The Somali national army seized 4 starategic villages from alshabab this ended weekend

The Somali National Army has seized four new strategic villages from Al-Shabaab militant group in Lower Juba region on Sunday.
The operations conducted by the government troops have taken the control of some villages including Janay Abdale, Hilishid, Mayonde and Garasceebe under Lower Juba region.
Lieutenant Ismail Abdimalik Moalim, the commander of the 16th brigade of the Danab forces, said the operations would continue until the troops reached all the areas controlled by AL-Shabab fighters.
The commander of the Darwish forces in the Jubbaland region told the media that he had begun operations against militias in the central town of Buale but still needs more effort to capture.
The forces have been conducting operations against al-Shabaab in the Lower Juba region in recent days to flash out Al-Shabab militant group in the region.

FBI refuses to reveal Christopher Steele’s primary source for his notorious ‘Trump-Russia’ dossier in response to a Freedom of Information

The identity of the source remains an enduring mystery, but whoever they are, they undoubtedly possess information that could shed light on innumerable inaccuracies in the dossier, which was cited extensively by the Bureau in its various applications for surveillance orders against Donald Trump campaign aide Carter Page.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has refused to release documents related to Christopher Steele’s primary source for his notorious ‘Trump-Russia’ dossier in response to a Freedom of Information request filed by The Daily Caller, on the basis the information is classified and risks identifying a confidential FBI source.
The Daily Caller sought all FBI records for an individual identified as “Primary Sub-Source” in Justice Department inspector general Michael Horowitz report on Crossfire Hurricane, issued December 2019 – the assessment found Steele’s source contradicted and dismissed key allegations made in the dossier, after they were tracked down and interviewed by FBI agents in January 2017. The former MI6 operative nonetheless dressed up “rumour and speculation” as fact – and the Justice Department ruled two FISA warrants to be invalid due to the Bureau’s omission of this compromising information.
— Chuck Bledsoe@gab.ai ✝ ﻥ #CCOT #MAGA🇺🇸 (@BledsoeChuck) June 26, 2020
In its response to the outlet, the FBI cited three exemptions under Freedom of Information laws to deny releasing the sought documents.
“The nature of your request implicates records the FBI compiles pursuant to its national security and foreign intelligence functions. [Disclosure] would trigger harm to national security interests…and/or reveal intelligence sources and methods. Disclosing source related records about an individual or entity could reasonably be expected to undermine the use of confidential sources as it would discourage cooperation with the FBI in the future. Therefore, your request is closed,” the Bureau stated.
It’s unclear if the FBI considers Steele’s source to be a confidential informant, but Steele himself reportedly told partners at Fusion GPS – the opposition research firm that commissioned the dossier – the individual was “well known to US intelligence and law enforcement officials”.
— Catherine Herridge (@CBS_Herridge) June 12, 2020
Republican lawmakers investigating the origins of the FBI’s investigation of the Trump campaign have recently accused agency director Christopher Wray of releasing documents about the probe too slowly. For instance, Jim Jordan of the House Judiciary Committee, has accused Wray of outright obstinance, while Lindsey Graham, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote Attorney General William Barr on April 20 demanding all documents and communications related to the FBI’s interviews with the source, including FBI reports written about the individual, be released.

Iran creates new army weapons including rocket launchers and missiles

The new weapons, developed by a Revolutionary Guards’ agency responsible for military R&D, have been unveiled amid the Trump administration’s ongoing effort to convince the international community to continue to enforce an arms embargo against Tehran after its October expiry date.
Gen. Ali Koohestani, director of the Revolutionary Guards’ Ground Force Self-Sufficiency Jihad Organization, has given Tasnim News Agency a sneak peek at several new weapons systems for use by infantry formations.
The arms include the Qare’a, a disposable, lightweight rocket launcher made of composite materials, which features a rocket engine-powered 80 mm caliber missile. The weapon is said to have an effective range of 250 meters, and to be ideal for anti-fortification use.

Another of the R&D agency’s designs is a man-portable recoilless rifle dubbed the Nafez-2 (‘Penetrator-2’), a 19 kg anti-armour system which can also be used against enemy emplacements.
Finally, Koohestani unveiled the Ashtar, a unique, lightweight 7.62x64 mm sniper rifle with a range of up to one kilometer and a 24x optical scope.

It’s not clear from the report what stage of development the weapons are in, or whether they have been delivered to the military.
The Tasnim report comes just a day after the IRGC unveiled other arms, including a new armoured personnel carrier, drone and truck-mounted heavy machine-gun, all of them also developed by the Guards’ Ground Force Research and Self-Sufficiency Jihad Organization.
Despite spending just a fraction of what its regional adversaries and the US do on defence, Iran has managed to gain self-sufficiency in a range of areas, becoming one of just a handful of countries capable of building advanced drones and air defence systems, for example. The country began making a push toward self-sufficiency in defence in the 1980s after its US and Western European partners cut Tehran off from its traditional sources of arms following the Iranian Revolution and the Iraqi invasion. Before that, throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the country was one of the largest importers of US weapons systems in the Middle East.
Further moves toward self-sufficiency followed in 2010, after the United Nations Security Council introduced a weapons embargo against the Islamic Republic over its alleged nuclear program.
After 2015 and the signing of the Iran nuclear deal, the UN committed to lift its arms embargo in October 2020. However, beginning earlier this year, the US has lobbied to keep the restrictions in place, going so far as to argue that for all intents and purposes, Washington is still a party to the nuclear deal it withdrew from in 2018. Russian and Chinese diplomats have dismissed US lobbying efforts and hinted that they would veto any American effort to extend the embargo.

ADF and MAIMAI terrorising Walese-Vokontu chiefdom in Irumu territory in ITURI

The NGO-DH Convention for the respect of human rights (CRDH) in Irumu territory in the province of Ituri, alert on the illicit harassment and enrichment of Mayi-Mayi militiamen in several agglomerations of this territory in Walese chiefdom -Vonkutu.
According to its coordinator Christophe Munyanderu, who presented the  information onon Saturd, June 27, 2020, the latter demand a sum of 3,000 Congolese francs as well as a quantity of food from the farming inhabitants, who began to return to this region after the recent attacks by Ugandan ADF rebels.
"In general, in Irumu territory, there is the activism of armed groups, in particular the Mai-Mai militiamen in the Walese-Vonkutu chiefdom. While the latter commit atrocities on the population. They are demanding from each cultivator 3,000 FC and a quantity of food for their survival in this entity. " he declares.
Christophe Munyanderu demands the urgent involvement of the competent authorities to settle this situation. He wishes to see these militiamen be dislodged in this part, so that the population lives in peace.
Note that the Walese-Vokontu chiefdom in Irumu territory is also facing the activism of the ADF rebels. The latter have repeatedly attacked the villages of Ndalya, Biane, Mufutabangi and the surrounding area, causing the death of several civilians and the massive displacement of survivors.

On this Sunday,CODECO militias have killed two more people.

A new attack by militiamen from the Congo Development Cooperative, CODECO in acronym, has been reported in Maze, a locality in the territory of Djugu, chiefdom of Bahema North.
According to local civil society reporting, it was around 9 p.m. that these outlaws entered, with the aim of looting the property of the population.
But they killed a woman and her son before taking away several goats belonging to the victim.
“We killed 2 people, Maman Joséphine and her son Deogracias. They were assassinated around 9 p.m. in the village of Beti on Labo hill and took several goods from his house "testifies Jean-Vianney Nguess.
He also adds that these CODECO millers came from the Ladedjo group to get food before returning to their camp.
In this territory, the macabre counting is done almost every day.
Like this Sunday, Bahema Badgere civil society has alerted to the deaths of at least 12 civilians in just 2 days, still by CODECO attackers.

What about three years CODECO has spent terrorising ITURI?Am happy that MONUSCO and DRC answered my Questions.People in ITURI must have peace.

It has been almost three years since the beginning of the atrocities attributed to the CODECO militia in the Djugu territory located north of the city of Bunia in Ituri. Under the facilitation of Monusco, local news outlets carried out a mission to assess the security and the impact of the action of  MONUSCO engaged alongside the Congolese army, in the heavy task of restoring the peace in this part of the country.
Several villages visited on the Bule-Largu-Maze axis, considered "the epicenter of violence" for having been the starting point in December 2017, are almost uninhabited and present an image of desolation, with houses for the most burned down and fields of crops abandoned and devastated.
For two days, from June 25 to 27, 2020, our reporter who traveled on a completely dilapidated road during this rainy period, the localities of Katoto, Lita, Kparanganza, Largu, Ché, Saliboko, Dheja, Blukua, Drodro, Roe, Maze… paints a picture of a dying territory, with a population mainly on the run.
Katoto, a locality located some 20 km from Bunia, the residents timidly fear in their stomachs, fearing possible attacks from the surrounding villages where the militiamen operate.
Despite the almost regular patrols of UN soldiers, a large part of the population of this locality remains on the move in the capital of the province, where several hundred thousand IDPs live, living in makeshift camps, supported by the humanitarian.
Farther away, Kparanganza is among the rare villages inhabited by the two antagonistic tribes of the region, the Hema and the Lendu, whose dwellings are only separated by a road. Here, only houses with closed doors offer a welcome to visitors.
This is also the case of other entities like Che, Saliboko on the road to Drodro, which have almost completely emptied of their inhabitants following multiple attacks. Most of them took refuge in the Roe site, which today hosts between 4,000 and 5,300 civilians, according to estimates by Charité Banza, leader of civil society in the region.
The security of this largest IDP site inside Djugu is provided by the Bangladeshi contingent of Monusco.
Children displaced at Roe site
But Banza condemns the way international NGOs distribute food for these vulnerable people.
"How can we distribute food to some and leave others?" More than 1,500 displaced people live in unknown sites that are not receiving assistance, "he said, citing in particular the Djangi, Una and Vongi camps located just a few kilometers from Drodro.
Exchange between Monusco peacekeepers, FARDC soldiers and the civilian population in Maze
Passing Roe to go to Dheja, Gustave Dhendro and other local notables pleaded for the installation of a temporary base of peacekeepers in this environment which constitutes a great passage for the attackers during their attacks.
On their way back from Dheja, MONUSCO soldiers administered medicine to a few residents of Maze who were found sick.
Arriving at Drodro, the main town in the region, the Curé of the Catholic parish, which also receives a large number of displaced people, called on Monusco to intensify its patrols.
Father Dieudonné Londjiringa also called for increased humanitarian assistance in food and drinking water for people who fled their villages.
Displaced people accommodated within the catholic parish of Drodro
Formerly considered as one of the “granaries” of the province and the country for its supply of agricultural products, in particular beans, potatoes, corn and others which flooded the markets of Bunia, Kisangani and even Kinshasa where they were routed via the Congo River, the territory of Djugu, is now only a shadow of itself.
Despite all the efforts of the national army, the UN mission, the provincial and national authorities to destroy the CODECO militia whose motivations are often badly or little expressed, peace is slow to return.
It should be noted that Djugu is in the center of the province of Ituri and is among the most populated territories in the Congo with a population estimated at more than 2 million inhabitants, making it one of the main hotbeds of conflicts.
The reestablishment of state authority poses a huge problem in this entity, there are entire villages devoid of a police or military presence.
Access to justice is also one of the biggest challenges.
Djugu’s entire territory has only one peace tribunal, which sits in the mining town of Mungwalu in the far west. This means that entire populations have to travel several kilometers to meet with a judge.

The only prison in Djugu’s territory since the colonial era is also being abandoned following its very dilapidated state. The promise of its rehabilitation made last year by Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi during his visit to the region is slow to materialize.
You can get my questioning about these CODECO militiamen here

A brief biography of Janet Kataha Museveni

Hon.Janet Kataaha Museveni born June 24, 1948 is the First Lady of Uganda since May 1986. She is married to President Yoweri Museveni, with whom they have four children. She is the current Minister of Education and Sports in Uganda's Cabinet. She was appointed to this position on 6th June, 2016. She previously served as Minister for Karamoja Affairs in the Cabinet of Uganda from 27 May 2011 until 6 June 2016. She also served as the elected Member of Parliament representing Ruhaama County in Ntungamo District, between 2011 and 2016.
Janet Museveni went into exile in 1971, when Idi Amin toppled the Obote I regime in a military coup. She married Yoweri Museveni in August 1973. When Idi Amin's regime fell from power in April 1979, she moved back to Uganda from Tanzania where she had been living in exile with her husband.
In February 1981; Janet Museveni and her children re-located to Nairobi, Kenya, where they lived with family friends until 1983. In 1983, they moved to Gothenburg, Sweden, and stayed there until May 1986, four months after Yoweri Museveni's National Resistance Army had seized power in Kampala.
Janet Museveni an old girl of Bweranyagye Girls Secondary School; holds a Bachelors Degree in Education from Makerere University which she acquired in 1997 after joining the university in 1995. She also has a Diploma in Early Childhood Development from Sweden.
In November 2005 Janet Museveni showed her desire to join active politics when she announced that she would seek the parliamentary seat of Ruhaama County, in the February 2006 Ugandan general elections. She contested the seat against the candidate for Forum for Democratic Change, Augustine Ruzindana, and won overwhelmingly. She was re-elected in March 2011 to another five-year term.
On 16 February 2009, Janet Museveni was appointed State Minister for Karamoja Affairs and on 27 May 2011, she was elevated to Minister for Karamoja Affairs.
Aside politics and being the first lady of Uganda; Janet Museveni boasts of other achievements such as being the founder of Uganda Women's Effort to Save Orphans (UWESO), an indigenous NGO which cares for war-related and HIV/AIDS-affected orphans in all the Districts of Uganda. The NGO has been in operation since 1986 and works with major UN agencies and other international donor agencies.
The first lady is also the founder and Patron of National Strategy for the Advancement of Rural Women in Uganda (NSARWU), an NGO which works with poor rural women to empower them economically through various interventions.
Founder and Patron of the Uganda Youth Forum (UYF) and NGO that engages the youth of Uganda for purposes of character and behavior formation particularly with regard to HIV and AIDS prevention. Janet Museveni is also the Patron of the Safe Motherhood Initiative of the Ministry of Health and WHO for reduction of maternal mortality and morbidity. She is as well the Co-chair of CURE Hospital - a special Hospital for crippled children in Uganda, with CURE International.
She is also an Active member of OAFLA, an Organization that unites the First Ladies of Africa in the fight against HIV and AIDS in the Region.