Residents of the popular Spanish holiday island of Tenerife, part of the Canary Islands archipelago, have lashed out at authorities over what they label a reckless decision to allow the passenger vessel MV Hondius to dock at the island’s port, raising urgent public health concerns over a potential hantavirus exposure risk. In on-the-record interviews with the British Broadcasting Corporation, local inhabitants expressed deep unease about the ship’s arrival, warning that the decision opens the door to a possible public health crisis that could upend both the local population and the island’s critical tourism industry. Hantavirus, a rare but potentially deadly pathogen spread primarily through contact with rodent excreta, can cause severe respiratory distress and organ failure in infected humans, making any potential outbreak a major worry for densely populated coastal communities that rely on steady streams of international visitors. Many local residents say they were given little to no advance warning about the ship’s docking, leaving them in the dark about what safety protocols are in place to mitigate any potential risk of transmission. The controversy has reignited long-simmering debates over how regional port and public health authorities balance the economic priorities of the cruise and passenger shipping sector against the fundamental right of local communities to safety and transparent communication about potential health hazards. As of the latest reports, authorities have not yet issued a formal public statement addressing the specific concerns raised by Tenerife residents over the MV Hondius docking.
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Disturbances and 127 arrests mar Paris party after PSG Champions League victory
Following Paris Saint-Germain (PSG)’s narrow 1-1 aggregate semi-final win over Bayern Munich that secured the club a spot in the May 30 UEFA Champions League final in Budapest, jubilant fan celebrations across the Paris region descended into pockets of destructive violence late Wednesday night, prompting a swift crackdown from French authorities.
The night began with widespread peaceful gatherings, as thousands of supporters poured into city streets to mark the club’s historic qualification. Even newly elected Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire joined in the festivities, watching the match alongside hundreds of fans — many of them children — at the city’s Hôtel de Ville headquarters. French interior ministry officials confirmed that the vast majority of Wednesday’s celebrations concluded without any major incident.
But the mood shifted quickly in parts of central Paris, where unruly crowds set dozens of public waste bins and parked vehicles ablaze. Riot police were deployed in large numbers to disperse crowds attempting to approach PSG’s Parc des Princes stadium, firing tear gas to clear blocked areas. Officials also reported that a planned effort to shut down Paris’s busy périphérique ringroad was successfully foiled by law enforcement.
In an official statement to Europe 1 radio, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez publicly condemned the violent outbreaks, noting that this pattern of unrest following high-profile PSG victories has become an increasingly common problem. By the end of the night, authorities had arrested 127 people across the broader Paris region, 107 of whom were detained within city limits. A total of 34 people were injured in the clashes: 11 civilians, one with life-threatening wounds caused by a mortar firework, and 23 police officers who sustained minor injuries.
The violence also targeted public cultural spaces: renowned French photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand confirmed that his open-air exhibition at Place de la Concorde was extensively vandalized, with every display panel overturned and many of his original works damaged beyond immediate repair.
Compared to the unrest that followed PSG’s 2025 Champions League final win against Inter Milan, Wednesday’s violence was far less severe. A year ago, related clashes across France left two people dead and resulted in hundreds of arrests, matching the scale of police deployment that secured the city during that match.
Looking ahead to the Champions League final later this month, where PSG will face Arsenal in Budapest, Mayor Grégoire has already announced plans to organize a large public fan zone in Paris to allow supporters to watch the match together safely. He noted that city officials will work to implement strict safety measures to ensure the event can proceed without incident. However, Minister Nuñez has pushed back against the plan, criticizing it as a unilateral proposal and warning that there is significant risk of renewed unrest. He made clear that authorities will not tolerate any further disturbances, promising a firm, aggressive response to any trouble that arises on final night.
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Race to trace passengers who left hantavirus cruise ship at island
A hantavirus outbreak on board a Dutch-owned expedition cruise ship has triggered an international public health response, with multiple fatalities recorded and health authorities across half a dozen countries racing to trace potentially exposed passengers.
The MV Hondius, operated by Netherlands-based cruise firm Oceanwide Expeditions, departed the Argentinian port of Ushuaia on 1 April for a South Atlantic voyage. What began as a routine expedition has since escalated into a global public health scare, with three deaths linked to the vessel and multiple confirmed or suspected infections recorded.
Disembarkation at the remote British Overseas Territory of St Helena on 24 April has complicated contact tracing efforts. Discrepancies remain over the exact number of passengers who left the ship at that stop: the Dutch government puts the figure at 40, while operator Oceanwide Expeditions confirms 30 people (including the remains of one deceased passenger) disembarked, representing at least 12 nationalities. The group included seven British citizens, six Americans, and passengers from Canada, Germany, Singapore, Turkey and Switzerland, among other nations.
As of the latest updates, three people connected to the outbreak have died. A 69-year-old Swiss woman (previously misreported in some early accounts as Dutch) disembarked at St Helena before traveling to South Africa, where she died two days after leaving the ship. She has been confirmed as a hantavirus case. Two other fatalities — the woman’s husband, who died on board on 11 April, and a female German passenger whose body remains on the ship — are still under investigation to confirm whether their deaths were caused by the virus.
On 1 May, three additional symptomatic people were evacuated from the vessel: 56-year-old British passenger Martin Anstee, who remains in stable condition, a 41-year-old Dutch crew member, and a 65-year-old German passenger. The World Health Organization (WHO) currently reports eight total cases linked to the ship: three confirmed infections and five suspected cases.
The first formal confirmation of a hantavirus case on board was not issued until 4 May, weeks after the initial disembarkation at St Helena. Oceanwide Expeditions has stated that all passengers who left the ship at St Helena have now been contacted by the company, and that it maintains constant communication with global health authorities to coordinate quarantine, testing and arrival protocols. The MV Hondius is currently scheduled to dock in the Spanish Canary Islands in the coming days to complete the remainder of its journey.
International contact tracing efforts are now underway across multiple countries. In the Netherlands, public health officials are sending notification letters to all passengers who were on a KLM flight from Johannesburg to Amsterdam that the deceased 69-year-old woman was scheduled to board before falling ill at the gate. Dutch media has also reported that a KLM flight attendant has been hospitalized in Amsterdam after developing hantavirus symptoms following potential exposure.
Singapore’s Communicable Diseases Agency has placed two men who disembarked at St Helena — a 67-year-old Singaporean citizen and a 65-year-old permanent resident — into isolation for testing. Both individuals traveled on the same Johannesburg-bound flight from St Helena as the deceased passenger, and their test results are still pending.
In the United States, public health agencies in Arizona and Georgia are monitoring three passengers who returned home after disembarking the ship, none of whom have displayed symptoms to date. The U.S. Department of State confirmed it is in direct communication with all affected U.S. citizens connected to the outbreak. Two other British passengers who returned to the United Kingdom after disembarking are currently self-isolating at home.
Argentinian health authorities have announced they will begin testing rodent populations in Ushuaia, the port where the MV Hondius began its voyage, to identify the potential source of the outbreak. Hantavirus is most commonly transmitted to humans through contact with infected rodent excreta, with person-to-person transmission rare.
St Helena, where most of the exposed passengers disembarked, is one of the most remote inhabited islands on Earth, covering just 47 square miles with a population of roughly 4,400 residents and only one hospital, placing limited local public health infrastructure under strain as authorities coordinate the response.
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Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler ‘recuperating’ after emergency surgery in Portugal
Legendary Welsh vocalist Bonnie Tyler, whose distinct husky voice has carried her through a five-decade career of global chart-topping hits, is currently recovering after undergoing emergency intestinal surgery at a hospital in Faro, southern Portugal. The update was shared Wednesday via the star’s official Instagram account, confirming that the procedure was completed successfully.
At 74 years old, Tyler has long cemented her status as one of pop music’s most recognizable performers. She first rose to mainstream prominence in the 1970s, breaking into the industry with her 1976 breakthrough hit “Lost in France” followed by another fan favorite “It’s a Heartache”. Her career reached new heights in 1983 with the release of “Total Eclipse of the Heart”, a power ballad that claimed the number one spot on music charts on both sides of the Atlantic.
Tyler’s discography is packed with other culturally defining hits, including 1984’s “Holding Out For A Hero”, which was featured on the blockbuster soundtrack for the hit American film *Footloose*. Decades into her career, she continued to represent her home country on global stages, stepping onto the Eurovision Song Contest stage in 2013 as the UK’s entry in Malmö, Sweden with the track “Believe In Me”.
Most recently, Tyler’s decades of contributions to music were formally recognized by the late Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, when she received a royal honor for her 50 years of work in the industry. Fans and followers have been offered no additional update on her condition beyond confirmation of her recovery, but the news comes ahead of a planned major milestone: Tyler is scheduled to embark on a European tour later this year to celebrate the 50th anniversary of her breakthrough debut hit “Lost in France”.
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US awaits Iran response to latest deal offer
As Thursday dawned, the United States held its breath for Tehran’s formal response to a fresh proposed agreement designed to end the weeks-long Middle East conflict and reopen the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, the critical shipping lane that connects the Gulf to global energy markets. Growing optimism that a breakthrough could be imminent sent Asian stock markets surging and pushed oil prices sharply lower, with both global benchmarks dropping below the key $100 per barrel threshold after days of declines tied to diplomatic progress.
The conflict, which was launched by the United States and Israel in late February, has upended regional security: Iran has retaliated with a wave of cross-region attacks and imposed a tight chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, the passage that handles roughly 20 percent of the world’s daily oil and liquified natural gas trade, plus a large share of global fertilizer shipments. This disruption has sent energy prices soaring worldwide, even as diplomatic efforts gained steam in recent days.
The diplomatic push, mediated by Pakistan and backed by Washington’s Gulf Arab allies, saw a dramatic twist earlier this week when President Donald Trump launched a brief naval operation to escort commercial ships and force open the strait, only to call off the mission within hours. He cited tangible progress in talks with Iran to justify the sudden U-turn. Multiple U.S. outlets have since shed light on the factors behind that decision: NBC News reports that Saudi Arabia, whose Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman held direct talks with Trump, refused to grant U.S. forces access to its airspace and military bases for the Hormuz operation, scuttling plans for immediate military action.
Trump told reporters on Wednesday that discussions over the prior 24 hours had been productive, saying “it’s very possible that we’ll make a deal.” He did, however, repeat his standard warning that the U.S. would resume military strikes if Tehran rejected Washington’s demands. For its part, Iran confirmed the proposal is still under internal review. Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Tehran would share its final position with mediator Pakistan once it has completed internal deliberations. Axios, citing two unnamed U.S. officials, reported that both sides are nearing agreement on a short one-page memorandum of understanding that would end active hostilities and set a framework for future negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.
Inside Iran, many residents remain deeply anxious amid ongoing conflict and growing domestic repression. Speaking to AFP from the northern Iranian city of Tonekabon, 49-year-old Ali — who only gave his first name out of fear of retaliation from authorities — said “The economic situation got worse, and this government has become even more brutal.”
Tehran has also moved to push back against Trump’s claims that Iranian leadership is fractured following the deaths of multiple senior officials in U.S. and Israeli strikes. On Thursday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian confirmed he had held a meeting with the country’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not appeared in public since he was appointed in early March following the death of his father, Ali Khamenei, in the opening days of the war. Mojtaba Khamenei is reported to have been wounded in that same opening strike, and has only released written statements until now. In a video broadcast on Iranian state television, Pezeshkian said “What struck me most during this meeting was the vision and the humble and sincere approach of the supreme leader of the Islamic revolution.”
Beyond the Strait of Hormuz and Iran, regional tensions remain acute in Lebanon, where an already fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah was pushed to the breaking point this week. On Wednesday, Israel carried out its first airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburbs in nearly a month, killing a senior commander from Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated in a video statement that “no terrorist is immune. Anyone who threatens the State of Israel will die because of his actions.” The following day, the Israeli military confirmed that an explosive drone attack in southern Lebanon had wounded four of its soldiers, one of them severely, a day earlier.
Financial markets reacted strongly to the growing prospect of a diplomatic breakthrough. The Tokyo Nikkei index led a broad, strong rally across Asian stock markets, while oil prices fell by 2 percent on Thursday, adding to a roughly 10 percent decline over the prior two trading days. While energy prices remain far higher than they were before the conflict began, both international benchmark Brent Crude and U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate now sit below the symbolic $100 per barrel mark, a shift that has eased fears of sustained runaway energy inflation worldwide. -
US judge releases Jeffrey Epstein’s purported suicide note
Nearly seven years after disgraced convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein died in federal custody ahead of his pending sex trafficking trial, a federal judge has ordered the public release of a short, handwritten document long claimed to be an unsigned suicide note left by Epstein.
The document, which was unsealed Wednesday following a legal push from media organizations and federal prosecutors, runs just seven lines. It claims that a months-long investigation into Epstein’s activities uncovered no evidence of wrongdoing, with the writer stating: “They investigated me for month – FOUND NOTHING!!!” The note also reflects a fatalistic acceptance of impending death, writing that “it is a treat to be able to choose one’s time to say goodbye,” and concludes with “NO FUN – NOT WORTH IT.”
The origin of the document traces back to an alleged 2019 suicide attempt by Epstein, one month before he was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell. Nicholas Tartaglione, a former New York police officer who was Epstein’s cellmate at the time and is currently convicted of four counts of murder, has claimed he found the note tucked into a book in the shared cell after the attempt. Tartaglione first publicly revealed the note’s existence during a podcast appearance in 2023, and the document had been placed under seal as part of Tartaglione’s ongoing criminal proceedings.
Multiple independent outlets including the BBC have not been able to independently verify that Epstein actually wrote the note, and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has not issued any official confirmation of its authenticity. When contacted by the BBC for comment on the unsealing, the DOJ did not immediately issue a response. A DOJ spokesperson previously told NBC News that department officials had not examined the note, noting that the agency has already undertaken “exhaustive effort” to declassify and release millions of pages of other court records tied to the Epstein case in recent months.
The push to unseal the document was led by The New York Times, which filed a formal petition to Judge Kenneth M. Karas, the federal judge overseeing the case in White Plains, New York, arguing that there was no legitimate legal justification to keep the note hidden from public view. Federal prosecutors also backed the release, arguing that Tartaglione’s repeated public comments about the note eliminated any need to maintain its sealed status, and that these disclosures constituted a formal waiver of any privilege that would justify continued sealing.
In his written order approving the unsealing, Judge Karas ruled that the document is subject to the longstanding legal presumption of public access to court records. “The Court comfortably concludes that public access to the Note promotes ‘a measure of accountability’ as well as ensures that the public will ‘have confidence in the administration of justice,’” Karas wrote. He also agreed that Tartaglione’s ongoing public discussion of the note waived any attorney-client privilege that could have protected the document from release, leaving no legal basis to keep it sealed.
Epstein’s 2019 death, which official investigations ruled a suicide, has been the source of widespread public speculation and conspiracy theories ever since it occurred. A federal investigation after his death confirmed multiple serious security failures at the federal correctional facility where he was being held on the night of his death, and lingering questions about the circumstances of his death have kept public interest in the case alive for years. The release of this note is unlikely to resolve those open questions, as its brevity and unconfirmed origin leave its meaning and authenticity open to interpretation.
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China announces suspended death sentences for former defence ministers
In a landmark ruling that underscores China’s sweeping anti-corruption campaign targeting high-ranking military officials, two former national defense ministers have received suspended death sentences for conviction on corruption charges, according to Chinese state media reports.
A military tribunal handed down the sentence on Thursday: both Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu, who held the defense minister portfolio in succession, were sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve. As outlined by China’s official news agency Xinhua, this sentence structure mandates that the capital punishment will automatically be converted to life imprisonment after the two-year probation period, with no eligibility for future sentence reduction or parole for either man.
Court documents confirmed that both former top military officials were found guilty of accepting bribes. In addition to the prison sentence, the ruling ordered the full confiscation of all personal assets belonging to the two men.
Li Shangfu, the most recent of the two to hold the defense minister post, served in the role from March 2023 to October 2023, before stepping down as part of a broader reshuffle that removed several senior military leaders from their positions. This latest verdict comes in the wake of a series of high-profile ousters of top military figures, all part of a wide-ranging anti-corruption crackdown that has reshuffled senior ranks of China’s armed forces in recent months.
The case marks one of the most high-profile anti-corruption actions against former top national security officials in recent Chinese history, sending a clear signal of the ruling Communist Party’s commitment to rooting out graft within the military establishment.
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Latest evacuee from hantavirus-hit cruise lands in Europe
A new chapter of uncertainty unfolded this Thursday when another symptomatic passenger from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius was evacuated to Europe, as the vessel makes its way toward the Spanish island of Tenerife and public health authorities around the world race to trace the spread of the rare, potentially fatal human-transmissible strain. Three deaths linked to the outbreak have triggered international alarm, though leading global health bodies have sought to reassure the public that a widespread global pandemic is highly unlikely, noting the virus is far less contagious than the SARS-CoV-2 virus that caused COVID-19.
Currently, people confirmed or suspected to have contracted the Andes hantavirus strain from the cruise are receiving medical care or completing isolation periods across five nations: Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and South Africa. The scope of potential exposure widened this week when Dutch flag carrier KLM confirmed one of its air stewards is undergoing testing for the virus after potential contact with an infected passenger on a commercial flight.
Hantavirus is an uncommon respiratory pathogen that most often transfers to humans from infected rodent populations. It can trigger severe health complications including respiratory failure, cardiac impairment and hemorrhagic fever. Currently, no licensed vaccine exists to prevent infection, and there is no targeted cure for the disease — available care is limited to managing and easing symptoms as the body fights the infection. The variant detected on the MV Hondius, the Andes strain, is a particularly rare variation capable of spreading directly from person to person.
Health investigators currently believe the index case, the first infected passenger, contracted the virus before boarding the vessel in Ushuaia, Argentina. The virus has an incubation period ranging from one to six weeks, allowing it to spread to other passengers and crew during the ship’s transatlantic voyage. According to a statement released by the cruise’s operator, Netherlands-based Oceanwide Expeditions, Thursday’s evacuation flight carrying the sick passenger landed in Amsterdam, 24 hours after three other infected passengers were evacuated from the vessel. The company also confirmed that no currently symptomatic individuals remain on board as the ship sails toward its scheduled stop in Tenerife.
The UK Health Security Agency has confirmed two passengers who returned to the United Kingdom from the cruise are asymptomatic and have been instructed to self-isolate as a precaution. Officials emphasized the overall risk to the general UK public remains “very low.”
Global health leadership has echoed this cautious optimism. World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told Agence France-Presse on Wednesday that “the risk to the rest of the world is low,” and a full press briefing from Tedros was scheduled for Thursday. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention echoed the assessment, noting that “at this time, the risk to the American public is extremely low.”
Back in Argentina, public health teams are preparing to test local rodent populations in Ushuaia, the coastal departure city where the MV Hondius began its voyage on April 1. The first death linked to the outbreak occurred on April 11, when a Dutch passenger who had boarded the ship with his wife died. At the time, the captain attributed the death to natural causes, so no public health alarm was raised, according to Ruhi Cenet, a Turkish travel vlogger who was a passenger on the voyage.
The cruise operator confirmed the man’s body was removed from the ship on April 24 at the South Atlantic island of Saint Helena, where 29 other passengers also disembarked. “These guests have all been contacted by Oceanwide Expeditions. We are working to establish details of all passengers and crew who embarked and disembarked on various stops of Hondius since March 20,” the company statement read.
Public health officials only activated a full response after the man’s wife, who disembarked to accompany her husband’s body to South Africa, also fell ill and died 15 days later. Hantavirus was confirmed as the cause of her death on May 4. Argentine health officials note the couple had traveled through Chile, Uruguay and Argentina before boarding the cruise. The infected woman traveled on a commercial Airlink flight from Saint Helena to Johannesburg while already showing symptoms. That flight carried 82 passengers and six crew, and contact tracers are working to reach every person on board to monitor for potential infection.
KLM’s confirmation of a testing steward marked the latest development in contact tracing efforts. The airline previously confirmed that one of the deceased passengers had been briefly on an April 25 KLM flight from Johannesburg to Amsterdam, but was removed from the aircraft before it departed. To date, there are still minor discrepancies in official counts of how many people were on the MV Hondius at different stages of the voyage. When the vessel anchored off Cape Verde, it carried 149 people including 88 passengers, according to the operator; however, the company confirmed that 114 passengers and an unspecified number of crew were on board when the voyage departed Argentina on April 1.
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Nigerian army rescues 7 children and 2 women abducted from an orphanage last month
ABUJA, NIGERIA – In a recent operational breakthrough announced Thursday, Nigeria’s military has recovered nine additional hostages kidnapped by armed gunmen during a raid on an unlicensed orphanage in the country’s north-central region last month. The rescue operation, carried out in a dense forest within Kogi State, brings the total number of freed captives to 22, with one child still unaccounted for following the April 26 attack.
The assault targeted an Islamic orphanage operating without official authorization in a remote outskirts of Lokoja, Kogi’s state capital. When gunmen stormed the facility, they abducted 23 pupils in total. Local security forces managed to free 15 of the captured children immediately after the attack, leaving eight captives still held by the assailants.
Army spokesperson Hassan Abdullahi detailed the outcome of the follow-up mission in a statement dated Wednesday, which was publicly released one day later. According to Abdullahhi, troops intercepted the hostage group in the forest and successfully rescued all nine people held there. “The rescued victims comprised five boys, two girls, and two adult females, believed to be the wives of the proprietor of the orphanage,” the statement read.
The recovery of these nine hostages leaves one remaining pupil unaccounted for, though the official military statement did not explicitly address the outstanding missing person or provide updates on efforts to locate the child. It also did not release information on any casualties among the attacking gunmen or Nigerian security personnel during the rescue operation.
To date, no armed organization has publicly claimed responsibility for the orphanage attack. Security analysts who track kidnapping trends in Nigeria note that targeted assaults on educational and childcare facilities have become a common tactic for criminal armed groups in the region. Schools and orphanages are seen as high-value targets because abductions of children generate widespread public and government attention, creating leverage for groups to demand and extract massive ransom payments. Over recent years, hundreds of students have been kidnapped in coordinated attacks across different regions of Nigeria, creating ongoing national security concerns.
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DR Congo president hints at extending his term and delaying polls
In a rare, wide-ranging press conference in Kinshasa this week, Democratic Republic of Congo President Félix Tshisekedi has broken his public silence on two of the most contentious issues facing the Central African nation: his political future beyond 2028 and the years-long conflict destabilizing its eastern territories.
Held at State House overlooking the Congo River and drawing more than 200 journalists and supporters, the three-hour briefing marked only Tshisekedi’s second press conference in the capital since he won re-election to a second five-year term in 2023. Addressing long-swirling opposition accusations that he has been plotting to extend his hold on power beyond the country’s constitutionally mandated two-term limit, the president confirmed he would be open to serving a third term – but only if the Congolese people express their support for the change through a national referendum.
“I have not asked for a third term, but I’m telling you – if the people want me to have a third term, I will accept,” Tshisekedi told attendees on Wednesday.
Current Congolese law caps presidential service at two consecutive terms, but a bill outlining procedures for a national referendum was tabled in parliament back in March. While supporters of the legislation frame it as a measure to strengthen democratic processes, critics argue it is a calculated step toward revising the constitutional term limit that would clear the way for Tshisekedi to run again. Opposition groups have already warned that any effort to amend the term limit provision would constitute a “constitutional coup.”
Beyond his political future, Tshisekedi tied the timing of the 2028 presidential election directly to progress ending the ongoing M23 rebel conflict that has displaced millions and seized large swathes of the resource-rich North and South Kivu provinces in eastern DR Congo, including the major regional hubs of Goma and Bukavu. He stressed that free and fair voting cannot be conducted without full state control over the two Kivu regions, meaning the entire election schedule hinges on how quickly the conflict can be resolved.
“If we cannot end this war, unfortunately, we will not be able to hold the elections in 2028,” he said.
For nearly a decade, Congolese government forces have battled M23 and dozens of other armed factions in the eastern part of the country. Multiple independent investigations and international assessments have found overwhelming evidence that neighboring Rwanda provides military and logistical support to the M23 rebel group – a claim Rwanda has repeatedly denied, framing its cross-border military presence as a defensive measure to counter anti-Rwandan armed groups operating from Congolese territory.
Tshisekedi used Wednesday’s briefing to double down on his accusations against Kigali, arguing that Rwanda has dragged its feet on implementing a U.S.-brokered peace deal signed in Washington last December because it profits from the illegal extraction of DR Congo’s rich mineral reserves. “It’s going to take time, because Rwanda has long profited by looting resources, and that’s why the negotiations are dragging on,” he said. Fighting has continued through 2025 despite the ceasefire agreement, and the U.S. imposed sanctions on multiple senior Rwandan military commanders in March this year for their role in fueling the ongoing conflict.
The president also addressed a separate recent development: the U.S. decision to impose sanctions on his predecessor Joseph Kabila, over allegations that Kabila has backed anti-government rebel groups. Describing the situation as “a real mess,” Tshisekedi lamented that figures once celebrated as architects of democratic transition in DR Congo have now become “gravediggers” of that progress.
Tshisekedi’s comments mark the first time he has publicly confirmed his willingness to pursue a third term, ending months of speculation and heightening political tensions across the country as the government continues its struggle to stabilize the volatile east.