Rwanda’s evolving stature ensures muted global pressure as M23 advances in eastern Congo

Analysis Rwanda’s evolving stature ensures muted global pressure as M23 advances in eastern Congo
A resident walks past looted shops, with the name of the Rwandan president ‘Kagame’ written on a door, following clashes in Goma on January 30, 2025. (AFP)
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Updated 31 January 2025
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Rwanda’s evolving stature ensures muted global pressure as M23 advances in eastern Congo

Rwanda’s evolving stature ensures muted global pressure as M23 advances in eastern Congo
  • Paul Kagame has claimed that M23 rebels in eastern Congo merely want to defend Tutsis from the same Hutu extremists who carried out the 1994 genocide
  • Jason Stearns: ‘They (the Rwandans) have leveraged two things very well, which is their international diplomacy and their military prowess’

When Rwanda-backed rebels seized control of eastern Congo’s strategic city of Goma this week, it prompted a flurry of declarations condemning Rwanda from the UN and western nations, including the United States, France and the UK
Yet, the international community has stopped short of putting financial pressure on Kigali to withdraw its support for the rebels as happened when they took Goma in 2012.
The contrast has to do with the country’s evolving stature both in Africa and the West, where officials have long admired fourth-term President Paul Kagame for his role in uplifting Rwanda in the aftermath of genocide, analysts and diplomats said. They point to Rwanda’s shrewd branding, efforts to make itself more indispensable militarily and economically and divided attention spans of countries preoccupied with wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.
“So far there has been significantly less international pressure than there was in 2012 for various reasons, including the new administration in the White House, other ongoing international crises and Rwanda’s role in continental peacekeeping and security operations,” said Ben Shepherd, a fellow in Chatham House’s Africa Program.

Kagame’s efforts to transform his small east African nation into a political and economic juggernaut, they say, has made the international community more reluctant to pressure Rwanda.
That’s been true when Kagame has abolished term limits and waged a campaign of repression against his opponents at home. It’s been true as he’s backed rebels fighting Congolese forces across the country’s border. And it’s remained true despite the fact that Rwanda’s economy is still heavily reliant on foreign aid, including from the United States, the World Bank and the European Union.
The United States disbursed $180 million in foreign aid to Rwanda in 2023. The World Bank’s International Development Association provided nearly $221 million the same year. And in the years ahead, the European Union has pledged to invest over $900 million in Rwanda under the Global Gateway strategy, its response to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

In 2012, that aid was a key source of leverage as the western powers pressured Rwanda to end its role in the fighting. Donor countries withheld aid and the World Bank threatened to. Only a few nations, including the UK and Germany, have implied Rwanda’s involvement could jeopardize the flow of aid.
But today, the international community has fewer means to influence Rwanda as M23 advances southward from Goma. The United States suspended military aid to Rwanda in 2012 in the months before it seized Goma but can’t make the same threats after suspending it again last year. And since taking office, President Donald Trump has since frozen the vast majority of foreign aid, stripping the United States of the means to use it to leverage any country in particular.

The Rwanda-backed M23 group is one of about 100 armed factions vying for a foothold in eastern Congo in one of Africa’s longest conflicts, displacing 4.5 million people and creating what the UN called “one of the most protracted, complex, serious humanitarian crises on Earth.”
A July 2024 report from a UN group of experts estimated at least 4,000 Rwandan troops were active across the Congolese border. More have been observed pouring into Congo this week.
Kagame has claimed that M23 rebels in eastern Congo merely want to defend Tutsis from the same Hutu extremists who carried out the genocide that killed some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus without intervention from the international community.
That failure and the resulting guilt informed a generation of politicians’ thinking about Rwanda.
“Rwanda’s justifications and references to the genocide continue to play to the West’s perception of it,” said South Africa-based risk analyst Daniel Van Dalen. “There’s always been apprehension to take any decisive action against Rwanda politically or economically.”

But today, there are other factors at play.
Set on transforming the country into the “Singapore of Africa,” Kagame has modernized Rwanda’s infrastructure, raised life expectancy rates and lured companies like Volkswagen and leagues like the NBA to open up shop in-country. Donors and foreign correspondents often profess wonder at Kigali’s clean streets, upscale restaurants and women-majority parliament.
The transformation has won Rwanda admiration from throughout the world, including in Africa, where leaders see Rwanda’s trajectory as a model to draw lessons from.
“The history of genocide still plays a role, but Kagame has very cleverly set up relationships with western capitals and established himself as a beacon of stability and economic growth in the region,” said a European diplomat, who did not want to be named because he was not allowed to speak on the matter publicly. “Some capitals still don’t want to see the truth.”
Rwanda contributes more personnel to UN peacekeeping operations than all but two countries. It is a key supplier of troops deployed to Central African Republic, where the United States worries about growing Russian influence. The country has also agreed deals to deploy its army to fight extremists in northern Mozambique, where France’s Total Energies is developing an offshore gas project.
“They have leveraged two things very well, which is their international diplomacy and their military prowess,” said Jason Stearns, a political scientist and Congo expert at Canada’s Simon Fraser University. “They’ve just been very good at making themselves useful.”

A decade ago, Rwanda was primarily exporting agricultural products like coffee and tea. But it has since emerged as a key partner for western nations competing with China for access to natural resources in east Africa.
In addition to gold and tin, Rwanda is a top exporter of tantalum, a mineral used to manufacture semiconductors. While it does not publish data on the volumes of minerals it mines, last year the US State Department said Rwanda exported more minerals than it mined, citing a UN report. And just last month, Congo filed lawsuits against Apple’s subsidiaries in France and Belgium, accusing Rwanda of using minerals sourced in eastern Congo.
Yet still, the European Union has signed an agreement with Kigali, opening the door to importing critical minerals from Rwanda. The deal sparked outrage from activists who criticized the lack of safeguards regarding sourcing of the minerals, and accused Brussels of fueling the conflict in eastern Congo.
The EU pushed back, saying that the deal was in early stages and that it was “working out the practicalities” on tracing and reporting minerals from Rwanda.
But even if the West stepped up its response, it has less leverage than in 2012, analysts said. Kagame invested in relationships with non-Western partners, such as China and the United Arab Emirates, which is now the country’s top trade partner. Rwanda also deepened its ties with the African nations that took much more decisive action to defuse the crisis in 2012.
“We are waiting to see how South Africans and Angolans react,” Shepherd said. “There was diplomatic pressure in 2012, but it only changed things because it came alongside African forces deployed in the UN intervention brigade.”


Teenager kills two women in knife attack at Czech shop

Teenager kills two women in knife attack at Czech shop
Updated 16 sec ago
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Teenager kills two women in knife attack at Czech shop

Teenager kills two women in knife attack at Czech shop
Police arrested the teenager, a Czech national, minutes after the attack at an Action branch on the outskirts of Hradec Kralove
The attacker’s motive was unclear but that there was nothing to indicate a terror attack, police said

HRADEE KRALOVE, Czech Republic: A 16-year-old boy killed two women in a knife attack at a discount shop in the Czech Republic on Thursday, police said, adding the motive remained unclear.
Police arrested the teenager, a Czech national, minutes after the attack at an Action branch on the outskirts of Hradec Kralove, around 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of Prague.
“Both of those attacked suffered injuries which were so serious that they could not be saved despite all efforts of the rescuers,” police said on X.
Police spokeswoman Iva Kormosova said the teenager attacked a shop assistant at the counter and another worker in a service area of the store.
The attacker’s motive was unclear but that there was nothing to indicate a terror attack, police said.
“The information we have for now seems to suggest he chose the victims randomly,” they added.
Rescuers received the first call about 0730 GMT, half an hour after the shop had opened.
“When we arrived, we found two people stabbed,” Anatolij Truhlar, head doctor of the local air rescue service, told the private CNN Prima News TV channel.
“Unfortunately, despite 40 minutes of resuscitation efforts, both persons died,” he added.
Police were deployed outside the Action discount store where a lone candle flickered, and a part of an adjacent car park was closed with police tape until Thursday afternoon.
“I think you’re not safe anywhere, given what’s going on around us,” passer-by Adela Ptackova told AFP.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala expressed condolences to the families of the victims, calling the murders “an incomprehensible, horrendous act.”
Terror attacks are rare in the Czech Republic, an EU and NATO member of 10.9 million people, but in 2023 a student killed 14 people and wounded 25 in a shooting rampage at a Prague university.
The Czech Republic’s southern neighbor Austria is reeling from the murder of a teenager in a knife attack by a Syrian asylum seeker in the city of Villach at the weekend.

Kyrgyzstan urges respect for heritage amid row over Russian ‘appropriation’

Kyrgyzstan urges respect for heritage amid row over Russian ‘appropriation’
Updated 56 min ago
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Kyrgyzstan urges respect for heritage amid row over Russian ‘appropriation’

Kyrgyzstan urges respect for heritage amid row over Russian ‘appropriation’
  • “Recently, there has been an alarming trend related to the commercial use of national patterns and symbols,” its culture ministry said
  • “The culture ministry calls on all organizations, entrepreneurs and individual citizens to respect the historical and cultural heritage of the Kyrgyz Republic“

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan: Kyrgyzstan has called for respect for its “historical and cultural heritage” after a Russian clothing brand used traditional Kyrgyz designs and claimed copyright over them, prompting accusations of “cultural appropriation.”
The Central Asian country is closely allied with Moscow, but has taken steps to reinforce its national identity in recent years after many decades of dependence on former ruler Russia.
“Recently, there has been an alarming trend related to the commercial use of national patterns and symbols, which are an integral part of the historical and cultural heritage of Kyrgyzstan,” its culture ministry said on Facebook Wednesday.
“The culture ministry calls on all organizations, entrepreneurs and individual citizens to respect the historical and cultural heritage of the Kyrgyz Republic.”
The furor began earlier this month after social media users accused Russian fashion label Yaka, founded in 2023, of ripping off traditional Kyrgyz patterns and including a legal warning against “copying” its designs on its website.
Yaka sells a range of clothes and accessories featuring colorful Kyrgyz patterns, describing them as “modern ethno-chic.”
It also sells “shyrdaks,” traditional felt rugs native to Kyrgyzstan that are sometimes used as a dowry at weddings and have been included in UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage.
Some social media users accused the brand of “cultural appropriation” — when a tradition is taken from another culture and used in a way that was not intended.
Kyrgyzstan has a relatively freer media and looser controls on social networks than its authoritarian Central Asian neighbors, but open anger against Russia is rare.
Yaka’s founder Anna Obydenova reacted to the criticism by calling on Kyrgyz people to “learn Russian better” in an Instagram video.
She later deleted the video and apologized.
In an Instagram post Tuesday, she denied accusations of disrespect toward Kyrgyz culture, saying she had worked with local craftswomen.
“I never said I came up with these patterns, nor did I call myself a designer or author of the motifs,” she said.
“I am simply a person who saw incredible beauty and wanted to share it with the world.”
Russian remains an official language in Kyrgyzstan, with a segment of the population expressing pro-Russian attitudes.
But others, especially among the younger generation, have turned away from Moscow, partly due to the invasion of Ukraine and Russian authorities’ often harsh treatment of Kyrgyz migrants.


South Africa’s Ramaphosa tells G20 international law ‘critical’

South Africa’s Ramaphosa tells G20 international law ‘critical’
Updated 20 February 2025
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South Africa’s Ramaphosa tells G20 international law ‘critical’

South Africa’s Ramaphosa tells G20 international law ‘critical’
  • “It should be the glue that keeps us together,” Ramaphosa said

JOHANNESBURG: South African President Cyril Ramaphosa told G20 foreign ministers on Thursday that multilateralism and international law were key to solving world crises, amid rising tensions over various conflicts and trade disputes.
“It is critical that the principles of the UN Charter, multilateralism and international law should remain at the center of all our endeavours. It should be the glue that keeps us together,” he said at the opening of a meeting of G20 foreign ministers.


Delhi swears in new chief minister as Modi’s party retakes India’s capital

Delhi swears in new chief minister as Modi’s party retakes India’s capital
Updated 20 February 2025
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Delhi swears in new chief minister as Modi’s party retakes India’s capital

Delhi swears in new chief minister as Modi’s party retakes India’s capital
  • Loyalist of Modi’s party, Rekha Gupta is the fourth woman to hold the capital region’s top office
  • BJP won Delhi election on promises to tackle air and river pollution, and subsidize poor women

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s loyalist and Delhi’s new chief minister, Rekha Gupta, was sworn in on Thursday, as India’s ruling party regained power in the national capital region after a 27-year gap.

The national vice president of the BJP’s women’s wing, Gupta had previously served as the party’s general secretary in Delhi.

She is the fourth woman to hold the office of Delhi’s chief minister.

“We will empower Delhi through modern infrastructure, excellent healthcare services, excellent education and new employment opportunities,” she said upon inauguration.

“Today, I took oath as the chief minister with the resolve to develop Delhi under the guidance of Honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This is not just a responsibility but an opportunity to fulfill the aspirations of the people of Delhi.”

A first-time legislator, Gupta won the capital’s Shalimar Bagh Assembly constituency in February’s assembly elections.

Modi’s party won 48 of the 70 assembly seats — over twice more than the opposition Aam Aadmi Party of the previous chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, Modi’s fierce critic.

The win was a boost for the Hindu-nationalist leader after last year’s general election saw him lose his parliamentary majority.

The BJP’s victory came on the promise of cleaning the capital’s Yamuna River, one of the most polluted waterways in the world. The Yamuna is particularly polluted downstream of New Delhi, which dumps about 60 percent of its waste into the river. At the same time, the river provides more than half of the Indian capital’s water.

Another promise was to tackle Delhi’s air pollution, which during winters soars to hazardous levels. In December, it was 35 times over the safe limit set by the World Health Organization, leaving residents complaining of breathing problems.

The toxic smog, which seasonally chokes the city for months, is caused by several factors, including construction activities, vehicle emissions, industrial pollutants and the seasonal burning of crop residue in neighboring states.

“The two biggest issues in Delhi are the river and the air. And I don’t see how they can do it,” said Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, a political analyst and the author of Modi’s biography “Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times.”

While the farmers around Delhi have regularly been blamed for the pollution, the region’s air quality remained bad in February, even as there was no burning of paddy stubble to clear the soil for the next crops.

“So why is Delhi still so polluted at the moment? ... Automobile pollution is possibly one of the biggest things, but would the Indian government be doing anything to reduce the numbers of vehicles which have been sold in Delhi and the National Capital Region? No, it will not because it involves a lot of further financial matters,” Mukhopadhyay told Arab News.

Another promise was monthly payments of 2,500 Indian rupees ($28) to poor women, a one-time payment of 21,000 rupees to every pregnant woman, subsidized cooking gas, a monthly pension of 2,500 rupees for the elderly, and 15,000 rupees for youth preparing for competitive exams.

“Fiscally it is going to be a big challenge. I do not know from where they will provide this money,” Mukhopadhyay said.

“It is going to be very difficult, but they will have to do it otherwise within three months, there will be a backlash against the BJP. It is going to be fiscally mind-blowing.”


Kremlin says topic of another Russia-US prisoner swap is on the agenda

Kremlin says topic of another Russia-US prisoner swap is on the agenda
Updated 20 February 2025
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Kremlin says topic of another Russia-US prisoner swap is on the agenda

Kremlin says topic of another Russia-US prisoner swap is on the agenda
  • At least 10 Americans remain behind bars in Russia, including two who have been designated as “wrongfully detained” by Washington

MOSCOW: The Kremlin said on Thursday that the idea of a possible new prisoner exchange between Russia and the United States was on the agenda after Moscow and Washington agreed to start work on restoring relations at all levels.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, asked by reporters about the possibility of a new swap, said US-Russia talks in Riyadh had contributed to a general rapprochement between Russia and the US.
At least 10 Americans remain behind bars in Russia, including two who have been designated as “wrongfully detained” by Washington. Moscow freed an American citizen, Kalob Byers, days before the Russian and American delegations met in the Saudi capital.