Category: MIL-OSI

Source: APO

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Conflict and armed violence in Ituri Province in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are trapping civilians in a murderous cycle, with thousands suffering in silence. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has distributed food to almost 12,000 people who have returned home after leaving everything behind when they fled armed attacks.

Every family in the chieftancy of Mambisa, Djugu territory, has received essential items such as kitchen utensils, soap and blankets, along with enough food to last them one month. When they returned after fleeing a series of armed attacks and violent incidents in August, most found their houses burned down and their property looted. The ICRC is helping people fleeing the violence and those who are trying to return home. The aim is to meet people’s immediate needs, but their main concern is security.

One of Thérèse’s* children was killed and others were seriously injured. Her house was burned down during the attack on her village. “Before the war, I lived here with my nine children and my grand-children,” she explains. “Our house wasn’t very big, but it was enough for us. I never imagined I’d see the blood of my children shed in my house, or that war would suddenly take my house away from me.”

For many years, Ituri has endured cycles of violence – military operations, clashes between armed groups and increasing numbers of incursions, attacks and other violence directly targeting the civilian population. And this despite international humanitarian law (IHL) prohibiting attacks that target civilians or civilian property.

The consequences are grave – death, injury, mass displacement, sexual violence, ill-treatment, child recruitment and the loss of homes and livelihoods. Civilians are paying the price, bearing the brunt of the violence and the consequences of breaches of IHL and humanitarian principles.

Needs increase, but the scope for humanitarian aid is limited

Chronic conflict and violence have sapped the resilience of communities and impeded their access to essential goods and services.

Most people are afraid that they will be killed if they return to their farms in areas where weapon-bearers are present. The majority of the population are farmers, and their inability to grow food is aggravating shortages. According to the UN, some 1.5 million people in Ituri are suffering food insecurity. Under the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, the situation corresponds to Phase 3 or worse, with Phase 3 being defined as “crisis”.

Joséphine has been receiving assistance from the ICRC. “Since 2017, I’ve had to move several times, and I’ve lived in four different places. I come from Fataki in Djugu territory, where my family had fields and property. I can’t go back, because the situation there is still unstable, and there’s nothing left.”

People are finding it harder to obtain health care, just when the number of casualties with weapon wounds is increasing because of rising violence. Health facilities in areas affected by attacks and violence are struggling to operate normally and are unable to provide adequate care for the sick and wounded. Facilities have been attacked and looted, and some qualified personnel have fled. Most facilities are experiencing shortages of medical supplies and a lack of equipment. Casualties have to travel long distances to obtain proper treatment.

Those medical facilities that are still operating have been dealing with increasing numbers of weapon-wounded patients, especially during July and August, when a large number of attacks occurred. Médecins Sans Frontières is supporting Salama Clinic in the provincial capital, Bunia. They report having received over 350 patients with weapon wounds since the beginning of the year, with more than 200 arriving between July and October alone.

Alfred Wadie is the deputy head of the ICRC’s Bunia sub-delegation. “The ICRC is supporting a number of medical facilities in the territories of Djugu and Irumu,” he explains. “Our teams have seen a drop in the number of women and children attending those facilities, mainly because the lack of security is making it harder for people to get there.”

Simultaneously, mass arrivals of internally displaced persons are increasing the pressure on water infrastructure and a shortage of resources is creating community tensions. Water is in short supply in areas affected by displacement, in urban areas, in host families and at sites where displaced people are living. This is forcing some families to use untreated water sources, which carry the risk of water-borne disease.

Serious mental and psychosocial vulnerability

In addition to losing family members and property, people seeking refuge are experiencing severe psychological suffering, especially in connection with family separation or the consequences of sexual and other violence. The majority of those subjected to repeated violence are suffering psychological trauma as a result of their loss and pain.

The violence in many parts of Ituri – increasingly including areas that were previously places of displacement and refuge – is forcing people to move back and forth repeatedly, making them even more vulnerable.
ICRC teams supporting mental health and psychosocial support facilities are seeing hundreds of people with mental health problems such as depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. This situation is affecting the stability of the entire community.

François Moreillon heads the ICRC delegation in the DRC. “We call on all parties to the conflicts and all those involved in armed violence in Ituri to be aware of the dramatic impact on civilians,” he says. “They absolutely must take the measures needed to protect civilians and their property against all forms of attack and against the consequences of their fighting, in accordance with IHL and with humanitarian principles.”

*All names have been changed

ICRC activities in Ituri, January – September 2025

Economic security

• 6,804 displaced persons who had recently returned to their homes on the Ngongo–Nyangaray axis in Djugu territory received essential household items.
• 510 victims of conflict or violence received cash grants to cover their immediate needs and/or to enable them to undertake production projects (individually or as part of an association) or undergo vocational training.
• 21,030 people who had returned to their homes along the Walu–Bayana and Ngongo–Nyangaray axes in Djugu territory received agricultural tools and food-producing seed.
• 14,226 people who had returned to their homes along the Bayana–Walu axis in Djugu territory received 59,275 linear metres of healthy manioc cuttings so they could resume agricultural production.
• 12,500 linear metres of cuttings from manioc mother plants were supplied to an agricultural association in Songolo, Irumu territory, for multiplication and distribution to communities next year.

Water

• 6,817 people in Busiyo and Malaya, Irumu territory, now have access to six water points, following work carried out on water sources.
• 16,683 people, of whom 6,673 had been displaced from Nizi in Djugu territory, now have better access to drinking water thanks to the installation of water points, which was carried out in conjunction with the Red Cross Society of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• Water-treatment supplies (chlorine, lime and aluminium sulphate) were donated to water supplier REGIDESO so they could continue to supply drinking water to the city of Bunia.

Health care

• 40,410 curative consultations took place in ICRC-supported health centres and hospitals.
• 664 people – including those who had suffered weapon wounds, victims of sexual violence and users of physical rehabilitation services – attended individual mental health and psychosocial support consultations.
• 14 people who had suffered weapon wounds (from firearms or edged weapons) received treatment at the referral hospital in Boga.
• 181 people obtained physical rehabilitation services and/or received mobility aids (including wheelchairs) at the ICRC-supported Rwankole physical rehabilitation centre in Bunia.

Protecting family links

• 27 family reunifications took place, involving children who had been separated from their families by the conflict or other violence.
• 24 tracing requests were opened and 27 children were registered – including unaccompanied children and children who had left armed groups – with a view to searching for their families.
• 193 members of the RDC armed forces (Forces Armées de la RDC, FARDC) and of armed groups attended presentations on IHL, humanitarian principles, the protection of civilians, the fight against sexual violence and the protection of medical personnel and facilities.
• The ICRC is undertaking continuous, bilateral, confidential dialogue with the authorities and with state and non-state weapon bearers regarding their responsibilities towards communities and compliance with IHL and humanitarian principles in the territories of Irumu and Djugu.

Engagement with weapon-bearers

• 193 members of the RDC armed forces (Forces Armées de la RDC, FARDC) and of armed groups attended presentations on IHL, humanitarian principles, the protection of civilians, the fight against sexual violence and the protection of medical personnel and facilities.
• The ICRC is undertaking continuous, bilateral, confidential dialogue with the authorities and with state and non-state weapon bearers regarding their responsibilities towards communities and compliance with IHL and humanitarian principles in the territories of Irumu and Djugu.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Source: APO

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“We see massive violations of international human rights law, direct attacks on civilians, noncompliance with international humanitarian law, which regulates conduct in relation to hostilities, and that the attacks are largely on civilians,” said Chaloka Beyani, who recently took up his post as Special Adviser of the Secretary-General for the Prevention of Genocide.

Mr. Beyani told UN News in an interview on Thursday he had spoken to Resident Coordinator in Sudan, Denise Brown, and plans to issue an advisory to Secretary-General António Guterres, the Security Council, and the wider UN system.

Sounding the alarm

“Once our office sounds the alarm, the alarm rings over and beyond the ordinary violations of human rights or of international humanitarian law,” he said.

“It indicates that the threshold is about to be crossed, and therefore there has to be early action taken.”

Graphic reports and video began circulating at the end of last month online of apparent war crimes committed by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia as its fighters finally took control of the Darfuri capital of El Fasher from Government troops, following more than 500 days of siege.

Horror in Darfur

“We cannot hear the screams, but – as we sit here today – the horror is continuing,” said UN relief chief Tom Fletcher, briefing the Security Council on 31 October. 

Mr. Beyani’s office said risk indicators for atrocity crimes are present in Sudan but emphasises that only an international court or other legal body can make a determination of genocide.

The UN-backed International Criminal Court (ICC) expressed profound alarm in a statement on Monday over the reports of mass killings, rapes and other crimes emerging from El Fasher, noting that its investigation of alleged war crimes committed since the outbreak of war in April 2023 is ongoing.

“Within the ongoing investigation, the office is taking immediate steps regarding the alleged crimes in El-Fasher to preserve and collect relevant evidence for its use in future prosecutions,” the prosecutor’s office underlined.

RSF agrees ‘humanitarian ceasefire’: reports

The RSF reportedly agreed to a “humanitarian ceasefire” on Thursday, in the wake of mounting criticism of its fighters’ actions in and around El Fasher.

Leaders of the militia group said they would accept the terms of the truce proposed by a mediation group consisting of the United States, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, according to news reports.

Agony continues for civilians

Meanwhile, the UN is warning of a worsening humanitarian situation in North Darfur, where thousands of families displaced from El Fasher are living in extremely harsh conditions.

“Across Tawila and surrounding areas, displaced people are without adequate food, clean water, shelter or medical care,” Deputy UN Spokesperson Farhan Haq said on Thursday.

Aid agencies are working with local partners to set up new camps, adding to the more than 650,000 people already in Tawila.

In Tawila Al Omda alone, over 3,000 recent arrivals urgently need plastic sheeting, mats and blankets as temperatures drop.

Many, including the injured, people with disabilities, and unaccompanied children, sleep in the open. Similar conditions affect more than 6,500 people in Daba Al Naira and Um Jangour camps.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of UN News.

Source: APO

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• Zimbabwe’s economic rebound in 2025 has been stronger than expected, supported by a recovery in agriculture, solid mining performance, and easing inflation amid exchange rate stability.
• Discussions in Harare emphasized the importance of reinforcing fiscal discipline in the 2026 budget by aligning expenditures with revenues and sustainable financing sources, while strengthening expenditure management.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff team, led by Mr. Wojciech Maliszewski, visited Zimbabwe from October 29 to November 5, 2025, as part of the Fund’s regular engagement with the Zimbabwean authorities and other stakeholders..

At the conclusion of the visit, Mr. Maliszewski issued the following statement:

“The IMF mission held productive discussions with the Zimbabwean authorities on recent economic developments and the 2026 budget framework.

“Zimbabwe’s economic recovery in 2025 is stronger than previously anticipated, given the rebound in agriculture and solid performances in mining, while inflation has continued to significantly ease, supported by a stable foreign exchange rate. The economy is expected to maintain strong momentum in 2026.

“Discussions in Harare focused on enhancing fiscal discipline in the 2026 budget framework by aligning expenditures with revenues and available non-inflationary financing sources, while avoiding the accumulation of expenditure arrears. In this context, adopting credible revenue projections supported by concrete policy and administrative tax measures for 2026, and strengthening expenditure management, would help enhance fiscal resilience and the management of fiscal risks and pressures.

“In the context of the requested Staff Monitored Program, IMF staff stand ready to resume discussions upon progress towards addressing key policy issues highlighted in the Article IV consultations, including aligning the 2026 budget with the objective of sustaining macroeconomic stability.”

“IMF staff met with the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, Hon. Mthuli Ncube, the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, Dr. John Mushayavanhu, and their respective teams, as well as other stakeholders. The IMF team wishes to express its sincere appreciation to the Zimbabwean authorities and all counterparts for their warm hospitality, open dialogue, and excellent cooperation throughout the mission.”

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Source: APO

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The Tunisian authorities have over the past three years increasingly dismantled protections for refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, particularly Black people, with a dangerous shift towards racist policing and widespread human rights violations that endanger their lives, safety and dignity, Amnesty International said today. The European Union risks complicity by maintaining cooperation on migration control without effective human rights safeguards.

In a new report, ‘Nobody Hears You When You Scream’: Dangerous Shift in Tunisia’s Migration Policy, Amnesty International has documented how, fuelled by racist rhetoric from officials, Tunisian authorities have carried out racially targeted arrests and detentions; reckless interceptions at sea; collective expulsions of tens of thousands of refugees and migrants to Algeria and Libya; and subjected refugees and migrants to torture and other ill-treatment, including rape and other sexual violence, while cracking down on civil society providing critical assistance.  

In June 2024, Tunisian authorities ordered an end to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) role in processing asylum claims, removing the only avenue for seeking asylum in the country. Yet EU cooperation with Tunisia on migration control has continued without effective human rights safeguards, risking EU complicity in serious violations and trapping more people where their lives and rights are at risk.

“The Tunisian authorities have presided over horrific human rights violations, stoking xenophobia, while dealing blow after blow to refugee protection. They must immediately reverse this devastating rollback by ending racist incitement and stopping collective expulsions that threaten lives. They must protect the right to asylum and ensure that they don’t expel anyone to places where they would be at risk of serious human rights violations. NGO staff and human rights defenders detained for assisting refugees and migrants must be released unconditionally,” said Heba Morayef, Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.

“The EU must urgently suspend any migration and border control assistance aimed at containing people in Tunisia and halt funding to security forces or other entities responsible for human rights violations against refugees and migrants. Instead of prioritizing containment and fuelling violations, EU cooperation with Tunisia must shift its focus to ensuring adequate protection measures and asylum procedures are available in the country, and incorporate clear, enforceable human rights benchmarks and conditions, to avoid complicity in violations.”

Amnesty International conducted research between February 2023 and June 2023 and interviewed 120 refugees and migrants from nearly 20 countries (92 men, 28 women, eight children aged 16–17) in Tunis, Sfax, and Zarzis. The organization also reviewed UN, media, and civil society sources and the official pages of local Tunisian authorities. Ahead of publication, Amnesty shared its findings with Tunisian, European, and Libyan authorities. No response had been received by the time of publication.

A crisis fuelled by racist rhetoric

Testimonies reveal a migration and asylum system designed to exclude and punish rather than protect. At least 60 of those interviewed by Amnesty, including three children, two refugees and five asylum seekers, were arbitrarily arrested and detained. Black refugees and migrants were targeted amid systemic racial profiling and successive waves of racist violence from individuals and security forces, triggered by the public advocacy of racial hatred, starting with President Kais Saied’s remarks in February 2023 and echoed by other officials and parliamentarians since.

The situation was aggravated by a surge of repressive measures targeting at least six NGOs providing critical support to refugees and migrants. This has had horrific humanitarian consequences and led to an enormous gap in protection. Since May 2024, authorities have arbitrarily detained at least eight NGO workers and two former local officials who cooperated with them. The next hearing in the trial of the staff of one of these organizations, the Tunisian Council for Refugees, is scheduled for 24 November.

‘We saw them drown’

Amnesty International investigated 24 interceptions at sea and spoke to 25 refugees and migrants who described life-threatening, reckless and violent behaviour by the Tunisian coastguard, such as dangerous ramming; high-speed manoeuvres threatening to capsize boats; hitting people and boats with batons; firing tear gas at close range; and the denial of any individualised protection assessment at disembarkation.

“Céline”, a Cameroonian woman migrant intercepted after departing from the eastern region of Sfax in June 2023, told Amnesty International:

“They kept hitting our [wooden] boat with long batons with sharp endings, they pierced it… There were at least two women and three babies without life vests. We saw them drown and then we could not see the bodies anymore. I have never been so scared.”

Despite ongoing concerns about the lack of transparent reporting regarding interceptions, in 2024 the Tunisian authorities stopped publicly sharing data on these operations after establishing a maritime search and rescue region (SRR) supported by the EU. Prior to that, they had reported a significant increase in interceptions. 

‘Go to Libya, they will kill you’

From June 2023 onwards, Tunisian authorities started to collectively expel tens of thousands of refugees and migrants, mostly Black people, either following racially motivated arrests or following interceptions at sea. Amnesty International found that between June 2023 and May 2025, authorities carried out at least 70 collective expulsions, involving more than 11,500 people.

Tunisian security forces have been routinely dumping migrants, asylum seekers and refugees, including pregnant women and children, in remote and desert areas at the country’s borders with Libya and Algeria. They abandoned them without food or water and usually after confiscating their phones, identification documents and money, placing them at great risk to their lives and safety. Following the first wave of expulsions in June-July 2023, at least 28 migrants were found dead along the Libyan-Tunisian border and 80 migrants were reported missing.

These expulsions have been carried out without any procedural safeguards and in violation of the principle of non-refoulement.

While people pushed toward Algeria had to walk back from the border over weeks or faced risks of “chain refoulement” from Algeria to Niger, those sent toward Libya were often handed to the Libyan Border Guards or other militias who left them stranded or detained them in abusive facilities. Refugees and migrants in Libya are subjected to widespread and systematic human rights violations and abuses, carried out with impunity, that a UN fact-finding mission has found amount to a crime against humanity.  

“Ezra”, an Ivorian man, told Amnesty International how Tunisian security forces expelled him to the Libyan border, overnight on 1-2 July 2023 from Sfax, with a group of 24 people, including at least one child.

“We reached the Libyan border zone at around 6am… One [Tunisian] officer said, ‘Go to Libya, they will kill you.’ Another officer said, ‘Either you swim, or you run to Libya.’ They gave us a bag filled with our smashed phones….”

The group attempted to walk up the coastline back to Tunisia, but Tunisian men in military uniforms intercepted them, pursued them with dogs, beat four of them and brought them back to the border.

Tunisian security forces subjected 41 men, women and children to torture and other ill-treatment during interceptions, expulsions or in detention.

“Hakim”, a Cameroonian national, described how officers drove and abandoned him and others at the Algerian border in January 2025:

“They took each of us one by one, surrounded us, they asked us to lay down, we were handcuffed… They beat us with everything they had: clubs, batons, iron pipes, wooden sticks… They made us chant ‘Tunisia no more, we will never come back’, again and again. They punched us and kicked us, everywhere on our body.”

Amnesty International also documented 14 incidents of rape or other forms of sexual violence by Tunisian security forces, some of which took place in the context of abusive pat or strip-searches conducted in a humiliating manner likely amounting to torture.

“Karine”, a Cameroonian woman, told Amnesty International that male National Guard officers raped her twice on 26 May 2025, first during an abusive strip search after an interception in the region of Sfax, then at the Algerian border after a collective expulsion.

EU reckless support at the expense of lives and dignity

Failing to learn from the devastating results of its cooperation with Libya, the ongoing EU-Tunisia cooperation on migration control has pursued and resulted in the containment of people in a country where they are exposed to widespread human rights violations. Such cooperation involves funding the Tunisian coastguard’s search-and-rescue capacities and providing training and equipment for border management to reduce irregular crossings to Europe.

The EU signed its Memorandum of Understanding with Tunisia in July 2023, developed without effective human rights safeguards, such as a transparent prior human rights impact assessment, independent human rights monitoring with clear procedures to follow up on allegations of violations, and an explicit suspensive clause allowing for the agreement to be suspended in case of violations. The European Ombudsman noted these shortcomings in an inquiry in 2024. This cooperation remains ongoing more than two years later, despite alarming and well-documented reports of violations. Yet, while prioritizing migration control at the expense of international law, it has been touted by European officials as a success, citing a significant reduction in irregular sea arrivals of people from Tunisia since 2024.

“The silence of the EU and its member states over these horrific abuses is particularly alarming. Each day the EU persists in recklessly supporting Tunisia’s dangerous assault on the rights of migrants and refugees and those defending them, while failing to meaningfully review its migration cooperation, European leaders risk becoming complicit,” said Heba Morayef.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Amnesty International.