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Denmark, US and Greenland to Discuss Arctic Security

FILE PHOTO: Greenland's flag flies in Igaliku settlement, Greenland, July 5, 2024. Ritzau Scanpix/Ida Marie Odgaard via REUTERS/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Greenland's flag flies in Igaliku settlement, Greenland, July 5, 2024. Ritzau Scanpix/Ida Marie Odgaard via REUTERS/File Photo
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Denmark, US and Greenland to Discuss Arctic Security

FILE PHOTO: Greenland's flag flies in Igaliku settlement, Greenland, July 5, 2024. Ritzau Scanpix/Ida Marie Odgaard via REUTERS/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Greenland's flag flies in Igaliku settlement, Greenland, July 5, 2024. Ritzau Scanpix/Ida Marie Odgaard via REUTERS/File Photo

Denmark agreed on Friday to discuss the Arctic region with Washington, Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said, after his first phone call with the top diplomat of the administration of President Donald Trump, who wants control of Greenland.
Rasmussen and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a 20-minute conversation in a "good and constructive tone", discussing Ukraine, European security and the situation in the Middle East, the Danish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The State Department said late on Friday that Rubio had "reaffirmed the strength of the relationship" between the two countries in the call.
Trump has expressed an interest in making Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, part of the United States. He has not ruled out using military or economic power to persuade Denmark to hand it over.
Greenland's strategic location along the shortest route from Europe to North America, vital for the US ballistic missile warning system, has made it a priority for Trump.
Denmark's prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, on Jan. 15 said she had spoken on the phone with Trump and told him that it is up to Greenland itself to decide on any independence.
The Financial Times reported on Friday that last week's call between Frederiksen and Trump was fiery, with Trump insisting he was serious about his determination to take over Greenland. The paper cited European officials. Trump took office on Jan. 20.
"Arctic security was not on the agenda, but it was agreed that it will be discussed between the United States, Denmark and Greenland at a later date, the Danish ministry said on Friday.
Greenland's prime minister, Mute Egede, who has stepped up a push for independence, has repeatedly said the island is not for sale and that it is up to its people to decide their future.
While Trump had aired the possibility of taking over Greenland in 2019, during his first term in the White House, his refusal to rule out the use of military or economic power has caught many Danes by surprise.

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Shooting Rings Out in Congo’s Goma After Rebels Claim City 

This video grab made from AFP TV footage in Goma on January 27, 2025, shows armed men walking in the streets of the city, some carrying their belongings. (AFPTV / AFP)
This video grab made from AFP TV footage in Goma on January 27, 2025, shows armed men walking in the streets of the city, some carrying their belongings. (AFPTV / AFP)
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Shooting Rings Out in Congo’s Goma After Rebels Claim City 

This video grab made from AFP TV footage in Goma on January 27, 2025, shows armed men walking in the streets of the city, some carrying their belongings. (AFPTV / AFP)
This video grab made from AFP TV footage in Goma on January 27, 2025, shows armed men walking in the streets of the city, some carrying their belongings. (AFPTV / AFP)

Gunfire rang out early on Monday across parts of Goma, the largest city in eastern Congo, hours after Rwanda-backed rebels said they had seized the city despite the United Nations Security Council's calling for an end to the offensive.

The recent advance by the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel alliance has forced thousands in Congo's mineral-rich east from their homes and triggered fears that a decades-old simmering conflict risks reigniting a broader regional war.

"There is confusion in the city; here near the airport, we see soldiers. I have not seen the M23 yet," one resident told Reuters. "There are also some cases of looting of stores."

Another resident of the city said there was heavy shooting in the center of Goma.

Residents said gunfire could also be heard near the airport and near the border with Rwanda.

It was not immediately possible to determine who was responsible for the shooting, but one resident said they were likely to be warning shots, not fighting.

The rebels had ordered government soldiers to surrender by 0300 on Monday (0100 GMT) and 100 Congolese soldiers had handed their weapons in to Uruguayan troops in the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo (MONUSCO), Uruguay's military said.

MONUSCO staff and their families were evacuating across the border to Rwanda on Monday morning, where 10 buses were waiting to pick them up.

Kenya's President William Ruto, chairman of the East African Community bloc, will hold an emergency meeting for heads of state on the situation, said Korir Sing'Oei, principal secretary at Kenya's foreign ministry.

The eastern borderlands of Democratic Republic of Congo, a country roughly the size of Western Europe, remain a tinder-box of rebel zones and militia fiefdoms in the wake of two successive regional wars stemming from Rwanda's 1994 genocide.

Well-trained and professionally armed, M23 - the latest in a long line of Tutsi-led rebel movements - says it exists to protect Congo's ethnic Tutsi population.

The UN Security Council held crisis talks on Sunday over the situation in conflict, which has triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

UN experts say that Rwanda has deployed 3,000 - 4,000 troops and provided significant firepower, including missiles and snipers, to support the M23 in fighting in Congo.

The United States, France and Britain on Sunday condemned what they said was Rwanda's backing of the rebel advance.

Kigali dismissed statements that "did not provide any solutions" and blamed Kinshasa for triggering the recent escalation.

"The fighting close to the Rwandan border continues to present a serious threat to Rwanda's security and territorial integrity, and necessitates Rwanda's sustained defensive posture," Rwanda's foreign ministry said.