U.S. to build bases for Somali army
MOGADISHU, Somalia -- The U.S. will build up to five military bases for the Somali army in a project that seeks to bolster the Somalian national army's capabilities amid ongoing threats from an extremist group.
Somalia's defense minister and the U.S. charge d'affaires signed a memorandum of understanding Thursday in Mogadishu, the Somali capital.
The agreement comes at a time when the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia, known as ATMIS, is scaling back its presence in Somalia.
The new bases will be associated with the Somali military's Danab Brigade, established in 2017 after an agreement between the U.S. and Somalia to recruit, train, equip and mentor 3,000 men and women from across Somalia to build a strong infantry capability within the Somali army. The brigade has been pivotal as a quick-reaction force in efforts to repel the extremist group al-Shabab.
The U.N. Security Council has authorized the reduction of the peacekeeping force in Somalia, and the Somali government says it is achieving progress in improving security.
But al-Shabab militants continue to carry out sporadic attacks across Somalia, including in public places.
Congo gold mine attack leaves 12 dead
KINSHASA, Congo -- At least a dozen people were killed and 16 kidnapped by rebels at a mining site in eastern Congo, said a civil society organization on Thursday.
Rebels from the CODECO armed group attacked a gold mine Wednesday near Djugu district in Ituri province, said Vital Tungulo, the head of Mabendi, a local rights group.
"We are outraged by this enemy attack," he said.
Violence has been surging across eastern Congo, where conflict has flared for decades. 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.
CODECO is a loose association of militia groups mainly from the ethnic Lendu farming community. Since 2017, it has been fighting with Zaire, a self-defense group mainly drawn from the ethnic Hema herding community.
Attacks by CODECO killed nearly 1,800 people and wounded more than 500 in the four years through 2022, according to the African Center for the Study and Research on Terrorism.
On Thursday, military commander Yves Kadjena said he was disappointed by the attack, especially because CODECO signed a peace treaty with other militias at the end of January, pledging to stop fighting and release hostages.
Kadjena said the military was taking action to end the violence.
Italy to send asylum seekers to Albania
ROME -- The Italian Senate on Thursday gave final approval to a controversial agreement with Albania to house migrants during the processing of their asylum requests, part of the government's effort to share the migration burden with the rest of Europe.
The bill passed 93-61, after the lower Chamber of Deputies previously approved it. The proposal now awaits consideration by the Albanian parliament, after the country's Constitutional Court gave it the go-ahead last month.
Under the five-year deal, Albania would shelter up to 3,000 migrants at a time in two centers while Italy fast-tracks their asylum requests.
The right-wing government of Premier Giorgia Meloni has hailed the agreement as a sign of European solidarity, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has endorsed it. But human-rights groups have expressed concern that Italy was outsourcing its international obligations, and the country's center-left opposition has branded it an expensive exercise in propaganda ahead of European elections in June.
Venezuela expelling U.N. rights workers
CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuela's government on Thursday ordered the local United Nations office on human rights to suspend operations and gave its staff 72 hours to leave, accusing it of assisting coup plotters and terrorist groups.
Foreign Affairs Minister Yván Gil announced the decision at a news conference in Caracas, which came amid heightened concerns that the government is repressing adversaries in an election year.
Gil said the local technical advisory office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, authorized in 2019, was supposed "to improve, to optimize," human rights. Instead, he said, it had become an "international sounding board to maintain a discourse against the Bolivarian government and against the Venezuelan people."
The office had "become the private law firm of coup plotters and terrorist groups that permanently conspire against the country," Gil said, though he did not show any evidence or point to a specific example of that alleged activity.
After the announcement, Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, sidestepped a question about the Venezuelan office, saying that "we need to confirm the decision."
U.N. and Venezuelan flags hang Thursday outside the building that houses the Technical Advisory Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Caracas, Venezuela. (AP/Matias Delacroix)