DRC to join peace talks with Rwandan-backed M23 rebels; US expels SA ambassador

The US was expelling South Africa’s ambassador, said Secretary of State Marco Rubio, calling the envoy a “race-baiting politician” who hated President Donald Trump.

Somalia and its breakaway region of Somaliland had not received any proposal from the US or Israel to resettle Palestinians from Gaza, said their foreign ministers on Friday, with Mogadishu saying it categorically rejected any such move.

DRC to join peace talks with Rwandan-backed rebels

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) would send a delegation to Angola on Tuesday for talks aiming to resolve a spiralling conflict against Rwandan-backed rebels in the east, said the presidency on Sunday.

Angola said last week that direct peace talks between DRC and M23 rebels would begin in the Angolan capital Luanda on 18 March.

President Felix Tshisekedi, who has long ruled out dialogue with M23, had been considering changing his position after a string of defeats as regional support for DRC has waned.

“At this stage, we can’t say who will make up the delegation,” said presidency spokesperson Tina Salama.

M23 had acknowledged receipt of Angola’s invitation, its spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka said on X on Sunday.

M23 made a series of demands after the talks were announced, including asking Tshisekedi to publicly express his commitment to negotiate with them directly.

US expels SA’s ambassador, calling him ‘race-baiting’ Trump hater

The US was expelling South Africa’s ambassador, said Secretary of State Marco Rubio, calling the envoy a “race-baiting politician” who hated President Donald Trump.

Ties have slumped since Trump cut US financial aid to South Africa, citing disapproval of its land policy and its genocide case against Washington’s ally Israel at the International Court of Justice.

“South Africa’s Ambassador to the United States is no longer welcome in our great country,” said Rubio on Friday in a post on X about the rare barring of a nation’s top diplomat.

“Ebrahim Rasool is a race-baiting politician who hates America and hates @Potus [Trump].”

In statements from the Presidency and the international relations department, South Africa called the move regrettable but said it remained committed to building mutually beneficial relations and would address the matter via diplomatic channels.

Rubio reposted an article from the right-wing website Breitbart that quoted Rasool as saying that Trump was leading a supremacist movement. He must depart by 21 March, said a State Department spokesperson on Saturday.

News website Semafor reported this week that Rasool had failed to secure routine meetings with State Department officials and key Republican party figures since Trump took office in January.

The US was reviewing its South Africa policy, added the State Department spokesperson, citing the land policy, South Africa’s growing ties with countries like Russia and Iran and “aggressive positions” toward the US and allies.

“The US / South Africa relationship has now reached its lowest point,” said Patrick Gaspard, a former US ambassador to South Africa. “There’s too much at stake to not work towards the repair of this partnership.”

Somalia and Somaliland unaware of US, Israel proposal on resettling Gazans

Somalia and its breakaway region of Somaliland had not received any proposal from the US or Israel to resettle Palestinians from Gaza, said their foreign ministers on Friday, with Mogadishu saying it categorically rejected any such move.

The Associated Press quoted US and Israeli officials as saying their governments had contacted officials from Sudan, Somalia and Somaliland to discuss using their territory for resettling Palestinians from the devastated Gaza Strip.

Sudanese officials said they rejected the proposal by the US, and officials from Somalia and Somaliland said they were unaware of any contacts, AP reported.

Somalia’s foreign minister, Ahmed Moalim Fiqi, said his country would categorically reject “any proposal or initiative, from any party, that would undermine the Palestinian people’s right to live peacefully on their ancestral land”.

He told Reuters that Somalia’s government had not received any such proposal, adding that Mogadishu was against any plan that would involve the use of Somali territory for the resettlement of other populations.

Abdirahman Dahir Adan, Somaliland’s foreign minister, told Reuters that “there are no talks with anyone regarding Palestinians”.

Unlike Somalia, which has been battling an Islamist insurgency for more than 17 years, Somaliland has mostly been at peace since declaring independence from the Mogadishu government in 1991.

But Somaliland is not recognised by any country and its government has expressed hope that Trump will be favourable to its cause.

Somalia rejects any claim by Somaliland to be recognised as an independent state and says its sovereignty and territorial integrity are inviolable.

A senior Sudanese government official told Reuters that Sudan had not received such a proposal and that it would be unacceptable.

Arab leaders adopted a $53-billion Egyptian reconstruction plan for Gaza that would avoid displacing Palestinians from the enclave, in contrast to Trump’s vision of a “Middle East Riviera”.

Trump has proposed a US takeover of the Gaza Strip to reconstruct the enclave, wrecked by fighting since October 2023, after earlier suggesting that Palestinians should be permanently displaced.

Trump’s plan reinforced long-standing Palestinian fears of being permanently driven from their homes, and was widely rejected internationally.

Asked about the AP report, Michele Zaccheo, UN spokesperson in Geneva, said: “Any plan that could or would lead to the forced displacement of people or any type of ethnic cleansing is something that we would obviously be against, as it is against international law.”

Taher Al-Nono, political adviser to the leadership of Hamas, told Reuters the proposal to resettle Palestinians from Gaza in Africa was “silly” and had been rejected by the Palestinians and Arab leaders.

“The Palestinians will not leave their land,” he said.

Sudan’s warring parties fuelling world’s ‘most devastating’ aid crisis - officials

The conflict in Sudan had created the “largest and the most devastating humanitarian crisis in the world” as the warring parties lay siege to towns and block aid deliveries, top aid officials told the UN Security Council on Thursday.

The war erupted in April 2023 amid a power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) ahead of a planned transition to civilian rule. The United Nations says that nearly two-thirds of Sudan’s population — more than 30 million people — will need aid this year.

“The Rapid Support Forces, the Sudanese Armed Forces, and other parties to the conflict are not only failing to protect civilians — they are actively compounding their suffering,” said Christopher Lockyear, head of MSF (Doctors Without Borders).

Famine had taken hold in at least five locations in Sudan, where an estimated 1.3 million children under five live, the head of the UN children’s agency, Unicef, Catherine Russell, told the Security Council.

“Over three million children under five are at imminent risk of deadly disease outbreaks, including cholera, malaria, and dengue, due to a failing health system,” she said.

Hundreds of boys and girls were also raped in 2024, Russell said, noting that in 16 recorded cases the children were under the age of five. She paused before adding: “Four were babies under the age of one.”

“The data only gives us a glimpse into what we know is a far larger, more devastating crisis,” Russell said, citing a database the UN said was compiled by Sudan-based groups helping survivors of sexual violence. DM