mission (EOM) to observe the National Assembly elections scheduled for 7 October 2022.

High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, Josep Borrell, has appointed Ignazio Corrao, Member of the European Parliament, as Chief Observer of the 2022 EU EOM to Lesotho. It will be the first election observation mission ever deployed by the European Union to the country.

High Representative/Vice-President Josep Borrell said: “The European Union highly values its partnership with the Kingdom of Lesotho and appreciates the invitation by the authorities to observe the forthcoming elections. The deployment of this first ever EU Election Observation Mission illustrates the continuous strengthening of the Lesotho – EU partnership, dating back to 1976. Under the leadership of Chief Observer Mr Corrao, the EU EOM will undertake an independent assessment of the electoral process and work together with Lesotho to strengthen further the country’s democratic institutions.”

The Chief Observer, Ignazio Corrao, said: “It is a great honour for me to lead this EOM and I have accepted this task with a great sense of responsibility. I look forward to meeting and engaging with representatives of state institutions, traditional authorities, political parties and candidates, civil society organisations, in particular youth representatives, media and others that are playing important roles in ensuring a peaceful and transparent electoral process.”

Background

The EU EOM is composed of different groups of observers. The Core Team consists of 9 election experts who will arrive in Maseru on 27 August 2022. On 10 September, 22 long-term observers will join the mission to be deployed across the country and follow the election campaign. Thereafter, 30 short-term observers will reinforce the mission on election day. The EU EOM will remain in the country until the completion of the electoral process.

In line with the EU methodology on election observation, the mission will issue a preliminary statement and hold a press conference in Maseru after the election day. A final report, including recommendations for future electoral processes, will be presented after the finalisation of the entire electoral process.

Source: European Commission

The National Prosecuting Authority in South Africa says at least 14 men out of dozens arrested face rape charges in an attack on a group of women who were making a music video earlier this month.

A court on Wednesday charged seven men in connection with the gang rape, prosecuting authority spokeswoman Phindi Louw Mjonondwane told VOA, adding that seven more would face rape charges tomorrow.

They are all part of the 80 men initially arrested in a major police sweep following the incident, she confirmed.

The women had been making a music video two weeks earlier in the mining area of Krugersdorp outside Johannesburg when they were attacked by a group of masked, armed men.

Mjonondwane said all of those charged with rape were foreign nationals, including from Lesotho and Zimbabwe.

“Seven accused appeared at the Krugersdorp Magistrate’s Court facing charges ranging from multiple counts of rape, sexual assault, contravention of the immigration act, as well as robbery with aggravating circumstances,” she said.

Many of those arrested are believed to work as illegal miners, known here as zama-zamas. The incident has sparked anger in local communities, as well as xenophobia, with mobs attacking the zama-zamas.

Police had said they would use DNA kits to try to identify the alleged attackers from among those rounded up, as well as a police lineup. However, Mjonondwane would not comment on how those charged had been identified.

Despite having a very high rate of rape and gender-based violence, South Africa — which celebrated Women’s Day on Tuesday — was shocked by the brutal attack.

Police recorded more than 36,000 rapes in fiscal 2020-21.

Source: Voice of America

Nigerian churches are introducing armed security and entry searches after a deadly June 5 attack on a Catholic church blamed on the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP). Security experts fear the attack in Nigeria’s southwest Ondo state means the threat of terrorism is spreading and could soon reach the capital.

Abuja’s police said they have often deployed officers to churches, mosques and public places.

“These days people just become crazy and going to churches and start shooting,” said Bishop John Praise Daniel, the presiding pastor of Dominion Chapel. “So I think the church must get to that level of arming themselves against any attack that would come, that is self-defense and there’s no law against self-defense.”

On June 5th, heavily armed men invaded St. Francis Catholic Church in the southwest city of Owo and killed 40 worshipers using guns and explosives.

Eighty-seven people survived but suffered serious injuries. Some of them described the attack as “unimaginable horror.”

“For such incident to have occurred, lasted for more than 20 minutes and there was no police presence,” said Stephen-Chuks Okonye, who survived a bullet to his chest. “It means there’s no security in this country. Security is one area the government has to look into.”

Nigerian authorities blamed the Islamic state of West African Province or ISWAP for the shooting, but some experts say that was a hasty conclusion.

Experts also said the attack was an indication that terrorism is spreading in Nigeria.

Last week, gunmen in the Kajuru area of the northern Kaduna state attacked two churches, killed three people and kidnapped 36 others.

On Sunday, gunmen killed two clergymen in separate attacks in Kaduna and Edo states.

The Christian Association of Nigeria, (CAN), raised concerns about the attacks, criticized authorities for a lack of protection and urged church authorities to take stronger security measures.

“The church as a whole must be security conscious and be prepared. The next person to you is a suspect,” said Joseph Daramola is the general secretary of CAN.

Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, promised to address general insecurity and boost Nigeria’s economy when he first won office in 2015.

But as his second and final term comes to an end, gruesome attacks like the one in Owo will be remembered as the country prepares for next year’s elections.

Source: Voice of America

Two police officers were killed and one wounded in an attack on a police station in northwest Benin on Sunday, police sources said, the latest in a string of deadly assaults in an area affected by a spillover of militant activity in neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.

Suspected jihadists descended on the Dassari police station at around 2 a.m. and opened fire, killing two officers before they were pushed back, said one police officer who did not wish to be named.

“Our forces were able to resist. Unfortunately, there were two dead in our ranks,” the police officer told Reuters.

Two “terrorists” were also killed and several others wounded, he added.

A second unnamed police source confirmed the assault and the death toll.

Dassari is a town around 600 km (373 miles) northwest of Benin’s largest city Cotonou, near the border with Burkina Faso.

It is around 250 km from a police station in the commune of Karimana, near the border with Niger, that was raided by armed assailants on April 26, leaving at least one dead and several wounded.

Benin’s army has not officially communicated on Sunday’s attack.

Its spokesman Didier Ahouanvoedo referred Reuters to the police.

“The attack this early morning once again spread panic among the local population,” said a local official in Dassari, who did not wish to be named for safety reasons.

“The situation is now under control thanks to reinforcements from the army,” he added.

Groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State that spread to northern Benin from West Africa’s Sahel region have escalated attacks in recent weeks.

Five soldiers were killed in April when an army convoy struck an improvised explosive device planted in the northern Pendjari National Park.

Source: Voice of America