Dozens kidnapped in northwest Nigeria after bandits invite them to talks

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By Reuters and Posted by TOE Armed bandits in northwest Nigeria abducted dozens of villagers whom they invited to a meeting ‌about potential peace negotiations, authorities and residents said on ‌Monday, highlighting the region’s worsening security. Police said 39 people were seized on Sunday ​when they went to a meeting in the forest near Magamin Diddi village in the Maradun municipality of northwest Zamfara State. Some local residents and officials said the number could be as ‌high as 50. According to ⁠a Zamfara State Police Command statement, the victims were meeting relatives of a bandit leader in ⁠an attempt to broker peace and ease restrictions on movement imposed on the community. Zamfara is at the centre of a long-running security ​crisis in ​which armed groups, locally referred ​to as bandits, carry ‌out mass kidnappings, killings and village raids. The violence has disrupted farming and displaced thousands. Security forces have deployed personnel and...
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Army returns to strategic east Congo town after rebel withdrawal

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Congolese soldiers and combatants from a pro-government militia have re-entered the eastern town of Uvira, residents said on Monday, just over a month after it fell to Rwanda-backed M23 rebels ‍in a blow to peace efforts mediated by the Trump administration.

M23 entered Uvira, an important base for the Congolese army near the border with Burundi, on December 10, days after Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan leader Paul Kagame met President Donald Trump in Washington and reaffirmed a U.S.-brokered peace deal.

The capture marked the rebels’ biggest ‌gains in months, fueling fears of regional spillover from fighting ‌that has killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands in the last year.

M23 staged a lightning advance in January 2025 and still holds more territory than ever before, including Goma and Bukavu, the capitals of North and South Kivu provinces respectively.

HEAVY ​FIGHTING, LOOTING

After U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in December that Rwanda’s actions in mineral-rich eastern Congo were violating the peace deal, M23 ‍pledged to withdraw from Uvira to give peace ​talks a chance.

Heavy fighting has continued on the outskirts of ​Uvira, and M23 and the Congolese government on Sunday traded accusations of looting ‍inside the town.

Two residents and a civil society activist based in Uvira said on Monday that Congolese soldiers and members of the Wazalendo militia returned over the weekend and were visible throughout the town, having retaken positions they occupied before M23’s arrival.

Jean-Jacques Purusi, the Kinshasa-appointed governor of South Kivu province ‍where Uvira is located, said the Gatumba crossing at the Congo-Burundi border, which closed when M23 took Uvira, would soon reopen.

Rwanda denies backing M23 and has blamed ‍Congolese and Burundian forces for ‍the renewed fighting. A report by a United Nations ​group of experts in July assessed that Rwanda exercised ​command and ⁠control over the rebels.

The United States has hosted talks ‌between Congo and Rwanda, while Qatar has hosted separate talks between Congo and M23.

During a meeting in Togo focused on eastern Congo, African leaders on Saturday reaffirmed their support for the Doha talks and called for them to resume without delay.

Source: Thomson Reuters



from The Times Of Earth https://ift.tt/WPNhEIz

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