World Tour: Americans on trial in the DRC

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: WORLD Tour with our reporter in Africa, Onize Ohikere.

DRC trial — We start today in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where three Americans have appeared before a military court.

In May, authorities killed Christian Malanga—a Congo-born American citizen—as he led a coup attempt. They also detained three Americans: Malanga’s son, Marcel, Tyler Thompson, and Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun.

Lawyer David Kalanga represents some of the accused.

KALANGA: [Speaking French]

He called for the suspects’ right of defense to be protected, saying that some of them are innocent.

The American Embassy in the country said Congolese authorities have not shared information or provided access to the detained Americans.

The case will resume on Friday.

AUDIO: [Yelling crowd]

Kashmir attack — Over in Asia, at least nine people died in the Indian-controlled Kashmir region after gunmen targeted a bus of Hindu pilgrims. At least 33 other people were injured.

Here’s police officer Mohita Sharma.

SHARMA: [Speaking Hindi]

She says here that the militants hid and waited, before ambushing the bus and opening fire on it. The driver then lost control of the bus and crashed into a gorge.

India and neighboring Pakistan have both battled for control of Kashmir since 1947. Authorities blamed the latest attack on Muslim militants who oppose Indian rule.

The incident occurred an hour before Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed office for his third term after an extensive electoral process.

Swiss summit for Ukraine — Over in Switzerland, authorities on Monday confirmed that 90 nations and groups will take part in a summit this month to chart the way forward for Ukraine.

Switzerland agreed in January to host the summit after a request from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Swiss President Viola Amherd:

AMHERD: [Speaking German]

She says here that the talks will focus on drafting a possible framework and schedule for peace between the warring countries.

Swiss authorities said Russia was not invited since it showed no interest in participating.

China and Brazil have said they will be absent unless both Russia and Ukraine are present.

The two-day summit is scheduled to begin on Saturday.

Sudan unrest — We close today in Sudan where worsening fighting is driving up humanitarian needs.

Fighting between the military and a powerful paramilitary force began more than a year ago. About 100 people died after the paramilitary group attacked a village in the eastern Gezira state last week.

Fighting has also worsened in the hard-hit cities of Khartoum and el-Fasher. Doctors at one of the last functional hospitals in el-Fasher said they closed down after paramilitary fighters attacked workers and carted off drugs and medical equipment.

The World Food Program has expanded its emergency food assistance as concerns of famine increase.

Michael Dunford is the East Africa Regional Director of the World Food Program.

DUNFORD: We need an end to the conflict, at a minimum we need a cease-fire. We need to be able to scale our operations and for that we need the humanitarian access. We need long-term political intervention that will allow the peace to hold.

The food agency has now doubled the number of people it planned to support at the beginning of the year.

That’s it for today’s WORLD Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Ohikere in Abuja, Nigeria.

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