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A6 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 25 February 2025
Morocco says it dismantled Islamic State cell that was planning

attacks

By SAM METZ powers concerned about
Associated Press militant groups using their
SALE, Morocco (AP) — regional bases to orches-
Moroccan authorities this trate violence elsewhere.
month arrested a dozen Authorities said the Moroc-
people they said were co-based cell called itself
planning attacks on behalf “the Lions of the Caliphate
of the Islamic State in the in the Maghreb” and took
Sahel, a region south of the direction from Islamic State
Sahara Desert, officials said in the Sahel commanders.
Monday. More than a year of track-
The discovery of the terror- ing done by Morocco’s
ist cell and what authorities General Directorate for Ter-
called an “imminent dan- ritorial Surveillance showed
gerous terrorist plot” reflect Islamic State in the Sahel
the expanding ambitions commanders worked to
of extremist groups in the recruit, arm and direct sym-
region. pathizers to carry out at-
Authorities did not provide tacks in Morocco.
details of the plot or moti- The weapons found in-
vations of those arrested, clude materials to make
but released photographs explosives including nail
and videos showing of- bombs, dynamite and gas
ficers raiding terrorist cells cylinders as well as knives,
throughout the country. rifles and hand guns whose
The images showed weap- serial numbers had been
ons stockpiles found dur- An agent from the Central Bureau for Judicial Investigations (BCIJ) stands behind items the agency scratched off.
says they seized during raids on suspected terrorist cells, during a news conference at the BCIJ in
ing police raids, Islamic Sale, Morocco, Monday, Feb. 24, 2025. Investigators said the 12
State flags drawn on walls, Associated Press men arrested ranged from
and thousands of dollars of 18 to 40 years old and were
cash. ference. years ago, the Islamic State ed by their governments. apprehended in nine dif-
“Morocco remains a major Militant groups have been in the Sahel has launched Their growth has destabi- ferent cities, including Cas-
target in the agenda of all expanding their presence deadly campaigns and lized and in several cases ablanca, Fez and Tangier.
terrorist organizations op- in the Sahel, capitalizing taken control of lucrative contributed to the over- The majority were unmar-
erating in the Sahel,” Hab- on instability in countries in- transit routes. throw of elected leaders. ried and had not finished
boub Cherkaoui, the head cluding Mali, Burkina Faso Groups like Islamic State in It has alarmed neighboring high school.
of Morocco’s Central Bu- and Niger. the Sahel have found sup- states including in North They have not yet been
reau of Judicial Investiga- Since French troops began port in impoverished com- Africa and coastal west Af- charged under Morocco’s
tions, said at a news con- withdrawing almost two munities that feel neglect- rica and worried western anti-terrorism laws.q

More pressure on Rwanda as Congo says rebel uprising has killed

over 7,000 people this year

By JEAN-YVES KAMALE and Goma in January and Bu- is the most potent of the east, which has trillions of es tin, tungsten, gold and
WILSON MCMAKIN kavu, another provincial many armed groups vying dollars of mostly untapped niobium, and has potential
Associated Press capital, this month. M23 for a foothold in Congo’s mineral wealth crucial to for lithium and rare earth el-
KINSHASA, Congo (AP) the world’s technology. ements.”
— More than 7,000 peo- Pressure grew on Rwan- The EU announcement
ple have died this year da. The European Union’s comes as the government
as Rwanda-backed M23 top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, of Congo, far richer in min-
rebels have captured un- called Congo’s territorial erals, has accused Rwan-
precedented amounts of integrity “non-negotiable” da of looting its resources,
territory in mineral-rich east- and said EU defense consul- and after the United States
ern Congo, Congo’s prime tations with Rwanda have last week urged an “imme-
minister said Monday, as been suspended they co- diate cessation of sourcing
the European Union an- operate on missions in Mo- of minerals from areas con-
nounced it would review zambique and elsewhere trolled by M23.”

an agreement with Rwan- and their memorandum of There was no immediate
da on critical raw materials. understanding regarding comment from Rwanda
Judith Suminwa Tuluka critical raw materials will be on what could be a blow
told the U.N. Human Rights under review. to its economy. The U.N.
Council that the security Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo Judith The EU and Rwanda a year has warned that the fight-
and humanitarian situation Suminwa talks to journalists during a press conference organized ago signed the memoran- ing poses a wider threat to
in the region “has reached by the Geneva Association of United Nations Correspondents dum of understanding to the region, which has seen
alarming levels.” (ACANU), at a side event of the High-Level Segment of the “nurture sustainable and decades of simmering
The conflict has accelerat- 58th session of the Human Rights Council at the European resilient value chains for conflict that has displaced
headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland,
ed in recent weeks, with the Monday, Feb. 24, 2025. critical raw materials,” not- millions.q
rebels taking the key city of Associated Press ing that Rwanda “produc-