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PaperclipPerfector  9mo ago (text post)   1727 thread views

Transnational Thursday for January 25, 2024

Transnational Thursday is a thread for people to discuss international news, foreign policy or international relations history. Feel free as well to drop in with coverage of countries you’re interested in, talk about ongoing dynamics like the wars in Israel or Ukraine, or even just whatever you’re reading.

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Rwanda

Rwanda is a well managed oasis in an unstable neighborhood, but has been rather poorly managing its relations with its neighbors. Tensions with the DRC are abysmal from the Rwandan support for the M23 rebels. Now Burundi, the country with which Rwanda shares its strongest cultural and political ties and once fought alongside in the Congo Wars, has accused Rwanda of supporting RED-Tabara, a violent terrorist group which may or may not have also been involved in a coup attempt. Burundi has closed its border with Rwanda and started expelling Rwandan citizens. I have no idea really how to evaluate whether these claims are true as Burundi has grown closer to DRC and may be pressured to oppose Rwanda, but RED-Tabara normally operates out of the same region in the DRC where M-23 does, and Rwanda definitely supports the latter, so it’s not that crazy to imagine.

Separately, the British-Rwandan plan to deport their extra immigrants has been delayed in the House of Lords until it can be demonstrated that Rwanda is safe. Their ruling isn’t binding but would place a court case against the law on stronger grounds.

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