Fighting intensifies in eastern Congo, displacing hundreds

GOMA, Congo (AP) — Fighting intensified around a town in eastern Congo Thursday as a rebel group seeking to expand the territory it controls increased pressure on government troops defending it, forcing hundreds of civilians to flee their homes. By evening it was unclear who...

Rwanda fires on Congo military aircraft accused of violation

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Rwanda has fired on a Congolese military aircraft it alleges violated its airspace in a new escalation of tensions between the neighbors that has set off alarm across central Africa. A Rwandan government statement said “defensive measures” were taken...

Tear gas fired at Congo protesters opposing foreign troops

GOMA, Congo (AP) — Police fired tear gas at demonstrators in eastern Congo on Wednesday after dozens of people took part in an unauthorized protest in Goma against the presence of foreign troops to help quell violence from armed groups. Authorities later detained some participants,...

Berlin museums ready to return skulls from African ex-colony

BERLIN (AP) — The Berlin museum authority said Wednesday that it was ready to return hundreds of human skulls from the former German colony of East Africa after having researched their origin for several years. During their research at the city's Museum of Prehistory and Early...

UK plan to send migrants to Rwanda faces new court challenge

LONDON (AP) — British judges gave the go-ahead on Monday for the Court of Appeal to consider challenges to the U.K. government’s plan to send some asylum-seekers on a one-way trip to Rwanda. Two High Court judges ruled in December that the controversial policy is legal, rejecting...

UN experts: `Substantial evidence' of Rwanda forces in Congo

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.N. experts say they found “substantial evidence” of Rwandan government forces crossing into neighboring eastern Congo, either to reinforce M23 rebels or to conduct military operations against another rebel group that includes fighters accused of taking part in the 1994...

Eastern Congo's M23 rebels retreat from occupied territory

KIBUMBA, Congo (AP) — Eastern Congo's M23 rebels retreated Friday from some of the territory it held, the group's first withdrawal since it began seizing swaths of land more than a year ago. The rebels left the Kibumba area and its positions were taken over by the East African...

Growing pressure on Rwanda from France, Germany over Congo

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — International pressure is growing on Rwanda as France and Germany are the latest parties to openly accuse the country of supporting armed rebels in neighboring eastern Congo — with possible repercussions for foreign aid that Kigali has long enjoyed. For...

Court: UK plan to send asylum-seekers to Rwanda is legal

LONDON (AP) — Britain's High Court ruled Monday that a plan to send asylum-seekers on a one-way trip to Rwanda is legal but the government must consider the circumstances of each case before deporting anyone, a judgment that sets the controversial policy up for further legal battles. ...

UK court says plan to send asylum-seekers to Rwanda is lawful, but government didn't properly consider individual cases