Nepal struggles to control a dengue outbreak

Dengue cases have been recorded in 75 out of 77 districts throughout the country, including remote hilly and mountainous regions.

Dengue is a mosquito-borne disease transmitted by female Aedes aegypti

 and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes

Nepal has been battling a dengue outbreak, with the country recording over 17,500 infections and 21 related deaths in the past few months.  

The surge in dengue case numbers comes just as the COVID health crisis in the Himalayan nation was subsiding, with daily new coronavirus infections dropping to below 500. 

According to the health ministry, dengue has been recorded in almost all of the country but experts say that most infections are going unreported and that the authorities can only record a small percentage of the total cases.

Sher Bahadur Pun, chief of the clinical research unit at Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital (STIDH) in Kathmandu, said that many patients don't visit health care centers to seek treatment as they consider the disease a seasonal viral infection and are aware that there is no specific treatment for dengue.

"In some affected areas, entire familes have been infected. But only one or two family members have visited doctors, and only these cases are being recorded," he told DW.

Runa Jha, director of the National Public Health Laboratory (NPHL) in Kathmandu pointed out the lack of adequate monitoring and testing capacities. 

"In the case of the dengue outbreak, many cases might have gone unreported in the absence of fixed testing labs and due to the lack of systematic databases like the one we had during the COVID-19 pandemic," she said.

Avoiding mosquito bites is key

Though dengue, which primarily occurs in tropical and sub-tropical regions, is often mild it can be fatal in some cases.

It is a mosquito-borne disease transmitted by female Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes. The same vector also transmits the chikungunya, yellow fever and Zika viruses, according to the World Health Organization.

Symptoms of dengue include mild to high fever, severe muscle pain, rashes, severe headache, and pain in the eyes.

Many dengue patients in Nepal are reportedly using strong painkillers

 and antibiotics without prescription

Nepal already experienced a major dengue outbreak in 2019, in which six people died and over 17,000 were hospitalized.

Health experts have long called on the government to put in place effective measures to prevent the spread of disease.

Jha said that authorities need to launch a campaign to eliminate mosquito breeding sites and raise awareness about the precautions people need to take.

She added that measures should be taken to avoid mosquito bites in schools and offices as well as at home.

"Dengue prevention and control depend on effective vector control measures. The best way to this effect is taking necessary precautions by people and communities themselves."

Outbreak could last weeks

The government has faced criticism for its handling of the current outbreak so far.

Pun blamed authorities for not paying enough attention to warnings from public health experts and putting in place proper measures.

"Even though awareness campaigns and disinfection drives have now begun, they won't be effective as dengue-virus-infected mosquitoes have already reached our homes," he said.

Speaking at a public function on Tuesday, Gagan Thapa, a former health minister and senior leader of the ruling Nepali Congress party, said that all tiers of government — federal, provincial, and local — had failed to come up with a coordinated response.

Responding to the criticism, Roshan Pokharel from the health ministry, told DW that the government had initiated public awareness campaigns as well as stepped up efforts to destroy the possible breeding sites of mosquitoes.

However, he acknowledged a lack of coordination among authorities and predicted that the current outbreak could last another four to six weeks due to the rainy season. 

Battling medicine shortages

Another health ministry official, who asked not to be named, said that the government was considering declaring a dengue epidemic in the country, in the hope that it would improve coordination among various branches and tiers of government.

In recent days, reports have emerged that health facilities are struggling with shortages of medical testing kits as well as vital medicines such as paracetamol, which doctors recommend to bring down fever and ease body pains.

Many patients are reportedly using strong painkillers and antibiotics without prescription. 

Ramesh Koirala, a cardiologist, said that using such medicines without consulting a physician could lead to severe health problems — and sometimes even death.

Edited by: Srinivas Mazumdaru

Russia's sham referendums in Ukraine: What does it hope to achieve?

Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine are holding referendums so that they can be absorbed into the Russian Federation. The process is reminiscent of the annexation of Crimea in 2014 — with differences.

According to this poster in Kherson, Russians and Ukrainians are one people

Russia had already declared its intent in spring, and is now going ahead with plans to annex the territories it has occupied in the south and east of Ukraine on a fast-track basis. Simultaneous votes in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions have been scheduled from September 23 to September 27. In a speech on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested that Moscow would recognize the results.

Just as it did with the Crimean annexation in 2014, Russia is making a point of appearing not to be involved. It was local Ukrainian politicians supported by the Russian military who announced the so-called "referendums." As in the case of Crimea eight years ago, the vote has been brought forward from a previously suggested date — that of November 4. Regional referendums are banned in Ukraine. Like in Crimea, there will be no independent election monitoring.

President Vladimir Putin made a speech on Russian TV on Wednesday

'Yes' or 'no'

However, that is as far as the similarities go — there are far more differences.

Donetsk and Luhansk are separatist republics that have effectively been under Russian control since 2014. Vladimir Putin recognized them as independent states shortly before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February.

The Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, on the other hand, were occupied almost entirely or partially by Russia only after the invasion began. Fighting continues in all four regions to this day. A referendum had also been planned in the areas east of Kharkiv, which were occupied until a few days ago. The successful Ukrainian counteroffensive seems to have dashed that idea.

Russian media are reporting that there will be regional differences. In Donetsk and Luhansk, the ballot will pose a single question, to be answered with a "yes" or a "no," on whether to join the Russian Federation. 

In Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, three questions will be asked but only one "yes" or "no" answer will be possible: "Are you for secession from Ukraine, establishing an independent country and joining the Russian Federation?"

Voting will also take place in Russia, where hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have fled since 2014. The majority of Ukrainian refugees, however — several million — have fled to regions controlled by Kyiv and abroad

There will be no electronic voting. Mobile election teams escorted by police are scheduled to make house visits in the Zaporizhzhia region, the Russian-appointed head of administration, Yevgeny Balitsky, told Russian state broadcaster Rossiya 24 on Tuesday.

Russia's goals

Once the annexation has been formalized, the idea is that fighters from Donetsk and Luhansk will be able to join the Russian army. But Moscow plans to recruit volunteers in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. The annexation of the new territories would allow Russia to use "all the forces of self-defense," former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev wrote on his Telegram channel on Tuesday. Many observers interpreted that as a threat to use nuclear weapons. However, a Ukrainian attack on a Russian military airport in the Russian-annexed territory of Crimea last month did not trigger an immediate Russian response.

Russia is suffering considerable losses in Ukraine

Russia's original plan to hold what was to look like an orderly vote has been scrapped, said Dmitry Oreshkin, a Russian political scientist. He told DW that a vote taking place "during a war that almost half of the population has fled," could not be taken seriously.

2019 survey in Donbas: no majority for annexation

There is no reliable data on the current mood in Ukraine's Russian-occupied territories. According to a 2019 survey commissioned by the Berlin Center for East European and International Studies (ZOiS), fewer than one out of two, or about 45%, of the residents of the separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk were in favor of annexation to Russia. At that time, 27% supported an autonomous status — and 54% of respondents in the two regions advocated a return to Ukraine.

This article was originally written in German.

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• Date 21.09.2022

Germany considers nationalizing another major gas importer — reports

SEFE, formerly known as Gazprom Germania, could become the second German gas importer to be protected from bankruptcy after Russia cut off supplies.

Germany's natural gas importers are threatened with bankruptcy as costs skyrocket

Following the nationalization of gas giant Uniper earlier in the week, the German government on Thursday confirmed it was considering the takeover of SEFE, the German subsidary of Russia's energy behemoth Gazprom. 

Plans to nationalize SEFE were first reported in German news magazine Der Spiegel. Later, a spokeswoman for Economy Minister Robert Habeck said the government talks about the future of the company are ongoing. 

She could not provide further details. SEFE had no immediate comment.

"Discussions are ongoing in the federal government regarding the future of Sefe,"  a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Economics told Reuters news agency.

SEFE under federal trusteeship since April

In June, the government placed Gazprom Germania, as it was then known, into long-term administration and provided it with a loan of up to €10 billion ($10.4 billion) to stop the company from insolvency.

The company was taken under temporary administration following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

With assets and subsidiaries in Germany, Britain, Switzerland, Belgium, the Czech Republic and outside Europe, the firm's activities are essential for the European gas market and supplies to industry and households.

Germany's winter gas woes

As winter approaches, Germany was doing all it can to save natural gas. Gas storage tanks were over 90% full.

On Thursday Habeck said Germany must fully utilize its fiscal policy to preserve the economy and keep business and industry investments going.

He added that being forced to replace Russian energy imports would cost Europe's biggest economy some €60 billion ($58.89 billion) this year and €100 billion next year.

Germany last week also took control of a Russian-owned oil refinery, which supplies 90% of the capital's fuel.

With the Uniper nationalization, Germany is pumping at least €40 billion ($39.49 billion) into its three biggest Russian gas importers  Uniper, SEFE and EnBW's VNG division.

Fukushima: Japan attempts to safely remove nuclear fuel from crippled reactors

More than a decade after the second-worst nuclear disaster in history, engineers want to construct a huge water-filled tank around one of the damaged reactors and carry out underwater dismantling work.

The proposal would permit experts to deploy robots to more closely examine

 the condition of the crippled reactor

Nuclear experts pondering the safest way to decommission the three crippled reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi atomic energy plant have devised a new plan to recover highly radioactive debris at the site, with even anti-nuclear campaigners giving the proposal their qualified support.  

They warn, however, that the situation at the plant — on the northeast coast of Japan— remains precarious more than a decade since three of the six reactors suffered meltdowns after an offshore earthquake of magnitude 9 triggered a series of powerful tsunamis.  

In their latest annual strategy report on progress at the plant, experts at the Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Office (NDF) have proposed the construction and filling with water of a massive concrete tank to completely enclose one of the reactor buildings. 

The water would act as a shield to prevent radiation from escaping into the surrounding environment and give engineers more space, in which to operate heavy equipment to dismantle and remove the outer shell of the reactor building.

NDF experts plan to construct a massive concrete tank arond one of the reactor buildings

That, in turn, would permit experts to deploy robots to more closely examine the condition of the reactor, as well as the fuel that has escaped and pooled in the building's basement levels.  

The plan was presented to the government at a meeting in Iwaki, just south of the plant, in early September, during which NDF President Hajimu Yamana explained the benefits. 

Safe from radioactivity 

"No radioactive materials would be swirling up underwater, so there would be almost zero impact on the outside," Yamana told the Asahi newspaper.

He emphasized, however, that the proposal was in the initial stages and no final decision had been taken. If it worked, however, then the same strategy could be deployed to help in the decommissioning of the remaining two damaged reactors at the facility. 

"I cannot say anything for sure yet," Yamana said. "We are still in the very, very early stages of the concept study. There are still a lot of things to study as the attempt would be the first of its kind in the world."

Hajime Matsukubo, secretary-general of the Tokyo-based Citizens' Nuclear Information Center, remains a vocal critic of the Japanese government's insistence on the need for atomic energy, but agreed that the NDF plan appeared to offer a number of benefits for the decommissioning process. 

"The work cannot go ahead without the water shield because it would expose workers to dangerously high levels of radiation so this idea for the construction of a tank around one of the reactors is positive," he told DW.  

"But that does not mean that I am not concerned," he said. "It will be very difficult to construct this tank, to make sure it does not leak, and it will be very expensive and take more time, of course."

ARTISTS REFLECT ON THE FUKUSHIMA DISASTER AFTER 10 YEARS
'Artists and the Disaster: Imagining in the 10th Year'
By organizing the exhibition "Artists and the Disaster: Imagining in the 10th Year," the art center in the city of Mito (photo), which suffered damage from the earthquake of 2011, looked back on the catastrophe after one decade through the eyes of Japanese artists.
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Another earthquake 

Another concern that has been a constant since the March 2011 disaster is the possibility of another major earthquake or tsunami damaging the tank and potentially exposing radioactive debris to the air.

"We have already seen what long-term exposure to salt water at the site does to metal and other materials, and if there was another major tremor then that could very easily affect the tank and even see it collapse," Matsukubo said. "To me, that is the biggest worry."  

He also questioned why it had taken the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), decommissioning experts, the government and Japan's nuclear regulators more than a decade to think up the plan. It is likely that the delay will further extend the schedule and total cost of rendering the site safe. 

Government estimates put the cost of decommissioning at 8 trillion yen (€56 billion, $55.3 billion), although that figure may increase if new complications crop up, while the work will probably continue for another 30 years.  

Kazuto Suzuki, a professor of science and technology policy at Tokyo University, agreed that the new approach to the decommissioning of the reactors "seems to be a good one, but the problem will be in the execution." 

"I'm not an expert, but I can see problems with leaks — as they have already experienced from the tanks holding contaminated water at the site — and then that water escaping into the sea," he said. "This is a really big issue for the people still living in the region and they have to be able to guarantee a safe level of water within the tank surrounding the reactor." 

Thousands died in 2011 when a tsunami swept inland and led to a meltdown 

at the Fukushima nuclear power plant

Seismic concerns 

There are also concerns about the stability of the ground that the tank will stand on due to the immense weight it will have to bear, Suzuki pointed out.  

He was less worried, however, about the possibility of another earthquake wreaking further havoc at the site.  

"Concern about another earthquake is legitimate, but we have to remember that the original damage to the Fukushima plant was almost entirely the result of the tsunami, not the earthquake," he said.  

"I actually believe that Japan can be quite proud of the sophisticated anti-seismic technology that is incorporated into all buildings here, but especially our nuclear plants," Suzuki said.

"I am confident that thanks to the lessons we have learned at Fukushima already, the impact of another earthquake on the walls of a tank around a reactor would be factored into the construction process." 

Edited by: Keith Walker

N. Ireland has more Catholics than Protestants for first time, census shows

The first-time demographic shift could have repercussions for British unity. When Northern Ireland was founded in 1921 as part of the United Kingdom, two-thirds of the population were Protestant

Catholics now outnumber Protestants in Northern Ireland

For the first time in the century of its existence, Northern Ireland has more residents who identify as Catholic than those call themselves Protestants, a census has shown, according to results published on Thursday.

When Northern Ireland was founded in 1921 as part of the United Kingdom, two-thirds of the population was Protestant, in strong contrast to the largely Catholic Irish state to the south.

Some observers believe the shift in religious affiliation could boost support for the region to break with the UK, creating a united Ireland on the entire island of the same name.

What did the census show?

Data from the 2021 census showed 45.7% of respondents identified as Catholic or were brought up Catholic, compared with 43.5% identifying as Protestants.

The previous census, which was carried out in 2011, showed Protestants outnumbered Catholics 48% to 45%.

The shift is one that has been long predicted by demographers, as Catholics tend to be younger and have higher birth rates.

Another census question found that 32% of respondents identified solely as British, down from 40% in 2011. Twenty-nine percent saw themselves as Irish, up from 25%, while 20% said they were Northern Irish.

What could the result mean for the UK?

The landmark shift is likely to lead to more calls for a referendum on reuniting Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland. Such a reunification is permitted under the Good Friday Agreement if a majority in Northern Ireland is in favor.

The Irish nationalist Sinn Fein party, which spoke of the census results as "a clear indication that historic change is happening across this island," is among those demandin a vote on the issue. It has stepped up its calls for a poll particularly since Britain decided in 2016 to leave the EU, a move opposed by 56% of Northern Irish voters.

However, such a poll can be carried out only with the approval of the British government, and so far surveys have consistently shown a clear majority of voters wanting to remain part of the United Kingdom.

Sectarian issues played a role in the often violent unrest in the region known as The Troubles lasting from around the late 1960s to 1998, when the so-called Good Friday Agreement led to a power-sharing government.

More than 3,000 died in the fighting between mainly Catholic Irish nationalist militants seeking a united Ireland, and mainly Protestant pro-British loyalists and the British Army.

Mexico rattled by second earthquake this week

Mexican officials said Thursday's earthquake was an aftershock from a tremor several days ago. There were no reports of widespread damage.

In Mexico City, an earthquake alert was activated, prompting residents to leave their homes

A powerful earthquake in Mexico's state of Michoacan unleashed landslides early Thursday morning and was felt in the nearby states of Colima, Jalisco and Guerrero.

The US Geological Survey said the tremor was centered 31 miles (50 kilometers) southwest of Aguililla at a depth of 15 miles (24.1 kilometers).

The epicenter was not far from a similar quake that occurred on Monday. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Twitter that the quake was an aftershock from Monday's quake.

Mexico's civil protection authorities and the president both said there were no initial reports of damage in Michoacan or the surrounding regions.

However, in Mexico City, hundreds of kilometers away, a seismic quake alert was activated, prompting thousands of people to leave their homes in the early hours of the morning.

Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said one woman died after falling down the stairs, suffering a strike to the head as she stumbled, while a second victim suffered a heart attack.

"People lost their lives in Mexico City, according to the report by Claudia Sheinbaum. In the epicenter area in Michoacan, Colima and Jalisco no such misfortune," Lopez Obrador posted on social media.

]Mexico's marks severe earthquakes in September 

Every September 19, a national simulation for earthquakes takes place, a date which marks the anniversary of two of the largest and most destructive quakes in Mexican history, which occurred in 1985 and 2017.

Monday's quake left two dead and ten injured in the western territory of Mexico. In all, 1,000 aftershocks were recorded, with today's being the one of the highest magnitudes.

The 1985 quake resulted in more than 5,000 fatalities after the capital was struck by a magnitude 8.1 tremor.

Another quake on the same date in 2017, with its epicenter inland and far closer to Mexico City than Monday's tremor, caused more than 200 fatalities and some 1,300 injuries.

Mexico is on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, an area of volcanic and tectonic activity. It spans several continents, incorporating most of the west coast of the Americas and most of the eastern tip of Asia and some Pacific islands.

jsi/wmr (AFP, Reuters, AP, EFE)

• Date 22.09.2022

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Mexico rocked by strong earthquake

The United States Geological Survey reported the quake was of a magnitude 7.0, felt as far away as Mexico City from its epicenter near Acapulco. At least one person died in the state of Guerrero.  

Spain bestows personhood status to heavily polluted lagoon

Lawmakers in Spain have voted to award the legal status of a person to an endangered saltwater lagoon. The Mar Menor is the first ecosystem in Europe to receive the designation and legal rights that go with it

Agricultural waste threatens Europe's largest saltwater lagoon, causing huge

 fish and crustacean die-offs

Members of the Spanish upper house of parliament decided by a large majority to give personhood status to the Mar Menor lagoon in Murcia, in southeastern Spain.

The initiative, already greenlighted by the lower chamber, was debated after campaigners collected half-a-million signatures backing the move to protect the threatened ecosystem.

What does the decision mean?

With the conclusion of the legislative procedure, the rights of the lagoon can be defended in court, as though it were a person or business.

It means that any citizen is now able now appeal to the judiciary in the case of a suspected violation against the lagoon.

It will now be legally represented by a group of caretakers that includes local officials, scientists and residents living nearby.

"The Mar Menor becomes the first European ecosystem with its own rights after the Senate approved the bill to give it a legal identity," tweeted Senate president Ander Gil after the vote.

The move to convey personhood status on the lagoon was backed by all parties except the far-right Vox group.

Why does the lagoon need protecting?

Ecologists have warned for years that the Mar Menor (Lesser Sea) is gradually perishing because of heavy runoff of fertilizer nitrates from nearby farmland.

Experts say that the presence of unusually high levels of nutrients alters the balance of the ecosystem, which is separated from the Mediterranean Sea by a 22-kilometer-long (13.7-mile-long) sandbar.

New life that thrives in the altered conditions quickly takes up oxygen from the water, causing fish to die in large numbers.

The process, known as eutrophication, is thought to be behind mass fish die-offs in August last year, when millions of dead fish and crustaceans began to wash up on the lagoon's shores.

Scientists recorded two similar pollution events in 2016 and 2019.

Last year, environmentalists submitted a formal complaint to the EU over what they called Spain's "continued failure" to protect the lagoon. They said it was on the brink of "ecological collapse."

rc/kb (dpa, AFP, AP 

UK lifts fracking ban in England

The UK government said it is ending England's moratorium on fracking. Environmentalists say the extraction method poses extreme dangers — including potentially causing earthquakes.

Fracking is a controversial procedure

The UK government on Thursday lifted England's moratorium on fracking, saying the move aims to shore up energy security as Russia cuts gas deliveries amid tensions over its invasion of Ukraine.

"To bolster the UK's energy security, the UK government has today lifted the moratorium on shale gas production in England," the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said in a statement.

The UK had halted fracking, or hydraulic fracking, in 2019 over fears that the procedure could trigger earthquakes.

Thursday's announcement follows through on indications given by new Prime Minister Liz Truss two weeks ago that her government would allow fracking operations again to tackle growing energy shortages caused by Russia's actions.

What has the UK government said?

The BEIS not only announced an end to the fracking moratorium but also confirmed that it supported awarding 100 new licenses for oil and gas exploration next month.

It said that future fracking applications will be considered "where there is local support."

It added that developers would need licenses, permissions and consents, including regulatory approvals, before they can commence operations.

The UK's business and energy secretary, Jacob Rees-Mogg, said that strengthening energy security was a top priority "in light of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's illegal invasion of Ukraine and weaponization of energy."

Rees-Mogg, a supporter of fossil fuel use and a climate change sceptic, said the UK aimed to become a "net energy exporter by 2040."

 "To get there we will need to explore all avenues available to us through solar, wind, oil and gas production — so it's right that we've lifted the pause to realize any potential sources of domestic gas," he said.

Touching on the earthquake danger, Rees-Mogg told parliament, "We need to revisit the seismic limits to ensure that shale gas extraction can be done in an effective and efficient way," adding that: "We know that shale gas is safe. It is safe in the United States."

Rees-Mogg has previously spoken out in favor of extracting "every last drop" of North Sea oil and gas.

What is fracking?

Fracking is a procedure to extract shale oil and gas from underground by blasting bedrock formations with a mixture of water, sand and chemicals under high pressure to create fractures through which petroleum and gas can flow.

Many environmentalists argue that the method pollutes water supplies, harms fauna and flora and can trigger earthquakes, as well as advancing global warming.

Experts also say that the resumption of fracking will not help reduce energy costs or boost energy security in the short term, as it will take years for operations to get underway. In addition, there is no guarantee that gas can be extracted on any meaningful scale.

The largest tremor caused by fracking in Britain took place at a site in Blackpool in northern England in 2011. That quake had a magnitude of 2.3.  

tj/kb (AFP, AP)

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• Date 22.09.2022

Congo crisis in focus at UN General Assembly

The Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda aired their dispute over one of the armed groups causing instability along their borders to the world this week. The UN has conceded that its peacekeepers can't defeat the M23.

It is estimated that 120 armed groups are active in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo

President Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo, in an address to the UN General Assembly, said the M23, a key armed rebel movement causing instability in his country, is supported by Rwanda.

"The involvement of Rwanda and its responsibility in the tragedy that my country and my compatriots, in the areas occupied by the Rwandan army and its allies of the M23, are no longer questionable," Tshisekedi said on Tuesday evening. 

The allegations are not new. Tensions between the two countries over the M23 flare sporadically.

The M23 had been relatively dormant for years but has resumed its attacks in eastern Congo. It has since intensified its activities in the region along Congo's border with Rwanda and, in June, captured the strategic town of Bunagana near the border to Uganda.

Congo suspects UN 'complicity'

\

President of the Democratic Republic of Congo Felix Tshisekedi addressed

 the 77th session of the UN General Assembly in New York on September 20, 2022

Tshisekedi also warned world leaders that any failure to take into account UN expert reports on the crisis  "will only encourage Rwanda to pursue its agression, war crimes and crimes against humanity in the DRC." 

It would also fuel the suspicions of the Congolese people on the impartiality of the UN and what Tshisekedi called "the complicity of some of its members in these crimes.”

Rwanda's President Paul Kagame, in his subsequent address to the assembly, highlighted the crisis in eastern Congo but refrained from responding directly to Tshisekedi.

Kagame has repeatedly denied the allegations over M23. The crisis in eastern Congo, he told the UN General Assembly, has continued for more than two decades and requires serious attention.

The deployment of UN peacekeepers is exposing Congo's neighbors to cross-border attacks that are preventable, he suggested. "There is an urgent need to find the political will to finally address the root causes of the instability in eastern DRC. The blame game does not solve the problem,” Kagame said.

M23 attacks are concentrated on eastern Congo provinces bordering with Rwanda and Uganda

UN mission 'not able to beat M23' 

Tshisekedi and Kagame were speaking just days after the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres conceded that the UN peacekeeping mission to Congo, MONUSCO, was no longer capable of defeating the M23. 

Guterres told French media that the UN "is not able to beat the M23."

"The truth is that the M23 today is a modern army with heavy equipment that is more advanced than the equipment of MONUSCO," he said.

The UN chief's comments were not unlike those that saw the MONUSCO spokesman Mathias Gillmann expelled from the DRC last month.

Kinshasa has increasingly questioned the value of the UN peacekeepers. Since 2019, pro-democracy movements and some elected officials have been calling for the departure of MONUSCO. In July, four UN peackeepers were among the 36 people killed in anti-UN protests in Goma and Butembo in eastern Congo.

The protesters accused MONUSCO of failing to stop the resurgence of violence. Civilian massacres are common, and the number of people displaced has run into the millions.

The UN Secretary General's remarks surprised and shocked some Congolese citizens and activists.

"He [Guterres] is probably passing the baton to the African Union, or perhaps the East African Community," Pierre Boisselet, coordinator of the Kivu Security Tracker, told DW. "In any case, he himself believes that there are other institutions, other configurations and other armies that are better equipped to deal with this threat of the M23."

What about negotiations?

MONUSCO is one of the largest and most costly UN peacekeeping missions, with an annual budget of around $1 billion (€1 billion). An estimated 120 armed groups, including M23, are active in eastern Congo. 

Bienvenu Matumo of LUCHA, a local citizens' movement, told DW that it is difficult for many Congolese people to understand why MONUSCO has been ineffective in their country. 

"If one force cannot help us eradicate the M23, neutralize the ADF, stop the actions of local armed groups, this force cannot be another force in the Kivu region," Matumo told DW. 

A MONUSCO peacekeeper in Kibumba near Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo

The UN chief Antonio Gutteres has highlighted the need for negotiations to restore peace to Congo.

Matumo is however not convinced that negotiations between Congo and neighboring countries such as Rwanda are a viable solution. "You cannot negotiate with countries that are involved in aggression. We can't."

Pierre Boisselet of the Kivu Security Tracker is one of several analysts who suggest that that the UN is betting on regional negotiatons to end the crisis.

"The way I analyze this is that the [UN] secretary general believes that only a regional negotiation between the DRC, Rwanda and Uganda could resolve this situation," he said.

The UN may be unwilling to risk a situation of rupture with Rwanda, which may make it harder to mediate in the crisis, according to Boisselet.

Tshisekedi's government has already said it was not ready for negotiations with the M23. The Congolese leader told the UN General Assembly about the response to his efforts at diplomacy and negotiations.

"Despite my good will and the outstretched hand of the Congolese people to peace, some of our neighbors have found nothing better than to thank us by aggression and support for armed terrorist groups that are ravaging the east of the DRC," he said.

After addressing the UN, Kagame and Tshisekedi discussed the Congo crisis with French President Emmanuel Macron.

MONUSCO withdrawal imminent

MONUSCO was deployed in 2010 with a mandate to conduct offensive operations. The mission is expected to come to an end in 2024.

Rose Tuombeane, coordinator of the women's rights network Dynamics of Women for Good Governance, is concerned over the mission's failure to restore peace. MONUSCO should withdraw immediately to prevent an escalation in tensions, she believes.

"We have always asked for MONUSCO to be able to leave without conditions. An attempt should be made to speed up the process of their withdrawal. 2024 is too far away," Tuombeane told DW.

Protesters stormed a MONUSCO base in Goma on July 26, 2022

The acting spokeswoman of MONUSCO, Ndeye Khady Lo, told DW that the withdrawal is already underway. The mission was scaled down in 2014 and eight of its offices were closed in 2018. Over the past two years, it has withdrawn from Kasai and Tanganyika, two of the five provinces where its peacekeepers have been stationed.

The transition plan for the responsible, orderly and sustainable withdrawal of the mission was signed by the UN and the Congolese government a year ago, she said.

Political scientist Jean Claude Mputu told DW that once the mission ends, it would be up to the Congo to end the crisis.

"There are three things that need to be an alternative. The first is at the political level, secondly the thing to be done is that the Congolese army must be provided with sufficient resources and, finally, it is absolutely necessary to put an end to the impunity that reigns in this region and within the armed forces."

Saleh Mwanamilongo and Wendy Bashy contributed to this article.

Edited by: Benita van Eyssen