All posts tagged: Paramilitary

Congo Creates a Paramilitary Mining Guard Backed by US and UAE Funding

Congo Creates a Paramilitary Mining Guard Backed by US and UAE Funding

Published by Sam Flores

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — Congo on Monday announced the creation of a paramilitary guard to secure its vast mining operations, backed by U.S. and Emirati investments, as Washington tries to lock in access to critical minerals amid a fragile peace process in the troubled east. The central African country’s General Inspectorate of Mines said in a statement the new unit would be deployed gradually, with an initial 2,500 to 3,000 personnel expected to be operational by December following six months of training in military collaboration. The paramilitary force is projected to have more than 20,000 personnel across all of Congo’s 22 mining provinces by the end of 2028, with the aim of boosting investor confidence and strengthening state oversight of mineral production. The $100 million program is funded through partnerships with the United States and United Arab Emirates, the statement said. Congo is a major supplier of coltan, a metallic ore that contains the rare metal tantalum, a key component in the production of smartphones, computers and aircraft engines. The vast country has long struggled …

Unmasking the Paramilitary Agents Behind Trump’s Violent Immigration Crackdown

Unmasking the Paramilitary Agents Behind Trump’s Violent Immigration Crackdown

Published by skeptic

In the early morning last September 30, hundreds of federal agents swarmed the South Shore Apartments, a beige brick building on Chicago’s South Side. As feds in body armor rappelled down from a Black Hawk helicopter overhead, others crashed through the building’s doors with battering rams, rounding up residents at gunpoint. A group of burly, masked agents wearing helmets and bulletproof vests, and toting suppressor-equipped M4 rifles, moved through the hallways in a rapid, tightly organized file. Padraic Daniel Berlin, a 34-year-old Michigan native and son of a Detroit firefighter, held Yoda, his Belgian Malinois, on a leash. David Dubar Jr., a 53-year-old onetime construction worker, followed closely behind him. Their team leader, Corey Myers, a Marine veteran from the Border Patrol’s Tucson sector, checked apartment doors. Paul Delgado Jr., a standout cross-country runner in high school, was the final member of the entry team. The four men are members of the Border Patrol Tactical Unit, or BORTAC. Based mainly out of Fort Bliss, with at least 11 detachments stationed around the United States, BORTAC …

At least 28 people killed as Sudan paramilitary force tears through Darfur | Sudan war News

At least 28 people killed as Sudan paramilitary force tears through Darfur | Sudan war News

Published by Sam Flores

Rapid Support Forces launches a large-scale assault on the town of Misteriha, home to tribal leader Musa Hilal. Listen to this article | 2 mins info By AFP and The Associated Press Published On 24 Feb 202624 Feb 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group has carried out a major raid in North Darfur State, killing and wounding dozens of people. The RSF tore through the town of Misteriha killing at least 28 people and injuring 39 including 10 women, said the Sudan Doctors Network, which monitors violence in the three-year war. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list The attack destroyed the area’s only health centre. Medical personnel were among those attacked, and one healthcare worker was detained and remains missing, the network said. “These attacks constitute a fully fledged crime and a blatant violation of all humanitarian and international laws that criminalise attacks against civilians,” the group said. The assault on Misteriha came against a backdrop of rising tribal tensions in the western region …

UN accuses paramilitary RSF of committing war crimes in Sudan’s el-Fasher | Crimes Against Humanity News

UN accuses paramilitary RSF of committing war crimes in Sudan’s el-Fasher | Crimes Against Humanity News

Published by Sam Flores

Listen to this article | 4 mins info The Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) carried out war crimes and a possible crime against humanity in its takeover of Sudan’s western city of el-Fasher last year, the United Nations human rights office has said. In a report (PDF) released on Friday, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said “there are reasonable grounds to believe” the RSF and allied armed groups committed acts amounting to war crimes. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list Those acts include murder, intentional attacks against civilians, sexual violence such as rape, torture, and the use of starvation as a weapon of war, the report found. “If committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, these acts may also amount to a crime against humanity,” it said. The RSF seized control of el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, on October 26, 2025, after the withdrawal of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), which have been fighting the paramilitary group for control of …

Aid Workers Find Little Life in Sudan’s Al-Fashir After Paramilitary Takeover

Aid Workers Find Little Life in Sudan’s Al-Fashir After Paramilitary Takeover

Published by Sam Flores

Dec 29 – International aid staff who accessed Sudan’s ‌al-Fashir ​for the first time since its takeover ‌by a paramilitary force found the city largely deserted, with a few people sheltering ​in buildings or under plastic sheets, a senior U.N. official said on Monday. More than 100,000 are estimated to have fled al-Fashir ‍since late October after the paramilitary Rapid ​Support Forces took control there following an 18-month siege that plunged the city into famine.  Survivors reported ethnically-motivated mass killings ​and widespread detentions ⁠during and after the takeover. Many people remain unaccounted for in al-Fashir and surrounding areas. In an interview with Reuters on Monday, Denise Brown, the U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, described al-Fashir as a “crime scene”. “The town was not teeming with people. There were very few people that (they) were able to see,” she said, describing a visit ‌to al-Fashir by U.N. staff on Friday that lasted several hours. U.N. requirements of safe passage and free movement ​took weeks ‌to negotiate, despite RSF attempts ‍to portray the ⁠city as …