Free Republic

Former President Clinton will lead a U.S. delegation to Rwanda this weekend to mark 30 years since a genocide ravaged the country, the White House announced Thursday. An ethnic conflict between Hutu and Tutsi people in the country escalated to genocide in early 1994, eventually resulting in the deaths of between 500,000 and 800,000 Tutsi Rwandans over the course of about four months. The U.S. government did little to address the conflict, working to evacuate Americans from the country and pledging $500 million for humanitarian aid. Since-revealed White House documents from the time showed the reluctance was caused by the...

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak survived a key test of his leadership Wednesday, fending off right-wing rebels to win a crunch parliamentary vote on his contentious plan to send migrants to Rwanda. Sunak, in power since October 2022, has staked his political future on the scheme, as Britain gears up for its next general election later this year. Right-wing Conservatives had threatened to kill the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill, but they ultimately backed down and the government won comfortably by 320 votes to 276. The result means Sunak avoids a serious weakening of his authority, as his...

On Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “The ReidOut,” host Joy Reid stated that even though Hamas has refused to release any more of the hostages it took during the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel despite Israel offering another pause in fighting in exchange for the release of hostages like the one that existed until Hamas broke it by attacking Israel, the situation in Gaza is like Darfur and Rwanda, “But in this case, unlike in those cases, this feels like this is us doing it. The human misery is being funded by United States taxpayers.” Reid began the segment by...

Scientists in Germany and Rwanda have genetically linked a 100-year-old skull to a male living today. The deceased individual was a high-ranking advisor to Mangi Meli, the king of the Chagga people in the late-1800s who was executed by the German colonial government in 1900 after leading an uprising. The scientists also identified living “likely descendants” of two other skulls. At the beginning of the 20th century, the invading German empire took thousands of skulls from its colonies for since-discredited research into racial classification. In 2011, Berlin's Museums Authority (SPK) acquired about 7,700 skulls in poor condition from the Charité...

Bruce Springsteen’s veteran E-Street band guitarist Steven Van Zandt issued a call to fans and supporters on social media Sunday to “Exterminate the (Republican) cockroaches.” His rallying cry to target GOP supporters, half of America, came during an expletive-laden exchange on Twitter. It began when the guitarist ventured forth by abusing what he called “Republican White Supremicist scumbag cowards and pussies that need guns to feel like real men” after TN representatives demanded gun controls. Van Zandt was then called out on Twitter by a follower for his abuse, which he quickly resumed.

FNC's Tucker Carlson warned that MSNBC is starting to sound like the radical racialist radio stations that instigated the Rwanda genocide: TUCKER CARLSON: In July of 1993, a radio station in Kigali, Rwanda, began openly attacking one of the country's main ethnic groups, the Tutsis. The radio station was called RTLM, but many remember it as simply Hutu Radio because its audience was primarily Hutu. According to Hutu radio, Tutsi people were responsible for virtually every bad thing that ever happened in Rwanda. Tutsis had way too much money. They had way too much power. Tutsis were way too privileged....

A last-minute legal battle is under way over the UK government's first flight transporting asylum seekers to Rwanda. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) says it has blocked the removal of one of seven passengers due to depart on Tuesday night. An out-of-hours judge is currently examining the remaining half dozen cases and there are fears in the Home Office the flight may not depart. It is not clear how the Home Office will respond to the ECHR injunction. In a statement hours before the flight's planned departure, the ECHR said it had granted an "urgent interim measure" in...

@JMPSimor Breaking: European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg grants rule 39 request to stop the flight to Rwanda from leaving. Basis: real risk of inhuman and degrading treatment (Art. 3 ECHR). Please share - government must comply.

The Prince of Wales has privately described the government’s policy to send migrants to Rwanda as “appalling”, The Times has been told. Prince Charles is said to be particularly frustrated at Boris Johnson’s asylum policy as he is due to represent the Queen at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, this month. Migrants who arrive in Britain illegally face being deported to Rwanda, more than 4,000 miles away, under a deal struck by Priti Patel, the home secretary, in April. Today Patel overcame an initial legal challenge to the policy after a High Court...

The UK government will start informing some illegal immigrants this week of its intention to relocate them to Rwanda, the Home Office confirmed on Tuesday. British Home Secretary Priti Patel and Rwandan minister for foreign affairs and international co-operation, Vincent Biruta, signed a “world-first” migration and economic development partnership in the East African nation’s capital city Kigali, on April 14, 2022. (Flora Thompson/PA) The recipients will be warned that they may not be admitted to the UK’s asylum system because they had “travelled through safe countries where they could and should have claimed asylum,” the Home Office said. It also...

On Thursday, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that the British government will begin sending migrants who illegally enter to Rwanda in an effort to stop illegal immigration. According to The New York Times, the new policy will apply to anyone who entered the UK illegally since Jan. 1. The Times noted that Johnson stated during remarks on Thursday that the move was made possible by Brexit. “In a speech on Thursday, Mr. Johnson said his plan could resettle thousands of migrants who cross the English Channel after long journeys from countries like Albania, Iraq and Sudan, and would apply...

The Archbishop of Canterbury will use his Easter sermon to criticise the Prime Minister and his Cabinet colleagues after Mr Johnson unveiled fresh plans to stop Channel crossing migrants arriving from in the UK. A record-breaking 28,395 migrants reached British shores in 2021 after making the perilous 21-mile journey from Calais. "We can't ask the British taxpayer to write a blank cheque to cover the costs of anyone who might want to come and live here." The Government's plan will see illegal immigrants, including those who have crossed the Channel in small boats, travel 6,000 miles to east Africa. However,...

Some asylum seekers who arrive in the UK on small boats across the Channel will be given a one-way ticket to Rwanda, under new government plans. Home Secretary Priti Patel is in the African nation to sign a deal for a £120m trial involving mostly single men arriving in Britain via crossings. BBC home editor Mark Easton said ministers face significant legal hurdles and substantial costs. Refugee organisations have criticised the plans as cruel and urged a rethink. Labour said the plan was "unworkable, unethical and extortionate" - the Lib Dems said it would be expensive and ineffective. Precise details...

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan clashed with this caller who backs the UK's plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, accusing him of not wanting "them coming here". It comes after Boris Johnson announced the Royal Navy will take over from Border Force for patrols of the English Channel, as plans to send people to Rwanda drew heavy criticism. Unveiling the radical proposals at a speech in Kent, Mr Johnson also announced that people who risk the lives of others in the Channel will face life in jail under new laws. Caller Tristan told Sadiq: "I agree with this in...

Rwanda has been recognized by the World Health Organization as being among the countries to fully vaccinate at least 40% of their populations against COVID-19 by the end of 2021. Currently, more than 49% of almost 13 million Rwandans have been double-jabbed, and more than 61% have had at least one vaccine administered. But some Rwandans say this number is only possible because of force by local leaders and police. DW spoke to some people who said they had been forced to received vaccinations. For fear of possible consequences, they either chose to remain anonymous or DW decided to leave...

A Rwandan immigrant walked into French police station on Monday and said he had murdered the Catholic priest giving him shelter while he awaited possible trial over a fire at a cathedral last year... "So in France you can be an illegal immigrant, torch Nantes cathedral, never be expelled and reoffend by murdering a priest. What's happening in our country is unprecedented: the total failure of the state," Marine Le Pen France's immigration authorities handed the Rwandan national an expulsion order in 2019, but he remained in the country. Senator Bruno Retailleau, who represents the Vendee region, identified the victim...

Lake Kivu contains about 300 billion m3 of carbon dioxide and 60 billion m3 of methane gas, giving it the capacity to produce between 120 million and 250 million m3 of methane gas annually. Now, you probably understand why panic and fear has gripped communities in Rwanda and Congo after the sudden and deadly eruption of Nyiragongo volcano on Saturday, which is situated just 20-25 miles away… The likelihood of flow of extremely hot magma into the waters of Lake Kivu and the resulting seismic unrest are feared to potentially cause a deadly explosion. Rwanda’s Lake Kivu is indeed one...

The eruption of the Mount Nyiragongo volcano in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo seems to have subsided late Saturday, according to the Goma Volcano Observatory, which monitors the volcano. Still, authorities have activated an evacuation plan for the nearby city of Goma. The volcano's last major eruption in 2002 killed 250 people and displaced thousands. Volcanologist Honore Chiraba from the Goma Volcano Observatory told CNN there are two fractures in the volcano. Chiraba is following the volcanic activity closely with the governor of North Kivu, the province where the city of Goma is located. A post on the verified...

Mount Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of Congo started erupting at around 17:15 UTC on May 22, 2021, producing high lava fountains and lava flows that forced nearby residents to evacuate in panic. According to local media reports, many residents of the nearby city of Goma (population 670 000) grabbed their belongings and evacuated toward neighboring Rwanda. Red glow filled the sky above the city, sending panicked residents fleeing, Reuters reported. Volcanologist Dario Tedesco said Goma does not appear to be at risk because lava is flowing east in the direction of the Rwandan border. According to Reuters, Tedesco earlier...

Snip]The Danish Parliament has approved a new law that bans foreign governments from financing mosques in Denmark. The measure is aimed at preventing Muslim countries, particularly Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, from promoting Islamic extremism in Danish mosques and prayer facilities.Denmark joins a growing list of European countries — including Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Switzerland — which have taken varying degrees of action to prevent foreign governments from financing the construction and upkeep of mosques on their territories.