The UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) is on the defensive since the NGO International Medical Corps revealed this week that rebels from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), and members of a local Mai Mai militia, raped at least 154 women in North Kivu—a few kilometers from a MONUSCO base. The new head of MONUSCO, Roger Meece, addressing reporters in New York via video conference from Goma on Aug. 25, said that two patrols of peacekeepers were never told by the population that the rapes were being committed—even though these attacks are said to have lasted over three days.

Sheik Mohamud Ahmed Shurie, information secretary of the Ahlu Sunna (Sufi militia) for Somalia's Banadir region, held a telephone press conference with journalists in Mogadishu to declare war against Hizbul Islam and Harakat al-Shabab Mujahedeen for the coming holy Ramadan month. The Ahlu Suna Waljama'a clerics, African Union troops and the forces of Somalia's transitional government are battling al-Shabab and Hizbul Islam in the Somali capital and south and central regions of the country.

The US Department of Justice on Aug. 5 announced that 14 individuals have been charged with providing money, personnel and services to the Somalia-based designated terrorist organization al-Shabaab. Prosecutors in the Southern District of Alabama, the Southern District of California and the District of Minnesota unsealed four separate indictments accusing the 14 of terrorism violations. Also that day, two of the defendants, Amina Farah Ali and Hawo Mohamed Hassan—both naturalized US citizens—were arrested. (Jurist, Aug. 6)

From Amnesty International, Aug. 5:

Amnesty International has condemned attacks on politicians and journalists in the run-up to the presidential election on Aug. 9 and calls on the government to ensure the poll is held in an atmosphere where Rwandans can freely express their views.

Nearly 400 have been killed in recent clashes between the Sudanese army and Darfur's main rebel group, according to Sudanese state media. Most of the casualties were members of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). UN peacekeepers in Darfur confirmed that there were at least two major clashes between the two sides. Gen. Al-Tayeb al-Musbah, of the Sudanese army, told the state-run Suna news agency that the army destroyed "scores of JEM vehicles" during the fighting.

Somalia's Shabab insurgents claimed responsibility for July 11 simultaneous attacks in Uganda's capital Kampala that targeted crowds watching the World Cup final at public gathering places. Aleast 74 were killed in the bombings—the deadliest attacks yet carried out by the Shabab, and their first outside Somalia. The statement said the attacks were in retaliation for Uganda's role in the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). The Uganda attacks were the deadliest in East Africa since the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, which left more than 200 dead.

The opposition candidate in Somaliland, an unrecognized independent republic in northwest Somalia, prevailed over the incumbent president in elections held late last month and approved by international observers. The election saw the defeat of President Dahir Riyale Kahin and his United Democratic People's Party (UDUB), which has been in power since independence in 1991. The new president-elect, Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo of the Kulmiye party, will be sworn in by July 26. All parties have pledged to respect the result, boosting Somaliland as a "model" for the Horn of Africa.

Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on July 12 charged Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir with three counts of genocide in relation to the Darfur conflict. The chamber found that there were reasonable grounds to conclude that Bashir had committed genocide against the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups. The charges included "genocide by killing, genocide by causing serious bodily or mental harm and genocide by deliberately inflicting on each target group conditions of life calculated to bring about the group's physical destruction."