Lebanon, DR Congo, Nigeria
Today's three stories you should know
Lebanon
Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed the equivalent of a classroom full of children a day since it stepped up strikes two weeks ago, a U.N. children’s agency official said. Lebanon’s health ministry says at least 111 children have been killed and 334 wounded during the period. “They’ve paid a terrible price. And the first thing we’re calling for is a de-escalation, a political way forward to this war,” UNICEF deputy executive director, Ted Chaiban, told Reuters. Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed more than 900 people since March 2nd and forced more than one million people to flee their homes, including about 350,000 children.
More from Middle East Eye here.
DR Congo
A Belgian court has ordered that a 93-year-old former diplomat stand trial in connection with the assassination of Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) former prime minister and anti-colonial icon Patrice Lumumba in 1961. Etienne Davignon, who was a junior diplomat based in DRC’s capital Kinshasa at the time, is the last surviving of 10 Belgians believed to be involved in the murder. Though Lumumba was killed by Congolese separatists, the U.S. and Belgium are widely reported to have pulled the strings. Lumumba was the leading light of DRC’s independence movement and became the country’s first prime minister before being forced out after three months and assassinated a year later.
More from AP here.
NB: Proximities has published a deep dive for paid subscribers on the war in DRC.
Nigeria
At least 18 people have been killed in clashes between vigilantes and gang members in Nigeria's northwestern Katsina state, according to officials and police. The incident underlines the ongoing insecurity in the region, which the government has failed to contain. Armed gangs, known locally as bandits, have plagued northern Nigeria for years, kidnapping large groups of people, often schoolchildren, and holding them for ransom. Thousands have been snatched, hundreds have been killed, and travel has become unsafe in some areas.
More from Reuters here.
NB: Proximities has published a deep dive for paid subscribers on insecurity in Nigeria.