����ֱ��

GOMA, DR Congo: The M23 armed group, which controls large parts of eastern DR Congo, on Friday described a call by the French president to reopen Goma airport as “inopportune.”
President Emmanuel Macron said the key airport would open “in the coming weeks” for humanitarian flights, during an international conference on Thursday on the crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
The region — bordering Rwanda with abundant natural resources but plagued by non-state armed groups — has suffered extreme violence for more than three decades.
The crisis intensified with the 2021 resurgence of the M23 — a Rwandan-backed armed group fighting the Kinshasa authorities — and came to a head early this year when the militia seized the key cities of Goma and Bukavu.
Goma airport was the scene of fierce fighting during the city’s capture in January and has since remained closed.
The M23, which was not invited to the Paris conference on supporting peace and prosperity in the Great Lakes region, “considers inopportune France’s call for the reopening” of Goma airport, spokesman Lawrence Kanyuka said in a statement.
“Such an initiative must only be undertaken within the framework of negotiations currently under way in Doha under Qatari mediation,” he added.
The Congolese government and the M23 signed a declaration of principles on July 19 in Qatar that included a “permanent ceasefire” aimed at halting the conflict.
It followed a separate US-brokered peace deal between the Congolese and Rwandan governments signed in Washington in June.
However, efforts to end the conflict have proved slow to take effect on the ground.
Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe has also expressed doubts.
“Paris cannot reopen an airport, as the primary stakeholders are absent,” he said on Thursday, referring to the M23 group.
Humanitarian officials have voiced doubts, too, about a possible reopening and underlined that the land route remains essential for delivering aid to areas under M23 control.
The M23 said in its statement that there was “no longer a humanitarian emergency” in areas under its control.
After seizing Goma, the M23 ordered displaced people living on the outskirts of the city to return home and in a few days emptied makeshift camps where hundreds of thousands had been living in dire conditions.
The Paris conference raised more than 1.5 billion euros ($1.7 billion) in international aid for the region, Macron announced.

CHICAGO: Illinois advocates sued federal authorities Friday over alleged “inhumane and torturous” conditions at a Chicago-area federal immigration facility.
Attorneys with the ACLU of Illinois and the MacArthur Justice Center say US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have denied people being held at the Broadview facility private calls with attorneys and have blocked members of Congress, faith leaders and journalists from entering the building, creating a “black box” they say has allowed authorities to act “with impunity.”
Agents have also allegedly coerced people held at the processing center to sign paperwork they don’t understand, leading them to unknowingly relinquish their rights and face deportation, according to the lawsuit.
Representatives of ICE and The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment Friday.
Alexa Van Brunt, director of the MacArthur Justice Center’s Illinois office and lead attorney for the lawsuit, said community members are “being kidnapped off the streets, packed in hold cells, denied food, medical care, and basic necessities, and forced to sign away their legal rights.”
“Everyone, no matter their legal status, has the right to access counsel and to not be subject to horrific and inhumane conditions,” she said.
Attorneys accuse ICE, DHS and US Customs and Border Protection of violating detainees’ Fifth Amendment right to due process and First Amendment right to legal counsel, and have asked the court to force the agencies to improve the facility’s conditions.
Advocates have for months raised concerns about conditions at the facility, which has drawn scrutiny from members of Congress, political candidates and activist groups.
Lawyers and relatives of people held at the facility have called it a de facto detention center, where up to 200 people have been held at a time without access to legal counsel.
DHS previously dismissed the claims, saying those held at the facility have proper meals, medical treatment and access to communication with family members and lawyers.
The Broadview center has also drawn demonstrations, which have led to the arrests of numerous protesters. The protests are at the center of a separate lawsuit from a coalition of news outlets and protesters who claim federal agents violated their First Amendment rights by repeatedly using tear gas and other weapons on them.
US District Judge Sara Ellis sided with the coalition earlier this month, requiring federal agents in the Chicago area to wear badges and banning them from using certain riot control techniques against peaceful protesters and journalists. Later, Ellis also required body cameras for agents who have them after raising concerns about her initial order not being followed.