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Former Congolese president sentenced to death for war crimes

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Joseph Kabila
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Former Democratic Republic of Congo President, Joseph Kabila, has been sentenced to death in absentia for war crimes and treason.

The charges concern accusations that Kabila had been supporting the M23, a rebel group who have wreaked devastation across the country’s eastern region.

Kabila was convicted on Friday of treason, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, including murder, sexual assault, torture and insurrection.

Kabila however rejected the case as “arbitrary” and said the courts were being used as an “instrument of oppression”. His current whereabouts are unknown.

The 54-year-old led DR Congo for 18 years, after succeeding his father Laurent, who was shot dead in 2001.

Kabila handed power to President Félix Tshisekedi in 2019, but they later fell out and Kabila went into self-imposed exile in 2023.

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In April this year, the former president said he wanted to help find a solution to the deadly fighting in the east and arrived in the M23-held city of Goma the following month.

President Tshisekedi accused Kabila of being the brains behind the M23 and senators stripped him of his legal immunity, paving the way for his prosecution.

Decades of conflict had escalated earlier this year when the M23 seized control of large parts of the mineral-rich east, including Goma, the city of Bukavu and two airports.

Pointing to overwhelming evidence, the UN and several Western countries have accused neighbouring Rwanda of backing the M23, and sending thousands of its soldiers into DR Congo.

But Kigali denies the charges, saying it is acting to stop the conflict from spilling over onto its territory.

A ceasefire deal between the rebels and the government was agreed in July, but the bloodshed has continued.

International

US government temporarily shuts down

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The US government entered a temporary shutdown Saturday after no funding law was enacted.

Despite the Senate passing a funding package Friday ahead of a midnight deadline, it needed the approval of the House of Representatives, which is not expected to return to Washington until Monday.

Senators voted 71-29 on the package, which includes five long-term appropriations bills, while extending funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for two weeks to allow negotiations on immigration enforcement.

After federal agents in the state of Minnesota fatally shot American citizen Alex Pretti — the second killing by immigration enforcement officers this month — Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said he and other Democrats would not back the package unless the appropriations measure that included money for the DHS was removed.

If the House passes the measure early next week, any disruption is expected to be minimal.

There is limited interest in Washington in repeating a lengthy shutdown like the one that stretched for 43 days late last year.

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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Friday that Democrats would “evaluate the spending legislation passed by the Senate on its merits and then decide how to proceed legislatively.”

“The Trump administration must set forth an ironclad path that dramatically reforms ICE and other DHS agencies that the American people know have become lawless and heavy-handed.

“It is in the best interest of the country that this is done before the Congress reconvenes on Monday evening and legislation is brought to the House floor,” Jeffries said in a statement.

The director of the Office of Management and Budget on Friday directed affected agencies — including the defense, homeland security, state, treasury, labor, health and human services, education, transportation and housing and urban development departments — whose funding will lapse at midnight, to begin preparing for a shutdown.

“As it is now clear that Congress will not complete its work before the expiration of appropriations, affected agencies should now execute plans for an orderly shutdown. Employees should report to work for their next regularly scheduled tour of duty to undertake orderly shutdown activities,” Russ Vought said in a memo.

Vought said the Trump administration will continue to work with Congress to address recently raised concerns to complete appropriations for fiscal year 2026.

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Plane crash kills Colombian lawmaker, 14 others

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FILES-COLOMBIA-AIR-TRANSPORT-ACCIDENT (FILES) A Satena Airlines aircraft covering the route Bogota-Caracas is pictured upon arrival at Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia, La Guaira State, Venezuela, on November 9, 2022. A commercial plane with 15 people on board disappeared in Colombia near the border with Venezuela, the state-owned airline Satena reported on January 28, 2025. (Photo by Federico PARRA / AFP) Agency Report
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A twin-propeller aircraft carrying 15 people, including a Colombian lawmaker, Diogenes Quintero, crashed in a mountainous region near the Venezuelan border on January 28.

According to AFP, the aircraft departed from the border city of Cúcuta and lost contact with air traffic control shortly before it was scheduled to land in the nearby town of Ocaña at about 5:00 p.m. GMT.

“There are no survivors,” an official of the aviation authority told AFP.

The plane was carrying 13 passengers and two crew members.

The Cúcuta region is known for its rugged terrain, unpredictable weather conditions and areas controlled by Colombia’s largest guerrilla group, the National Liberation Army.

In a separate report, NDTV disclosed that the government deployed the Colombian Air Force to locate the aircraft and recover the bodies.

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Local parliamentarian Wilmer Carrillo expressed concern over the incident, saying, “We have received with concern the information about the air accident in which my colleague, Diogenes Quintero, Carlos Salcedo and their teams were travelling.”

Quintero is a member of Colombia’s Chamber of Deputies, while Salcedo is a candidate in the upcoming elections.

The crash adds to a history of fatal aviation accidents involving prominent figures in Colombia.

In January 2025, a private plane crashed in central-eastern Colombia, killing all six people on board, including singer Yeison Jiménez.

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Indonesia plane with 10 people on board goes missing

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Indonesian authorities are searching for a plane carrying three government workers and seven crew members after contact with the aircraft was lost on Saturday, officials said.

The Indonesia Air Transport turboprop plane left from Yogyakarta and was headed to the city of Makassar on Sulawesi island, according to rescuers.

Three employees of the ministry of marine affairs and fisheries were on board, on a mission to conduct aerial monitoring of resources in the area, Minister Sakti Wahyu Trenggono told a press conference.

Contact with the plane was lost shortly after 1:00 pm (0600 GMT).

Muhammad Arif Anwar, the head of the local search and rescue agency, told AFP teams were deployed to a mountainous area of Maros Regency, which borders Makassar, near the last known location of the plane.

The search on land and by air involved the air force, police and volunteers, he added.

Andi Sultan, operations chief at the Makassar search and rescue agency, said a helicopter and drones were being used to find the plane.

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The aircraft manufacturer, France-based firm ATR, said it had been informed of “an accident” involving one of its planes.

“ATR specialists are fully engaged to support both the investigation led by the Indonesian authorities and the operator,” the company said in a statement.

Indonesia, a vast archipelago in Southeast Asia, relies heavily on air transport to connect its thousands of islands.

The country has a poor aviation safety record, with several fatal crashes in recent years.

In September last year, a helicopter carrying six passengers and two crew members crashed shortly after taking off from South Kalimantan province, killing everybody on board.

Less than two weeks later, four people were killed when another helicopter crashed in the remote Papua district of Ilaga.

AFP

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