Stormzy denies change in Palestine stance over McDonald’s partnership

LONDON: UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said DR Congo’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected” in a statement Sunday, after the M23 armed group advanced on several fronts in the DRC’s volatile east.

“There must be a ceasefire now ... And the DRC’s sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected,” Lammy said in a video on X, calling for a “peace process lead by African countries.”
The M23 movement, supported by some 4,000 Rwandan soldiers, according to UN experts, now controls large swaths of eastern Congo, a troubled region rich in natural resources.
“We’re calling on all sides to allow assistance to get to those who need it most,” said Lammy, adding that he had spoken to Rwandan President Paul Kagame and his Congolese counterpart Felix Tshisekedi.
“The UK will support those committed to ending this conflict. And we will take action against those who continue to fuel it,” he added.
London summoned Rwanda’s envoy to the UK on Tuesday to condemn the M23 advances, calling for Rwanda to “immediately withdraw” all Rwanda Defense Forces from Congolese territory.
Fighters took control of the South Kivu provincial capital Bukavu last Sunday, weeks after capturing Goma, the capital of North Kivu and main city in the country’s east.
The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on Friday which “strongly condemns” the M23 offensive “with the support of the Rwanda Defense Forces.”
According to the UN, the latest fighting has led to an exodus of more than 50,000 Congolese to Burundi, Uganda and other countries.
Lammy announced the UK had “allocated more aid to help those suffering” in the DRC, without providing further details.
Tshisekedi said on Saturday he is going to launch a unity government, telling a meeting of the Sacred Union of the Nation ruling coalition not to be distracted by internal quarrels.
“I lost the battle and not the war. I must reach out to everyone including the opposition. There will be a government of national unity,” said Tshisekedi. He didn’t give more details on what that would entail or when it would happen.
Rwanda has accused Congo of enlisting ethnic Hutu fighters responsible for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda of minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
M23 says it’s fighting to protect Tutsis and Congolese of Rwandan origin from discrimination and wants to transform Congo from a failed state to a modern one. Analysts have called those pretexts for Rwanda’s involvement.
On Saturday, Tshisekedi paid tribute to soldiers who were killed and vowed to prop up the army.

KYIV: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday he was willing to give up his position if it meant peace in Ukraine, adding that he could exchange his departure for his country’s entry into the NATO military alliance.
“If (it means) peace for Ukraine, if you really need me to leave my post, I am ready,” an irritated-looking Zelensky said when asked during a press conference whether he was ready to leave his post if it meant securing peace.
“I can exchange this for NATO (membership), if that condition is there, immediately,” the president added.
US President Donald Trump has pushed for elections to take place in Ukraine, having branded Zelensky a “dictator,” an apparent reference to the Ukrainian leader’s official five-year term running out in 2024. Russia has cited this in the past to assert that he is an illegitimate leader.
Ukrainian legislation prohibits holding elections during a state of martial law, which Ukraine declared the day Russia invaded in February 2022. Trump also falsely claimed that Zelensky has an approval rating of four percent.
“I am not going to be in power for decades, but we will not allow Putin to be in power over the territories of Ukraine either,” Zelensky said on Sunday, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A poll released this week put Zelensky’s approval ratings at 63 percent, and he made reference to this when talking about Trump’s claims on Sunday, calling his false statements “dangerous.”
“I believe it’s not a mistake, it’s misinformation that has an impact,” Zelensky said.
Zelensky said earlier this week Trump was in a “disinformation bubble,” angering the US President and his team. On Sunday, he sought to justify the earlier comments.
“(The information) about four percent of Ukrainians supporting me is one of the signals spread by the Russians, that’s why I said it was a disinformation attack, I didn’t say it was President Trump,” Zelensky said on Sunday.
Trump’s criticism of Zelensky came as relations between the two leaders deteriorated sharply in recent weeks.
Zelensky opposes the idea of elections in a full-scale war, a position backed by his major domestic political opponents.
The Ukrainian president also said he wanted to see Trump as a partner for Ukraine and more than a simply a mediator between Kyiv and Moscow.
“I really want it to be more than just mediation... that’s not enough,” he told a press conference in Kyiv.
Minerals deal

Trump has said Ukraine should give the US $500 billion in critical raw materials as payback for aid which Kyiv has already received from the previous Joe Biden administration.
Zelensky declined to sign a detailed US proposal last week that would have seen Washington receiving 50 percent of Ukraine’s critical minerals, which include graphite, uranium, titanium and lithium, the latter a key component in electric car batteries.
He has said he wants to do a deal, but that it should offer security guarantees for Ukraine in return.
On Friday, he said US and Ukrainian teams were working on a deal and Trump said he expects a deal will be signed soon.
On Sunday, Zelensky said at the press conference that he rejected the idea that Ukraine owed the US $500 billion.
“There cannot be (any) format which makes us debtors for the old (aid given).”
Zelensky said earlier this week that Washington had supplied his country with $67 billion in weapons and $31.5 billion in direct budget support throughout the nearly three-year war with Russia.
“I will not sign what 10 generations of Ukrainians will be repaying,” Zelensky said of the minerals deal.
Ukraine’s economy minister Yuliia Svyrydenko said on Sunday the 18 percent of Ukraine under Russian occupation contained about $350 billion of critical raw materials, adding that Ukraine is conducting additional geological research to update decades-old information.
The president’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said on Sunday that he had held constructive new talks with senior US officials on a deal to develop Ukrainian minerals.
“We are moving forward with our work. This was a constructive discussion,” Yermak wrote on Telegram.