Myanmar
The U.N.’s top court has announced it will rule on November 19 whether Myanmar committed genocide against its mostly Muslim Rohingya minority. The case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) was brought by Gambia in 2019 after a brutal military crackdown against the Rohingya in 2017 saw members of the community summarily executed, women subjected to gang rape and entire villages burned to the ground. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled into neighboring Bangladesh, where more than one million remain. The verdict will mark the first time the ICJ has ruled on a genocide case in over a decade and only the third time in its history. Analysts say the outcome could influence the court’s approach to future genocide trials, including South Africa's ongoing case against Israel for committing genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza.
More from RFI here.
Proximities Picks
The forces shaping the world’s fastest-growing continent. Semafor Africa brings you essential insight and context on the politics, business, and technology redefining the continent. Three days a week, Yinka Adegoke and his team deliver trusted reporting and analysis on Africa’s changing role in the global economy. Stay ahead — subscribe for free.
Ethiopia
Ethiopia has ordered six Sudanese diplomats to leave the country within 48 hours, a senior Ethiopian official told Reuters, as relations between the neighbors continue to deteriorate amid allegations of meddling in each other’s conflicts. Sudan’s military-led government accuses Addis Ababa of supporting the Rapid Support Forces militia, against which it has been fighting a civil war for more than three years, while Ethiopia accuses Khartoum of backing rebels in its northern Tigray region, where large-scale fighting erupted again in September. The dispute, as well as ongoing tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea, has prompted fears that the entire East Africa region could be engulfed in war.
More from Reuters here.
Iran
Iran has reacted to the trouncing of U.S. President Donald Trump’s Republican Party in midterm elections by saying the result, which lost the Republicans both the House and the Senate, was a rejection of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. "Conscience or the cost of living, Americans said NO TO WAR, and we endorse this message," Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, Iran's chief negotiator, posted on X. A statement attributed to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen or heard in public since replacing his assassinated father in March, said American hostility toward Iran would continue no matter which party was in power, warning against “submission” to Washington. “Trump’s nightmare,” read the headline on the front page of the Sazandegi newspaper, which featured a full-page picture of Abdul El-Sayed, who became the first Muslim senator in the U.S. after his election in Michigan.
More from the Independent here.