Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events – day 1,068
Zelenskyy, in a news conference with Moldovan President Maia Sandu, said Kyiv was willing to supply coal to Transnistria at low prices or even for free if the separatist enclave would supply Ukraine with electricity in return. He also offered to send a team of specialists to help expand the enclave’s power plant electricity output.
The Institute for the Study of War reported that members of the Kremlin-linked Telegram channel Rybar – including its founder Mikhail Zvinchuk – visited Iraq over the last week in efforts to cultivate Russian influence there. The team is said to have met with multiple Iraqi officials, including Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani.
Polish President Andrzej Duda told Al Jazeera that NATO member countries should up their defence spending by at least 3 percent of their GDP to build a security zone against the “rebirth of Russian imperialism”.
Exit polls showed Belarusian President Lukashenko, whose administration is a close ally of Russia, was on track to extend his time in power with 87.6 percent of the votes in the country’s presidential election. Lukashenko also said he has “no regrets” about letting Russia use Belarus’ territory to invade Ukraine in 2022.
Source: Al Jazeera
UN experts slam Palestinian journalist Ali Abunimah’s arrest in Switzerland
United Nations human rights experts and activists have condemned the arrest of a prominent Palestinian journalist in the Swiss city of Zurich, saying it raised concerns about freedom of speech.
Ali Abunimah – the executive director of online publication Electronic Intifada which calls itself “Palestine’s weapon of mass instruction” – was arrested by Swiss police on Saturday before his speech in Zurich, the website said in a statement.
Swiss police confirmed that the 53-year-old American citizen had been arrested. They cited an entry ban and said further measures under its immigration law were being considered.
The UN special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, Irene Khan, called the arrest “shocking news” and urged Switzerland to investigate and release him in a post on the X social media platform on Sunday.
“The climate surrounding freedom of speech in Europe is becoming increasingly toxic, and we should all be concerned,” said Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied territories.
I share the shock and urge for a prompt investigation into this matter. The climate surrounding freedom of speech in Europe is becoming increasingly toxic, and we should all be concerned. https://t.co/1KE9maAsgY
— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) January 26, 2025
Pro-Palestinian advocacy group Swiss Action for Human Rights launched a petition to release Abunimah on Sunday.
A spokesperson for the United States embassy in Bern said it was providing appropriate consular assistance after seeing reports of the arrest of a US citizen, declining further comment.
Abunimah’s arrest came a day after he arrived in Zurich for a speaking tour, Electronic Intifada said in a statement.
“He is currently being detained and has had access to legal counsel,” it said on Saturday. “When he arrived at Zurich airport on Friday, Abunimah was questioned by police for an hour before being allowed to enter the country.”
Describing the arrest as a “growing backlash from Western governments against expressions of solidarity with the Palestinian people”, the website noted that several activists and journalists were arrested, raided or charged using “counterterror” powers in the United Kingdom last year.
They included Asa Winstanley, an associate editor with Electronic Intifada, whose home was raided and computers and phones seized, it said, adding that Winstanley has not been charged with any crime.
“Speaking out against injustice in Palestine is not a crime. Journalism is not a crime,” the website said.
During a solidarity protest for Palestine on Saturday in Geneva, demonstrators said Abunimah’s arrest “had no legal basis”.
“He is defamed by Zurich media,” one of the speakers said. “We have free speech in Switzerland. It is a constitutional right,” she said, calling the arrest “unacceptable”.
“We support Ali Abunimah, all the Palestinian activists and activists for human rights,” she said.
Source: Al Jazeera
‘Declaration of war’: M23 rebels claim seizing key DR Congo city of Goma
Gunfire rang out across parts of Goma, the largest city in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), hours after Rwanda-backed M23 rebels said they had seized it despite the United Nations Security Council calling for an end to the offensive.
The armed group announced the city’s capture in a statement early on Monday, as the DRC government said their advance was a “declaration of war” by Rwanda and the UN said the capture has caused “mass panic” among Goma’s two million residents.
The M23 claim came minutes before a 48-hour deadline it had given to Congolese troops to surrender their weapons expired. Its fighters also urged Goma residents to remain calm and for members of the DRC military to assemble at the central stadium.
Two witnesses told the Reuters news agency rebels had entered the centre of Goma. One of them shared a brief video showing heavily armed men walking through the streets, the agency reported.
The advance by the M23 rebel alliance has forced thousands in DRC’s mineral-rich east from their homes and triggered fears that a decades-old simmering conflict risks reigniting a broader regional war.
M23 fighters have been locked in a conflict with the Congolese army and UN peacekeepers on Goma’s outskirts for several days.
The battle for the key city is the latest chapter of fighting in the eastern DRC, a volatile area that has struggled with regional rivalries, ethnic disputes and armed militia conflicts for more than three decades, triggering one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
In a video posted on X, DRC government’s spokesman Patrick Muyaya called for the protection of civilians and said the country is “in a war situation”.
Furious over the M23 advance on Goma, the DRC cut ties with Rwanda on Saturday and called for UN sanctions on its neighbour.
With international pressure mounting for an end to the battle for Goma, Kenya announced on Sunday that DRC President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame had agreed to attend a summit in the next two days.
Kenyan President William Ruto appealed to both leaders to “heed the call for peace from the people of our region and the international community”.
Ruto, chairman of the East African Community bloc, will hold an emergency meeting for heads of state on the situation, said Korir Sing’Oei, principal secretary at Kenya’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
At an emergency meeting of the UNSC on Sunday in response to the crisis, Kinshasa’s top diplomat warned that more Rwandan troops were crossing the border “in an open and deliberate violation” of sovereignty.
“This is a frontal assault, a declaration of war that no longer hides behind diplomatic artifice,” said DRC Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner.
Kigali dismissed statements that “did not provide any solutions”, and blamed Kinshasa for triggering the recent escalation.
“The fighting close to the Rwandan border continues to present a serious threat to Rwanda’s security and territorial integrity and necessitates Rwanda’s sustained defensive posture,” Rwanda’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
UN experts say Rwanda has deployed 3,000-4,000 soldiers and provided significant firepower, including missiles and snipers, to support the M23 in fighting in DRC.
In a statement late on Sunday, the UNSC called for the withdrawal of aggressive “external forces” in the region but stopped short of explicitly naming them.
The statement came after UN chief Antonio Guterres called on Rwanda to pull its armed forces out of DRC – a call rejected by Kigali.
About a dozen foreign peacekeepers have been killed in the escalating clashes.
Source: Al Jazeera