This week, after two-year anniversary of October 7, is peace coming soon? International Criminal Court (ICC) finds Sudanese militia leader guilty of war crimes. Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) president appeals to Rwanda to stop M23 violence.
After the 2-Year Anniversary of October 7, is Peace Coming Soon?
This week saw the two-year anniversary of Hamas’s attacks against Israel on October 7, 2023. The attacks, and Israel’s war in the Gaza strip in response to them, have devastated Israeli and Palestinian societies with death, anger, and pain. Hamas’s October 7 attack killed around 1,200 people in Israel, while Israel’s war in Gaza has killed over 67,000 people according to Gaza’s health authorities.
Despite a 20-point peace proposal laid out by US President Donald Trump, it has remained unclear for the past week whether peace is coming soon. Hamas said it agreed to the hostage “exchange formula,” in Trump’s plan, providing certain “field conditions” are met. Among the key points that were still not entirely agreed upon was Israel’s demand that Hamas disarm. Another key point is Gaza’s future. Hamas indicated that it expects to have some future role in Gaza as part of “a unified Palestinian movement,” however, Trump’s plan states that the group will have no future role in the strip. Another contentious key point is the extent of Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza.
On October 9, Trump announced that Israel and Hamas had agreed to the first phase of the plan, meaning that all of the hostages would be released “very soon,” and Israel would withdraw its troops to an agreed-upon line as the first steps toward peace. In a later statement, Trump said the hostages “should be released on Monday or Tuesday” of next week.
Israelis, Palestinians, and the international community will continue to watch the process unfold.
ICC Finds Sudanese Militia Leader Guilty of War Crimes
The International Criminal Court (ICC) on October 6 found Sudanese militia leader Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman “Ali Kushayb”, guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Kushayb was one of the leaders of Janjaweed, a government-backed group that terrorised Darfur, BBC reported.
During the trial, survivors recounted violence, including sexual violence, that Kushayb had given instructions for. Many Janjaweed fighters have morphed into the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the paramilitary group fighting against Sudan’s army which the US has determined has committed a genocide.
Sudan’s civil war born out of a power struggle between Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) leader Abel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti. The conflict has left the country in what US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has described as the “world’s largest humanitarian crisis, leaving over 25 million Sudanese facing acute food insecurity and over 600,000 experiencing famine.”
DRC President Appeals to Rwanda to Stop M23 Violence
The president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Félix Tshiseked on October 9 called on Rwandan President Paul Kagame to halt violence by the M23 armed group.
At the European Union’s Global Gateway Forum in Brussels, Tshiked told Kagame in a speech “It is not too late to make it right. I’m using this forum to extend my hand to you, Mr. President, so that we can make peace. Today, we are the only two capable of stopping this escalation.”
The UN and DRC accuse Rwanda of supporting M23, which Rwanda denies. The head of the UN’s peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) reports a lack of genuine progress on peace in the country. On September 30, Bintou Keita, head of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), said that despite peace agreements signed, peace is “still mostly a promise.”
In June, DRC signed a peace agreement with Rwanda, and in July, the DRC government and the M23 rebel group signed a declaration of principle. In February, the UN Security Council adopted resolution 2773 calling for an immediate and unconditional cessation of hostilities. However, since June, MONUSCO has recorded around 1,087 civilians killed during violence in Ituri and North Kivu. Keita said, “and this toll is growing day by day.” Read more about the situation here.
Keywords: Israel, Palestine, Gaza, Trump peace plan, Sudan, DRC, Rwanda, Congo, M23, peace, conflict, conflict resolution
Tara Abhasakun
Tara Abhasakun is Peace News Network (PNN)'s managing editor. She is journalist based in Christchurch, New Zealand, and formerly in Bangkok, Thailand. She has reported on a range of human rights issues involving youth protests in Thailand, as well as arts and culture. Tara's work has appeared in several outlets, including Al Jazeera and South China Morning Post.
