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Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on January 11, 2026, Trump said the situation was under close review by both civilian and military leadership and that decisive steps could be taken soon.

'We’re looking at it very seriously,' Trump told reporters. 'The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options. We’ll make a determination.'

He added that Iranian leaders had reached out to Washington to seek negotiations following his warnings, and that a meeting was being arranged. However, Trump cautioned that the United States might act before that meeting takes place if conditions on the ground worsen.

The remarks come as anti-government protests enter their third week, sparked initially by economic grievances such as the sharp downturn of the Iranian rial but quickly evolving into broader demonstrations against the country’s clerical leadership.

Rights groups estimate that hundreds of protesters have been killed in the crackdown, while more than 10,000 people have been detained. The ongoing unrest has been compounded by an internet blackout across large parts of Iran, making it difficult to independently verify events inside the country.

Trump’s comments have raised both diplomatic and security concerns. Sources say the options being reviewed could include not only military strikes but also cyber operations, expanded sanctions, and support for protest-related communications technology to counter state blackouts.

Trump even mentioned plans to discuss restoring internet access in Iran with SpaceX’s Starlink satellite system, which has been used in other conflict zones to bypass government restrictions.

Iranian officials have responded with warnings of their own. Parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said that any attack on Iran would trigger retaliation, with Israel and U.S. military bases in the region described as 'legitimate targets.' Tehran has also accused the United States and Israel of fomenting unrest and portrayed demonstrators as influenced by foreign powers, a claim rejected by protest supporters and rights observers.

The crisis also reflects a broader shift in U.S. foreign policy under Trump, which in recent weeks has included heightened pressure on Cuba and Venezuela, as well as renewed strategic discussions about U.S. military presence in other regions. But Trump’s focus on Iran, where demonstrations have become the largest in years, highlights the escalating tension between global powers and domestic unrest inside Iran.

As of today, it remains unclear whether the United States will take military action, expand sanctions further, or pursue diplomatic channels. Trump’s administration has indicated that all possible responses are on the table, and senior advisers are scheduled to meet to shape the next steps amid heightened global attention.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on January 11, 2026, Trump said the situation was under close review by both civilian and military leadership and that decisive steps could be taken soon.

Rania Umutoni

The Liberal International’s decision to grant the 2024 Freedom Prize to Ingabire Victoire Umuhoza, the long-time political patron saint of Rwandan genocidaires, the ideological matriarch of the Rassemblement Républicain pour la Démocratie au Rwanda/Republican Rally for Democracy in Rwanda (RDR), and later FDU-Inkingi, and the most internationally polished defender of the Hutu Power worldview, is one such moment. It is a moment so drenched in irony, historical amnesia, and moral carelessness that it defies any rational explanation beyond willful blindness or ideological complicity.

This is a deliberate act of moral inversion: a decision that transforms the Prize, a symbol of courage, freedom, and justice, into an instrument of historical distortion, legitimization of genocidal ideology, and endorsement of those who defended mass murder. Awarding such a person a Freedom Prize is not merely a lapse in judgment. It is a moral catastrophe, a betrayal of historical truth, a mockery of liberal values, and a slap in the face to survivors of the genocide.

Awards usually mean something. They carry moral weight. They stand on the shoulders of history and tradition. The Freedom Prize, offered by Liberal International has historically celebrated figures who personified liberty and human dignity: Olusegun Obasanjo, who strengthened democratic institutions in Nigeria; Corazon Aquino, who restored democracy in the Philippines; Mary Robinson, a global champion for human rights; Sadako Ogata, a tireless advocate for refugees and victims of atrocity; Benazir Bhutto, who confronted authoritarianism at great personal risk. These laureates acted to protect human life, expand freedom, and challenge oppression.

Victoire Ingabire’s career is defined by the exact opposite: she took over, led, and internationalized organizations that provided political cover for Hutu Power extremists and ex-FAR/Interahamwe networks, the very architects and executors of the Genocide Against the Tutsi.

This is not a matter of opinion but of public record. Revisiting the dirty prize is not trivial. It is not a debate over ideological nuance. It is the difference between honoring those who expanded human freedom and those whose political activity has been inextricably linked to the defense of people who orchestrated the Genocide Against the Tutsi.

The RDR, which Ingabire led from 2000, from which she rose to global prominence, was not a neutral political organization. It was born in camps in Zaire, constructed by military and political leaders who were active participants in the genocide and who sought to rebuild their power, influence, and narrative legitimacy abroad.

These camps were, as scholars and journalists have documented, a staging ground for the political, military, and propaganda operations of the ex-FAR and Interahamwe to finish the job of Tutsi extermination. To take over such an organization knowingly is not a neutral act; it is an embrace of its history, its ideological inheritance, and its political mission.

The international context is similarly pertinent. Ingabire took leadership in the Netherlands, at a time when Europe was largely unaware or indifferent to the sophisticated criminal networks being built by genocidaires in exile. She operated openly, establishing the RDR as a political hub for global outreach and fundraising.

This woman was a regular interviewee and almost a star on the BBC and the Voice of America, Kinyarwanda and Kirundi Services. Her political posturing ensured that she was no longer a local or regional player. She became a figure capable of engaging European policymakers, international NGOs, and human rights institutions with a narrative designed to recast the genocide as a political dispute, rather than what it is. A premeditated campaign of mass extermination.

When Ingabire took over the global leadership of this criminal structure, she was not an ignorant adolescent swept up by circumstance or excitement. She was 32 years old, politically mature, ideologically aware, living comfortably in The Netherlands with full access to the world’s media, scholarship, and documentation of the genocide. She knew exactly what the RDR was, what it represented, and whom it served. She did not stumble into its leadership—she sought it, embraced it, shaped it.

The woman was not a blameless spectator. She was a conscious architect and custodian of a post-genocide political network, headquartered in her home in The Netherlands, building its European legitimacy, shaping its narrative, and rehabilitating its international image.

Horrible symbolism

Over two decades later, a ceremony awarding her a Freedom Prize, through her children, is a grotesque moral downturn: A Prize for freedom given to a defender of mass murderers. There is almost a strange component of the ceremony: Ingabire did not attend. The Prize was given to her children.

The symbolism is deplorable. A 'Freedom Prize' awarded to the offspring of a woman who fronted organizations that defended, justified, and normalized the crime of genocide and its ideology. Here is a Prize handed to a new generation—as if inheritance of genocidal politics were a legacy to be honored rather than resisted. It was not a gesture of compassion, it is an endorsement—a blessing, even—and a message that the ideological project she led for decades now enjoys the benediction of European liberalism.

And how suitable—how obscenely symbolic—that this ceremony occurred in The Hague, a city synonymous with international justice, a city where the architects of mass slaughter are tried. Yet here, instead of indicting someone who led the political machinery of genocidaires—a European institution rewarded her. It is as if the Liberal International were determined to parody the purpose of the city itself.

The Liberal International has, knowingly or not, endorsed the toxic ideology of the very extremists Ingabire represents. Hutu Power radicals have long interpreted the 1994 genocide against Tutsi as a 'democratic endeavor'—a violent measure to preserve their political dominance by exterminating the Tutsi population. By honoring Ingabire, the Liberal International implicitly validates this worldview.

Worse still, genocide deniers celebrated it openly. It was publicly lauded by ideologues who openly deny the genocide. Ruhumuza Mbonyumutwa, a prominent ideologue from Jambo Asbl, quoted Ingabire with a tone of near-religious fervor: 'Shall I die or live, be detained or released—what we have achieved will not go back. Remanding me in captivity or silencing my voice can only postpone the revolution. It cannot stop the movement.'

The words in the quotation by fellow genocide ideologue Ruhumuza, are not idle. They are statements of ideological intent, a declaration of persistence, and a confirmation that the networks she led are unrepentant, unbroken, and, thanks to the Prize, are now internationally celebrated and legitimized.

This is not the language of democracy. It is the language of ideological warfare. It is the language of those who, like their predecessors in 1994, view their struggle as existential, righteous, and unstoppable.

The words are alarming in their self-confidence. They reveal a belief, reinforced by European liberal validation, that international recognition can sanctify a venomous ideology, making even the most morally questionable claims immune to censure.

Ever since Ingabire Victoire became the global steward of their genocidal project, no amount of rhetorical laundering can erase this. As Linda Melvern has repeatedly warned, attempts to sanitize the individuals and structures associated with the genocide are not accidents—they are political campaigns. Rakiya Omaar, issued a near-prophetic warning: the greatest danger after genocide is not merely denial, but the 'international rehabilitation of those responsible,' a process facilitated by Western ignorance, arrogance, guilt, and political opportunism.

Richard Johnson, in The Travesty of Human Rights Watch, goes further: Western institutions, he argues, often fall prey to a romanticized vision of dissent in Africa, one that ignores context and consequence. 'The genocide against the Tutsi,' Johnson writes, 'is treated by many Western actors not as the culmination of decades of extremist ideology, but as a mere episode in a political story they believe they can reinterpret.' What Johnson describes is precisely what unfolded at the Liberal International Executive Committee meeting in The Hague, where polished speeches and clinking glasses drowned out the voices of a million ghosts.

The Freedom Prize to a criminal demonstrated West’s tendency to romanticize any African who calls himself or herself a 'political dissident' while disregarding historical and moral accountability. Ignoring these warnings, the Liberal International became complicit in the rehabilitation of genocidaires.

A hall of shame, not fame

A Freedom Prize, once a mark of courage, is now a ceremonial prop in a ridiculous theater of denial. One can imagine the hall of laureates, portraits lining the walls: Obasanjo, Aquino, Robinson, Ogata, Bhutto. And there, bizarrely, sits Victoire Ingabire, elevated not for expanding freedom but for defending those who destroyed over a million Tutsi lives.

The ludicrousness is almost operatic. If we extend the logic, one might imagine descendants of senior Nazis being awarded similar prizes for political sophistication, receiving international applause, and explaining the 'historical context' of their families’ crimes. The laughable contempt writes itself.

Imagine too, if you will—a hall filled with the likenesses of freedom fighters: or as well articulated by Liberal International—individuals who have made 'an exceptional contribution to the advancement of human rights and political freedoms.' Their statues shine with decades of courage, integrity, and moral clarity. And suddenly, in the corner, a new bust appears, gleaming unnaturally in the light, surrounded by garlands: the children of Victoire Ingabire. It is not a hall of fame anymore. It is a hall of shame. One can almost hear the ghosts of victims whispering, 'What happened to justice? What happened to reason and common sense?'

The applause, the ceremonial smiles, the formal photos—all normalize the impossible. Freedom, in this context, is performative. Accountability is optional. The suffering of over a million victims is reduced to an accessory for political theater. The Prize has been transformed into an endorsement of evil— a tacit signal that one may, with sufficient eloquence, international shrewdness, and legal protection, convert atrocity into respectability.

If the Liberal International fails to revoke the Prize now that it is fully informed of Ingabire’s ideological history and her leadership of RDR and FDU-Inkingi, the moral consequences are unavoidable: they are, by admission or indifference, supporters of genocidaires masquerading as democrats. They are endorsers of Hutu Power extremism. Nothing can mitigate this conclusion. Principles, ethics, and historical memory should not be subordinated to ceremony and institutional prestige.

In this hall of shame, the principles of freedom, justice, and human dignity lie overturned. History will remember the 2024 award not as a celebration of courage, but as a case study in moral abdication, historical distortion, and the dangers of rewarding the morally unworthy. The ghosts of Rwanda’s victims will not be appeased. Scholars will continue to document the grotesque contradiction. And liberal institutions will be forced to reckon with a truth they may have preferred to ignore: freedom cannot be awarded to those who spent decades defending those who destroyed it.

The Liberal International has, through this award, created a monument to absurdity. A Prize once associated with courage, liberty, and moral integrity now sits in ironic juxtaposition with a leader of Hutu Power extremists. This is a Hall of Shame that will echo across time, reminding the world that prestige without historical literacy, principle, and moral rigor is not honor—it is complicity.

Genocide deniers in a Tuxedo

There are many forms of historical revisionism—some clumsy, some subtle, some wrapped in pseudo-academic jargon—but few are as brazenly flamboyant as pinning a 'Freedom Prize' on a genocide ideologue and calling it moral courage. Yet here we are: Liberal International, an institution ostensibly dedicated to freedom, democracy, and the rule of law, has decided that the ideal champion of its values is none other than Victoire Ingabire— a figure whose political identity is built on the soft-pedalling of the Genocide Against the Tutsi and the cleaning of its perpetrators. If wit had bones, they would have cracked.

Rewarding Victoire Ingabire is not just an error of judgment. It is not a misunderstanding, or the naïve embrace of a complicated figure. It is an act of pure genocide denial, repackaged as liberal principle. It is a type of moral contortion.

One must marvel—truly marvel—at the passion with which certain Western institutions fling themselves into the arms of individuals whose politics would horrify them if they bothered to do even a half-hearted background check. Why are deniers like them so determined, so feverishly enthusiastic, so utterly convinced that elevating Ingabire is some grand act of enlightenment?

Why are they so intransigent, clinging to their narrative with the desperate grip of a drowning man clutching a brick or stone? We do not know. We may never know. Perhaps they confuse ignorance with moral bravery; perhaps they just like the faint whiff of scandal. Whatever the psychological concoction, it isn’t pretty.

But inspirations or intentions are immaterial. What matters is the effect: a gratuitous, almost sadistic injury inflicted upon survivors of the genocide in Rwanda. Survivors are once again forced to watch outsiders—people with no skin in the game except the adrenaline rush of self-righteousness—parade their ignorance as virtue. Liberal International takes the very people who lost everything, who endured unspeakable violence, who rebuilt whole lives from ashes, and tells them: Your suffering is negotiable. Your truth is optional. Your history is up for debate. Our prize comes first.

One struggles to keep up with this level of absurdity. It is as if a Nobel committee decided that climate change skepticism deserved a prize for 'Atmospheric Justice,' or if a human rights group gave an award to someone who proudly insists the Earth is flat because their courage to remain wrong is so inspiring. This is not progressivism. It is just embarrassing.

What makes Liberal International’s act especially galling is the sanctimonious glow with which they present their decision. They behave as though they have uncovered a misunderstood Nelson Mandela, a prisoner of conscience rising above repression. In reality, they’ve chosen someone who has repeatedly aligned herself with the ideological descendants of the perpetrators of the Genocide Against the Tutsi. They have taken a figure who flirts openly with criminal tropes and elevated her as a beacon of democratic idealism. It is the moral equivalent of handing out fire extinguishers filled with gasoline.

And so we must name it clearly: this prize is not an award for freedom; it is a trophy for Hutu-Power extremism. It is a thoughtless, tone-deaf, historically illiterate gesture from an organization more interested in symbolic rebellion than in actual liberal values. In their eagerness to appear bold, they have wandered straight into the swamp of the lunatic fringe.

Because that is where genocide denial resides—not in principled dissent, not in academic debate, but in the margins of sanity where ideology trumps truth and cruelty dresses itself up as conscience. History will remember. Survivors already do. Liberal International, regrettably, has chosen not to—proudly, waving its Freedom Prize like a flag.

And that, perhaps, is the greatest tragedy: not that they are wrong, but that they are so certain in their wrongness. So satisfied. So peacefully perched atop a moral cliff with no guardrail and no shame.

Victoire Ingabire led and internationalized organizations that provided political cover for Hutu Power extremists and ex-FAR/Interahamwe networks, the very architects and executors of the Genocide against the Tutsi.

Tom Ndahiro

According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), which collects data from activists inside and outside the country, the fatalities include 490 protesters and 48 security personnel amid two weeks of unrest that began in late December 2025. In that period, more than 10,600 people have been arrested in connection with the demonstrations.

The protests, initially sparked by economic grievances including soaring prices and the sharp decline of the Iranian rial, have rapidly evolved into widespread demands for political change, with demonstrators openly criticising the country’s clerical leadership.

The Iranian government has not released its own casualty figures, and international agencies have been unable to independently verify the rights group’s totals. Tehran has imposed a near-total internet blackout, complicating external reporting on the scale of violence and human rights abuses.

State media and official channels have sought to frame the unrest as the work of 'terrorists' and foreign agents, with senior Iranian officials accusing the United States and Israel of fomenting trouble. In response to mounting tensions, Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf warned that any military strike on Iran would result in retaliation against U.S. and allied targets in the region.

“Let us be clear: in the case of an attack on Iran, the occupied territories (Israel) as well as all U.S. bases and ships will be our legitimate target,” said Qalibaf, a former commander in Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration are reportedly reviewing a wide range of responses to the crisis, including military options, cyber operations, expanded sanctions, and support to help restore internet access for protestors.

As protests continue in cities across Iran, the nation remains in a state of heightened tension, with growing calls for political reform and accountability, even as the authorities threaten severe reprisals against dissenters.

Unrest in Iran has now claimed the lives of more than 500 people, a U.S.-based rights group reported, as nationwide anti-government demonstrations continue and the Iranian government threatens retaliation against foreign intervention.

Rania Umutoni

In recent days, the DRC government has expressed interest in launching new peace talks in Kinshasa, bringing together Congolese from different groups, with Angola serving as mediator.

To facilitate this, DRC President Félix Tshisekedi has visited Angola three times since December 14, 2025, meeting with Angolan President João Lourenço to discuss how the process will proceed.

Government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya explained that the planned Kinshasa talks will differ from previous meetings held in Washington, D.C., in the United States, and in Doha, Qatar.

'In Washington, the talks involved us and Rwanda, the father. In Doha, the talks involved us and M23, the son,' he claimed in an allegation that Rwanda has repeatedly refuted.

Sources indicate that representatives of AFC/M23 are expected to participate in the new Kinshasa talks, raising questions about whether the Doha talks will lose relevance.

The DRC government has called for the new talks while continuing to ignore the Doha process. In December 2025, Qatar invited the DRC to two meetings aimed at monitoring compliance with the ceasefire, but the government declined to attend.

On January 11, 2026, Minister Nduhungirehe responded to Muyaya’s comments, saying the DRC government itself is the 'father,' while the FDLR terrorist group is the 'son.' He described the new talks as a tactic to gain additional leverage, a strategy known as 'forum shopping.'

Nduhungirehe emphasised that lasting peace in the DRC depends on genuine political will and that political talks complementing those held in Doha and Washington would be welcomed.

“When the father (Congolese government), the son (FDLR genocidaires), and the evil spirit (genocide ideology) attempt yet another ‘forum shopping’ in three years, as a delaying manoeuvre, we simply recall that salvation will first come from Kinshasa’s political will to apply the current peace processes in good faith,” Minister Nduhungirehe stated, adding “Any national political dialogue, which would be complementary to these processes, would then be welcome.”

The AFC/M23 coalition has asked the Angolan president for clarification regarding the new talks, seeking to know whether Qatar will participate, what role it will play, and whether the decisions made during the Doha talks will be honoured.

President Félix Tshisekedi has visited Angola three times since December 14, 2025, meeting with Angolan President João Lourenço to discuss how the Kinshasa talks will proceed.

Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Ambassador Olivier Nduhungirehe, says the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is attempting to delay peace talks with the AFC/M23 rebel coalition.

IGIHE

“The government has returned to the national capital,” Idris said in a speech to a crowd following his arrival in Bahri, north of Khartoum.

He pledged to improve basic services, particularly in the health and education sectors, and to rebuild hospitals and rehabilitate schools and universities, foremost among them the University of Khartoum.

The prime minister added that 2026 would be “the year of peace in Sudan,” pointing to plans for reconstruction and development, as well as efforts to improve the economic situation by increasing gross national product, reducing inflation, and stabilizing the exchange rate of the national currency.

The government’s return is part of official efforts to restore administrative functions and public services to the capital, following announcements in recent months of gradual plans to reinstate state institutions, alongside a relative improvement in security conditions in some areas, despite persistent security and humanitarian challenges in several parts of the country.

Khartoum witnessed fierce battles that caused widespread damage to government institutions, infrastructure, and basic services.

The Sudanese government relocated to Port Sudan in late April 2023, days after fighting broke out in Khartoum between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The move took place gradually, with the headquarters of the Sovereign Council, the Council of Ministers, and several ministries and sovereign institutions transferred to Port Sudan, which later became a temporary seat for managing state affairs amid deteriorating security conditions in Khartoum.

In May 2025, the SAF declared Khartoum State cleared of RSF forces, paving the way for the city to gradually reclaim public spaces and resume normal life.

The conflict has left tens of thousands dead and millions displaced, both inside Sudan and across its borders.

Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan (in the vehicle), chairman of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereign Council and commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), departs from the Presidential Palace in Khartoum, Sudan, on March 26, 2025. Al-Burhan declared from inside the Presidential Palace in Khartoum on March 24, 2025 that “Khartoum is free,” referring to the end of the Rapid Support Forces’ control over the capital, according to Sudan TV.

Xinhua

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IGIHE

Indonesia announced on Saturday that it was temporarily blocking access to Grok, citing serious concerns over the production of sexualized deepfakes. A day later, Malaysia followed suit, saying it had suspended access to the chatbot while regulators assess whether adequate safeguards are in place.

'The government views the practice of non-consensual sexual deepfakes as a serious violation of human rights, dignity and the security of citizens in the digital space,' Indonesia’s minister of communications and digital affairs, Meutya Hafid, said in a statement. Indonesian authorities have also reportedly summoned representatives of X, the social media platform owned by Musk that is closely integrated with Grok, to discuss the issue.

In Malaysia, the Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) said the temporary block followed repeated misuse of Grok to generate 'obscene, sexually explicit, indecent, grossly offensive, and non-consensual manipulated images,' including content involving women and minors. The regulator said it had previously issued notices to X Corp and xAI on Jan. 3 and Jan. 8, demanding technical protection measures that were not sufficiently implemented.

'This temporary ban is imposed as a reasonable precautionary measure while the legislative and regulatory process is still ongoing,' the MCMC said, adding that access to Grok would remain restricted until effective safeguards, particularly to protect women and children, are in place.

The actions by Malaysia and Indonesia represent the most aggressive response so far to a controversy that has drawn attention from regulators worldwide. In recent weeks, Grok has generated sexualized AI images, sometimes depicting violence, when prompted by users on X. X and xAI are part of the same corporate group.

Elsewhere, India’s IT ministry has ordered xAI to take steps to prevent Grok from producing obscene content, while the European Commission has instructed the company to preserve documents related to the chatbot, potentially paving the way for a formal investigation. In the United Kingdom, media regulator Ofcom has said it will conduct a swift assessment to determine whether there are compliance issues that warrant action, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer voicing support for regulatory intervention.

In the United States, however, the Trump administration has remained largely silent on the issue, even as Democratic senators have urged Apple and Google to remove X from their app stores. Musk, a major Trump donor who previously led the administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, has pushed back against criticism, writing in one post that regulators 'want any excuse for censorship.'

xAI initially issued an apology via the Grok account, acknowledging that certain posts violated ethical standards and potentially U.S. laws related to child sexual abuse material. While the company later restricted AI image generation to paying X subscribers, the standalone Grok app reportedly continued to allow unrestricted image generation, prompting further backlash.

Malaysia and Indonesia have moved to block access to Grok, the artificial intelligence chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s company xAI, after the tool generated a surge of sexually explicit images, including non-consensual depictions of real people. The decisions mark the first formal national bans on the application, amid growing global scrutiny of AI-generated sexual content.

Wycliffe Nyamasege

The announcement was made during the official visit of Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Olivier Nduhungirehe, to the Sultanate of Oman. The event was attended by senior officials from both countries, including Oman’s Minister of Transport, Communications and Information Technology, Saeed bin Hamoud Al Maawali; Rwanda’s Minister of State for Infrastructure, Jean de Dieu Owehenganyi; Rwanda’s Minister of ICT and Innovation, Paula Ingabire; and Rwanda’s Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Yusuf Murangwa.

Speaking at the ceremony, Owehenganyi said Rwanda’s vision is centred on expanding direct air connectivity to facilitate international cooperation and position Kigali as a key hub for aviation, economic and social activities.

The planned Muscat—Kigali route is expected to strengthen diplomatic and economic relations between Rwanda and Oman, while enhancing Rwanda’s access to the Middle East and other international markets. Rwanda has emerged as one of East Africa’s fastest-growing destinations for tourism and business travel, particularly in the meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) sector.

According to Oman Air, the new route will offer travellers greater choice and improved connectivity between Africa and the Middle East, while also providing access to the airline’s wider network across India, Asia, the Pacific and Europe. Oman Air has been expanding its destination network during 2025 and plans further growth in 2026, including new routes to Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Besides the direct flight, the four MoUs signed during Nduhungirehe’s visit cover logistics services, including inland port development and supply chain operations; development cooperation between the Rwanda Development Board and Oman Airports Management Company, with planned investments around the Bugesera Airport District; and ICT and innovation, covering data hosting, cloud services, and data centre development.

Rwanda signed an MoU with Oman to operationalise direct flights between Muscat and Kigali with Oman Air, expected to start in June.

Four MoUs were signed during the recent visit.

Wycliffe Nyamasege

Speaking at a rally in Arua City on Friday, Museveni lauded Trump for 'kicking out immigrants' and urged Ugandans to focus on national development rather than seeking opportunities abroad.

'Africanism. Love Africa. Why? Because you need it,' Museveni said. 'I like Mr. Trump so much myself. He has said, 'Don’t come here now to America.’ I say thank you so much for chasing those wanderers. What are they going to do in America?”

“I love Trump for chasing you, people who don’t care about their country, they go all over the place,” he added.

Museveni used the example of Trump’s deportation measures to emphasise African self-reliance.

'This teaches you that you build your own capacity, within Uganda, within Africa. Love Uganda, love Africa,' he said, highlighting that national markets and domestic production are critical for wealth creation.

Trump’s mass deportation program, which began upon his inauguration on January 20, 2025, has been described by the administration as the largest in U.S. history. The program combines formal deportations with 'self-deportations,' facilitated in part through the repurposed CBP One app, renamed 'CBP Home', which offers voluntary migrants cash incentives to leave.

By December 2025, the Department of Homeland Security reported over 2.5 million people had left the U.S., including more than 600,000 formal deportations and nearly 1.9 million self-deportations.

In addition to enforcement actions, Uganda was recently added to an expanded U.S. visa bond program requiring some travelers to post refundable deposits of up to $15,000 for certain visa applications. The initiative is part of the U.S. government’s efforts to reduce visa overstays and enforce stricter immigration controls.

President Yoweri Museveni has praised his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, for his strict immigration enforcement, calling it a lesson for Africans to build their own countries.

Wycliffe Nyamasege

The refugee agency reported on Friday that 25 of the deaths were caused by a cholera outbreak, while six others resulted from anaemia and malnutrition-related complications. Authorities are still investigating the causes of the remaining deaths, with the UN working alongside local officials and humanitarian partners to gather more information.

More than 100,000 people have sought refuge in Burundi since December, when fighting between the Congolese army and M23 rebels intensified in the border town of Uvira. Many of the displaced are living in makeshift shelters with limited access to food, clean water, and basic services.

Children and women, including pregnant women, are particularly vulnerable, with roughly half of those displaced under the age of 18. Overcrowding in refugee sites has also increased the risk of outbreaks of cholera, measles, and malaria, UN officials warned.

Jean Jacques Purusi, governor of South Kivu province where Uvira is located, described the situation as 'misery' and 'a crisis completely forgotten by the international community and media.'

The Burundian government confirmed that the number of Congolese refugees exceeded the capacity of nearby camps. Feeding them was a challenge, and many were affected by cholera outbreaks caused by poor sanitation.

Although UNHCR confirmed 53 deaths, other sources were even more alarming. The CPCC, a community-based NGO, reported that 105 Congolese refugees had died in camps in Burundi over the past two weeks, mostly due to lack of food and medical care.

On January 5, 2026, the organisation’s director, Ahadi Bya Masu, told Radio Okapi that some refugees had also been attacked by criminals while in the camps in Burundi, resulting in additional deaths.

At least 53 Congolese refugees who fled escalating fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have died in neighbouring Burundi, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

IGIHE