| How are those ceasefires going ! 08:44 - Dec 5 with 379 views | BanksterDebtSlave |
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2025/12/5/live-israel-sets-military-budg
Israeli helicopters fired heavily in the eastern areas of Khan Younis, inside the ceasefire-designated yellow line, this morning, our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic reported.
According to Palestinian media, Israeli warplanes launched a series of raids targeting the eastern areas of Gaza City.
Anti-Hamas gang leader, Yasser Abu Shabab, was killed under circumstances that remain unclear. Hamas referred to his death yesterday as an “inevitable fate”.
Israel attacked four towns in southern Lebanon as President Joseph Aoun announced a second round of talks with Israel on December 19 to prevent “a second war”. |  |
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| How are those ceasefires going ! on 08:55 - Dec 5 with 359 views | DJR |
It also remains to be seen if the peace deal between Rwanda and DR Congo actually works on the ground.
Listening to the World Service this morning there are clearly doubts, given there are apparently many warring factions on top of the M23.
And this is what Human Rights Watch says in the light of last night's signing.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/12/04/dr-congo-accord-offers-promises-but-little-m
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly—and incorrectly—claimed that peace has been established in eastern Congo. An initial framework signed in June did nothing to stem atrocities in the region. Human Rights Watch documented a string of massacres by the Rwandan-backed M23 armed group in Rutshuru before the ink was dry: clear evidence that signatures alone do not protect civilians.
While the accord and its economic framework call for some peacekeeping measures, such as the removal of Rwandan troops from Congo, their broad commitments are short on enforceable mechanisms.
Neither this deal nor any other proposed agreements confront a central issue: impunity for abuses drives conflict. Commanders implicated in massacres, forced displacement, and unlawful recruitment still operate freely. Key military and government officials implicated in supporting abusive proxy forces face little scrutiny. Without accountability, new economic or security arrangements will place little restraint on those acting unlawfully. [Post edited 5 Dec 8:56]
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| How are those ceasefires going ! on 09:45 - Dec 5 with 267 views | Guthrum |
| How are those ceasefires going ! on 08:55 - Dec 5 by DJR |
It also remains to be seen if the peace deal between Rwanda and DR Congo actually works on the ground.
Listening to the World Service this morning there are clearly doubts, given there are apparently many warring factions on top of the M23.
And this is what Human Rights Watch says in the light of last night's signing.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/12/04/dr-congo-accord-offers-promises-but-little-m
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly—and incorrectly—claimed that peace has been established in eastern Congo. An initial framework signed in June did nothing to stem atrocities in the region. Human Rights Watch documented a string of massacres by the Rwandan-backed M23 armed group in Rutshuru before the ink was dry: clear evidence that signatures alone do not protect civilians.
While the accord and its economic framework call for some peacekeeping measures, such as the removal of Rwandan troops from Congo, their broad commitments are short on enforceable mechanisms.
Neither this deal nor any other proposed agreements confront a central issue: impunity for abuses drives conflict. Commanders implicated in massacres, forced displacement, and unlawful recruitment still operate freely. Key military and government officials implicated in supporting abusive proxy forces face little scrutiny. Without accountability, new economic or security arrangements will place little restraint on those acting unlawfully. [Post edited 5 Dec 8:56]
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Wars only end if there's a good reason for them to. Defeat of one side, economic exhaustion, external pressure.
The structural issues which led to the Katanga Secession of the 1960s have not gone away (a resource-rich region in a large and poor country), with other layers on top (Hutu-Tutsi ethnic strife, smuggling). The zone of fighting is distant from the capital, remote, difficult terrain - jungles and mountains - with porous borders and interfering neighbours on all sides. A history of poor governance stretching back to the colonial era. Also superpower meddling and UN fiddling.
There are too many parties still with things to gain from continuing to fight. Which, given the poorly trained and disciplined militias, often including child-soldiers, usually means atrocities against civilians rather than battling each other.
These things are not going to be erased at the stroke of a pen, not without strong, internationally-backed enforcement. |  |
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