Stephanie Wolters

🎥| This webinar examines the role of African institutions in the Great Lakes peace process, and how closer coordination with external partners and grassroots initiatives might move the process forward. Watch: youtube.com/live/JN_6RD5_9… #CHAfrica

Someone who enabled the ‘Hitler of Africa’, backed bombing Libya and has stayed mum on Gaza has been appointed governor general. Still, many ‘human rights’ advocates are celebrating Mark Carney’s selection to represent the King in Canada. Tuesday Prime Minister Carney announced that former Supreme Court Justice Louise Arbour will be Canada’s next governor general. Arbour was a leading architect of the liberal imperialist Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine, which was used to justify overthrowing Haiti’s elected government in 2004 and destroying Libya seven years later. As President of the International Crisis Group, Arbour backed the NATO war on Libya, calling on the UN Security Council to act to protect civilians in Libya. (Alongside Barrack Obama and others, she later criticized the disaster in Libya.) During her time as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in 2008, Arbour criticized the Arab Charter on Human Rights for categorizing Zionism as a form of racism when pressed to do so by racist UN Watch. The next year she signed a petition launched by Zionist fanatic Irwin Cotler Titled “The Danger of a Nuclear, Genocidal and Rights-Violating Iran: The Responsibility to Prevent Petition.” During the past three years of genocide in Gaza Arbour doesn’t appear to have found a single opportunity (petition, public letter, op-ed, rally, etc.) to have criticized the Jewish supremacist state’s horrors. But Arbour’s most egregious concession to power took place when she was chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) between 1996 and 1999. She indicted then-Serbian President Slobodan Milošević for war crimes but refused to investigate any potential war crimes NATO committed during its illegal 78-day bombing campaign. Arbour stated, “I accept the assurances given by NATO leaders that they intend to conduct their operations in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in full compliance with international humanitarian law.” In another important contribution to power serving ‘victor’s justice’, Arbour wasn’t interested in evidence suggesting murderous dictator Paul Kagame’s RPF was responsible for assassinating Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana, Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira and most of the Rwandan military command, which sparked the 1994 genocide. According to French government investigators and the National Post, she refused to investigate evidence implicating the RPF in shooting down Habyarimana’s airplane. In 1996 former ICTR investigator Michael Hourigan compiled evidence based on the testimony of three RPF informants who claimed “direct involvement in the 1994 fatal rocket attack upon the President’s aircraft” and “specifically implicated the direct involvement of [Kagame]” and other RPF members. But, when Hourigan delivered the evidence to her in early 1997, Arbour was “aggressive” and “hostile,” according to Hourigan. Despite initially supporting the investigation surrounding who shot down the plane, the ICTR’s chief prosecutor now advised Hourigan that the “investigation was at an end because in her view it was not in our [ICTR] mandate.” According to Anthony Black, “What Hourigan didn’t know at the time is that Arbour, after having launched the investigation, had been directed by US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (who had handpicked her for the job) to quash the inquiry. And so she did. Arbour would later (again under the aegis of Albright) be promoted to Canadian Supreme Court Justice and thence as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.” (When the ICTR prosecutor who took over from Arbour, Carla del Ponte, began to investigate the RPF’s role in shooting down Habyarimana’s plane, the British and Americans had her removed from her position. Del Ponte details her ordeal and the repression of the investigation in The Hunt: Me and the War Criminals.) When the Globe and Mail confirmed that Kagame was responsible for the act that unleashed the genocidal violence, Arbour sought to shift the blame for failing to fulfill the court’s mandate onto ‘Africa's Hitler’. She admitted there were “very credible allegations” of RPF crimes but said they couldn’t investigate them due to their dependence on the Rwandan regime. But why wait 20 years to tell the world? In 2016 the Globe drily noted, “Ms. Arbour's revelations about her three-year stint as the tribunal’s chief prosecutor came after The Globe obtained two documents — a deposition by one of Mr. Kagame's former top aides and an earlier report by investigators at the UN Rwanda tribunal — pointing to the involvement of Mr. Kagame's forces in the death of Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana.” In practice, Arbour’s actions legitimated Kagame’s repeated invasions into Congo. Justified as targeting genocidaires 30 years of Rwandan violence has killed several million Congolese. Ignoring Louis Arbour’s role in facilitating imperialism, Alex Neve, Mark Kersten and Paul Champ have all gushed over her appointment as governor general. They demonstrate the liberal imperialist character of Canada’s dominant ‘human rights’ and ‘international law’ rhetoric.

Congo’s central bank to restrict cash transactions in US dollars starting next April to fight money laundering & improve trust in franc. DRC banks import billions in cash $ each year, but most seems to disappear, probably to neighboring countries bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

@flyethiopian This weekend I was denied boarding at OR Tambo by ET ground staff who declared my Chadian visa invalid. Customers cannot be prevented from travel by poorly-trained staff. ET is usually a great airline, but three days later, it has yet to reply to my complaint.

@flyethiopian ET ground crew at OR Tambo denied me check-in for my flight to Chad despite my having a valid visa. It is totally unacceptable that poorly trained staff cause this kind of disruption to paying customers in possession of the required docs. Do better.

Cette image m'a beaucoup dérangé à l'escale de Mbuji Mayi hier.( Aéroport de Bipemba). Après plus d'une décennie de perception de Go-pass, les bagages des passagers sont encore transportés par un chariot poussé par la force humaine. Les autorités politiques et de la TVA, cette situation ne vous dérange-t-elle pas? Avec ça, vous voulez changer de Constitution pour rester au pouvoir ? NON. Regardez la vidéo.

The Israeli Defense Forces have issued an evacuation order for Beirut’s Jnah area, which includes two major referral hospitals; the Rafik Hariri University Hospital and Al Zahraa Hospital. At this time, no alternative medical facilities are available to receive approximately 450 patients from the two hospitals (including 40 patients in the ICU), rendering their evacuation operationally unfeasible. Both facilities are operating at full capacity, including treating the injured from the strikes of 8 April. This zone also encompasses the @mophleb complex, and hosts five shelters accommodating more than 5000 people. I urge Israel to reverse this order and ensure the protection of all health facilities, health workers, patients and civilians.

🇱🇧 (EN/FR/NL) I came to Beirut today to show our full support to the Lebanese authorities and to express our deep solidarity with the families affected by the violent conflict opposing Israel to Hezbollah. Just before I was commending President Aoun for offering to open official negotiations with Israel towards a ceasefire, Israel launched, with no previous warning, one of the most massive strikes since the beginning of the hostilities, allegedly causing hundreds of civilian victims. We were at the embassy with my delegation, just a few hundred metres from where the missiles struck. This must stop. The ceasefire between the US, Israel and Iran must include Lebanon!  —— Je suis venu aujourd’hui à Beyrouth pour manifester notre soutien total aux autorités libanaises et exprimer notre profonde solidarité avec les familles touchées par le violent conflit qui oppose Israël au Hezbollah. Peu avant de féliciter le président Aoun d’avoir proposé d’entamer des négociations officielles avec Israël en vue d’un cessez-le-feu, Israël a lancé, sans aucun avertissement préalable, l’une des frappes les plus massives depuis le début des hostilités, qui aurait fait des centaines de victimes civiles. Nous étions à l'ambassade avec ma délégation, à quelques centaines de mètres seulement de l'endroit où les missiles ont frappé. Cela doit cesser. Le cessez-le-feu entre les États-Unis, Israël et l'Iran doit inclure le Liban ! —— Ik ben vandaag naar Beiroet gekomen om onze volledige steun te betuigen aan de Libanese autoriteiten en om onze diepe solidariteit te betuigen met de families die getroffen zijn door het gewelddadige conflict tussen Israël en Hezbollah. Net toen ik president Aoun prees voor zijn aanbod om officiële onderhandelingen met Israël te starten met het oog op een staakt-het-vuren, lanceerde Israël zonder enige voorafgaande waarschuwing een van de zwaarste aanvallen sinds het begin van de vijandelijkheden, waarbij naar verluidt honderden burgerslachtoffers zijn gevallen. We waren met mijn delegatie in de ambassade, op slechts een paar honderd meter van de plek waar de raketten insloegen. Dit moet stoppen. Het staakt-het-vuren tussen de VS, Israël en Iran moet ook Libanon omvatten! @BelgiumMFA @BelgiumLebanon

Yeah I don’t know what to say about this, except for the fact that South Africa is an unforgivably violent place. dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-0…

A desert-adapted elephant sliding down a sand dune in Namibia… not something you see every day

It is with great sorrow that we announce the untimely passing of Steven Gruzd, Head of the African Governance and Diplomacy Programme at SAIIA. An integral part of the Institute, Steve was known for his unwavering dedication to his work and his commitment to the policy community in Africa. We will miss his brilliant mind, his deep camaraderie and his gentle spirit. His absence leaves a significant void at SAIIA and across the continent he served so passionately. Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with Steve’s family, friends and all those who had the pleasure of working alongside him. May his soul rest in peace. 🕊️

A critical review of Mahmood Mamdani's new book Slow Poison: Idi Amin, Yoweri Museveni and the Making of the Ugandan State. Writer Helen Epstein takes Mamdani to task for largely refusing to examine Museveni's legacy of violence. She writes: "Why is it so difficult to see things plainly? Why do we, individually, and collectively as cultures and societies, repress the horrors we witness? Power creates a black hole for the truth, and our all-too-human impulse to erase and ignore makes it all too easy for evil to keep happening, again and again." nybooks.com/articles/2026/…

Amazing images from DRC - the work of Hugh Kinsella Cunningham. theguardian.com/global-develop…

Entretien avec un homme de passion, David Smith, fondateur de Radio Okapi en #RDC et maintenant directeur de Radio Ndarason international #RNI, média écouté par 9,6 millions d’auditeurs dans le bassin du #LacTchad Promouvoir la paix et le vivre-ensemble dans les langues locales.

When discussing mineral smuggling from Democratic Republic of Congo, most people think in terms of coltan, cobalt and diamonds. In fact the key mineral right now is gold. This is an important report, long overdue. globalinitiative.net/analysis/traci…

L'ancien ministre des affaires étrangères de Singapour est un homme d'une rare érudition. La vidéo est sous-titrée en français.

The U. N. Security Council on Friday condemned an offensive by M23 in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, demanded Rwanda stop supporting the rebels and withdraw its troops, and renewed the mandate for U.N. peacekeepers. reuters.com/world/africa/u…

#RDC #Rwanda: @marcorubio s’est exprimé ce vendredi sur les accords de Washington.