Our editors’ weekly take on humanitarian news, trends, and developments from around the globe.
On our radar
Celebrations and sorrow as Lebanon ceasefire holds for now
A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah appears to be holding, with the US-France brokered deal – which came into effect at 4am local time on 27 November – prompting thousands of displaced Lebanese civilians to head for their homes in the south. While there were celebrations on the road, so many homes, businesses, and lives have been destroyed that the return is also marred by sorrow, with bodies still under the rubble of buildings flattened by Israel’s bombs. The days before the deal were particularly devastating, with Israel levelling an apartment block in central Beirut, reportedly killing at least 29 people. Both sides have traded accusations of violating the truce, which is based on the UN Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 Hezbollah-Israel war. The next 60 days, during which both Hezbollah and Israel are set to withdraw from south Lebanon, will be crucial. While US President Joe Biden hopes to use this momentum to push for a deal in Gaza, no clear progress has been made on that front, meaning there is still no respite for civilians there. Israel is intensifying its bombardment in central Gaza, where medics say its military killed at least 26 people on the day after the Lebanon deal began, and aid – already mostly blockaded by Israel – is reportedly now being looted on a large scale with impunity.
Aid trucks begin rolling in to famine-hit parts of Sudan
The World Food Programme has said that more than 700 trucks are on their way to famine-affected parts of Sudan as part of a “scale-up” designed to reach people in the country’s most in-need and isolated conflict areas. The Sudanese army and aligned authorities have consistently blocked and delayed aid shipments, especially those heading into areas controlled by the paramilitary-turned-rebel Rapid Support Forces, but WFP said it has received hundreds of clearances from authorities, and is also benefiting from the start of the dry season. Trucks have already reached Zam Zam camp in Darfur, where famine was declared in August and residents have been surviving on peanut-based animal feed. The war in Sudan began in April 2023 and has produced the world’s largest displacement crisis, uprooting over 11 million people, and the biggest hunger crisis too. See our latest stories on the conflict, and on local aid efforts for more.
Outcry at home and abroad over Pakistan’s protest crackdown
A protest movement demanding the freedom of jailed ex-prime minister Imran Khan descended into violence, shutdowns, and nearly 1,000 arrests after security forces tried to keep thousands of Khan’s supporters from reaching key parts of Islamabad. The government tried to keep protesters from entering the Pakistani capital by blocking off roads using hundreds of shipping containers, limiting internet access, and stationing security forces throughout the city. Amnesty International says the security forces invoked provisions usually reserved for “external aggression or threat of war”, including indiscriminate gunfire, use of tear gas, and even shoot on sight orders. Footage circulated online of a protester being shoved off stacked containers after completing his prayers has become an icon of the movement. Information Minister Attaullah Tarar denied that police shot at protesters, but the state’s violent crackdown has drawn criticism from around the globe. For more background and context, read our recent analysis: Pakistan has a protest problem.
Relocations and evacuations as aid groups pull back from Port-au-Prince
The escalation of gang attacks in Port-au-Prince has forced aid groups and UN agencies to urgently relocate or evacuate staff. Most have been flown to safer parts of Haiti, but some have been sent abroad and are now working remotely. “We are present, though we had to reduce our footprint in the capital,” María Isabel Salvador, head of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH), told the New Humanitarian on 26 November, indicating that around 240 of the 1,700 UN staff in Haiti had left the country already. Other aid organisations have also been reacting to the rapid deterioration of security in the capital: Médecins Sans Frontières was forced to suspend its operations, while Mercy Corps sent some staff to other regions. Hundreds have been killed and more than 40,000 displaced in the past few weeks of violence. “If Port-au-Prince becomes completely cut off, the humanitarian consequences will be catastrophic,” said Mercy Corps Country Director Laurent Uwumuremyi. “Hospitals, already overwhelmed, will run out of essential supplies. Food insecurity will escalate to famine-like conditions.”
Luanda agreement offers hope of de-escalation in eastern DRC
Congolese and Rwandan officials have approved a document aimed at addressing one of the main conflicts currently roiling eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Rwanda has been supporting a rebellion in the region by the M23 armed group, sending weapons and troops to fight the Congolese army and its allies. There are few details on the agreement signed in Luanda, but it will reportedly see Rwandan forces disengage and the DRC government commit to neutralising the FDLR, a militia founded by the exiled Rwandan Hutus who were behind the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. The idea has been discussed for several months, though negotiations had broken down over sequencing, with Rwanda demanding progress against the FDLR before it moved its troops. Kigali has long worried about the presence of the FDLR in DRC, though most analysts agree that it is supporting the M23 for rather different reasons. It is unclear if the new agreement will influence the behaviour of the M23, which has its own interests and is not a simple proxy group. Check out our in-depth reporting on the conflict for more.
Trump vows to use military for mass migrant deportations
President-elect Donald Trump has restated his intention to enact extreme policies to stop the flow of migrants towards the United States. On 25 November, through his social media platform Truth Social, he followed through on his campaign promises by vowing to declare a national emergency and use the military to help carry out mass deportations. The next day, he threatened to impose 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada (and an additional 10% on China) until drugs and migrants stopped crossing the border. The move prompted a fiery response letter from Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who suggested her country would retaliate. “For every tariff, there will be a response in kind,” she wrote. Tensions did ease somewhat after the leaders held a more cordial phone conversation, but differences remained, with Sheinbaum strongly denying she had agreed to curb migration by shutting down the Mexico-US border.
Weekend read
Opinion | International community: Speak up now about Israel’s atrocities against Palestinians
Silence, or hollow gestures of solidarity, only make institutions complicit in the oppression and the injustice.
And finally…
Too much plastic? Too many lobbyists?
A record 220 plastics lobbyists are attending talks in South Korea to develop a Global Plastics Treaty, three times more than the scientists campaigning for a treaty to curb waste, according to analysis by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL). The tactics of plastics lobbyists, who collectively outnumber any other delegation, are said to mirror those of fossil fuel lobbyists at the UN Climate summit, COP, where 1,773 fossil fuel lobbyists turned up this year – just over 1,000 passes were given to delegates from the most climate-vulnerable countries. Plastic lobbyists’ tactics are “lifted straight from the climate negotiations playbook [to preserve] financial interests of countries and companies who are putting their fossil-fuelled profits above human health, human rights, and the future of the planet,” said Delphine Levi Alvares, at CEIL. The plastics talks have suffered other troubling similarities to the climate talks. Petrostates Russia, Iran, and Saudi Arabia have repeatedly blocked efforts to avoid limits being placed on plastic production, reported Climate Home.
