Rwanda’s foreign minister has dismissed as biased and incomplete a UN document that said Kigali was backing a mutiny in neighbouring DRC and so violating an arms embargo, RNW reports.
“We intend to provide factual evidence that the charges against Rwanda are false. These, as well as Rwanda’s own allegations, will hopefully be reflected in the final UN report due in November,” Louise Mushikiwabo said in a statement.
The allegations were contained in a leaked confidential annexe to a recent UN report. In it, UN sanctions experts said they had “overwhelming evidence” that Rwanda has violated an arms embargo to aid rebels in DR Congo.
The experts said evidence indicated that senior Rwandan military officers had been providing weapons, military supplies and new recruits to the rebels.
Eastern DR Congo has been rocked by an uprising by army mutineers who have formed a group called M23, led by Bosco Ntaganda, a renegade general wanted by the International Criminal Court.
In Nigeria, President Goodluck Jonathan has asked Nigerians to limit the number of children they are having, the BBC reports.
He said people were having too many children, and went on to back birth control measures.
He said that in particular, uneducated people were having too many children, and urged people to only have as many children as they could afford.
The United Nations has estimated that the population of Nigeria could grow from 160m to 400m by 2050.
Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, and previous attempts to encourage adults to have fewer children have failed.
He said he had asked the National Population Commission to inform people about birth control before taking the issue further.
The Daily Nation reports that Sudan has accused the US of interference over the recent crackdown on protests by youths in Khartoum.
“Sudan rejects intervention in its internal affairs,” foreign ministry spokesman Al-Obeid Meruh said in a statement.
“The USA is not qualified to advise on such an issue because it continues bombing civilians in different parts of the world and it cracked down on demonstrators on Wall Street.”
He was responding to comments Tuesday by State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland who said that “arresting and mistreating protesters” will not solve Sudan’s political and economic crises.
After President Omar al-Bashir announced austerity measures including tax hikes and an end to cheap fuel, the protests spread to include a cross-section of the population in numerous locations throughout the capital and several other parts of Sudan.
Demonstrators in groups of 100 or 200 have burned tyres, thrown stones and blocked roads in a growing call for regime change, which has been met by police tear gas.
In Egypt, medical officials say ousted President Hosni Mubarak’s health condition has taken a turn for the worse, news24 reports.
The officials at the military hospital in Cairo where Mubarak is being treated said the downturn followed the announcement on Sunday that Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Morsi won Egypt’s election for president.
The officials said on Wednesday that the 84-year old Mubarak had slipped in and out of consciousness and that he was suffering from depression.
Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison for failing to stop the killing of nearly 900 protesters during the uprising that ousted him last year.
