Nigeria, Iran, DRC-Rwanda.

Today's three stories you should know.

Jun 09, 2022

Nigeria

At least 32 people across four villages in northwestern Nigeria were killed by gunmen on motorcycles this week, local residents have told the Associated Press news agency. As mentioned in several previous newsletters, such attacks by criminal gangs have become increasingly common in northern Nigeria, alongside a wave of kidnappings for ransom. The country is facing a slew of security crises that authorities seem unable to get a handle on. Separately, the government today blamed a local ISIS affiliate, the Islamic State West Africa Province group, for an attack on a church in the south that killed more than 40 people last Sunday, many of them children.

Iran

The prospect of Iran and world powers reviving the nuclear deal they signed in 2015 seemed ever more distant today after the U.N. atomic watchdog said Tehran had started removing 27 surveillance cameras from nuclear sites across the country. Then US President Donald Trump unilaterally yanked the US out of the much-heralded agreement in 2018 against the wishes of the other nations who had signed up. Efforts to put the tattered deal back together have been ongoing since shortly after Joe Biden came to power last year, but Tehran and Washington have failed to reach consensus.

DRC-Rwanda

Relations between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) continue to deteriorate. DRC today accused Kigali of sending 500 special forces soldiers into its territory in disguise. It said the troops were wearing different uniforms to regular Rwandan army clothing, and called on the public to denounce anyone seen in such clothing. As mentioned in a recent newsletter, DRC is accusing Rwanda of supporting a Congolese rebel group, the M23, in a renewed offensive. Rwanda has fiercely denied the accusations, saying Congo’s battle with the M23 is an intra-Congo issue.