Our editors’ weekly take on humanitarian news, trends, and developments from around the globe.
On our radar
Humanitarians search for the reset button
What would it look like to retool a limping humanitarian system on the fly? The UN’s relief chief is calling for a “reset”, as the broader aid system scrambles to find its footing amid US President Donald Trump’s aid freezes and wider attacks on perceived progressive causes. “The humanitarian community confronts a massive funding, morale, and legitimacy crisis,” Tom Fletcher, the UN’s top humanitarian appointee, wrote in a message following a 19 February meeting of the principals of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee. Fletcher’s message said the principals agreed to “a bold plan” to reduce bureaucracy (details not released), and to do “urgent work” to identify how to reach 100 million people in greatest need (details unavailable). Made up of heads of most UN agencies and a rotating cast of NGOs, the slightly labyrinthian body serves a de facto strategic coordination function in a messy system where agency turf wars are common and collaboration often elusive. A month into Trump’s tumultuous second term, it’s also one of the first high-level humanitarian statements to address the sector’s existential crisis from a strategic level. “We will not be able to rely on traditional funding sources and governments,” Fletcher wrote, stressing the need to find new partners, and floating the launch of “a public campaign to fill in the gaps left by government”.
In the meantime, the fallout from the sudden funding freeze continues for communities facing crises – for those rebuilding Syria; under fire in military-ruled Myanmar; or who are victims of sexual violence in an eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo swept by the M23 conflict. Trump’s envoys are starting to take his “me first” message to recent UN agency boards at UNICEF and the World Food Programme – with some degree of pushback from other countries. In the US, the pushback is taking on a distinctly American flavour: lawsuits. There’s a growing list of litigation challenging Trump and his allies on everything from the dismantling of USAID and the scapegoating of asylum seekers and trans people, to ally Elon Musk’s authority and birthright citizenship.
To hear more discussions on how the US aid freeze has exposed not only the fragility of humanitarian funding but also longstanding dependencies, vulnerabilities, and power dynamics that demand a broader reckoning, watch our recent event.
Between suits and slaughter for Sudan’s RSF
Leaders of the paramilitary-turned-rebel Rapid Support Forces donned suits this week in a lavish event in downtown Nairobi to discuss the formation of a breakaway government in Sudan. Back home, its fighters reportedly massacred hundreds of people in a three-day rampage in White Nile state that saw mass executions and fleeing people drowning in a river. The RSF is rapidly losing territory in central Sudan and Khartoum to the army, but it is well entrenched in western parts of the country and is still supported by the United Arab Emirates. The militia wants to bring other rebel and political groups into a parallel government, which it hopes will ease its acquisition of weapons and bring legitimacy. Yet the White Nile massacre – the latest in a series of war crimes by the group, some of which may constitute acts of genocide – shows what such a state would be built on. See our latest Sudan coverage for more.
Rwanda starts to feel some heat over widening M23 emergency
The Rwanda-supported M23 rebel group is continuing its sweeping offensive in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, entering the city of Bukavu (the provincial capital of South Kivu) after Cheat Sheet went to press last week, and marching southwards in recent days towards the lakeside town of Uvira. The rebels are accused of conducting summary executions of children in Bukavu, while retreating Congolese troops have clashed with allied militias who wanted to stay in the city and fight, and have been on looting sprees in the neighbouring North Kivu province. Burundian troops that had been supporting the Congolese army are reportedly returning home (though it is unclear how many) and Kinshasa has requested military support from Chad as it churns through security partnerships. The humanitarian emergency is growing and having an increasingly regional impact, with 35,000 people escaping to Burundi in recent days. Meanwhile, criticism of Rwanda’s role in the conflict (it has thousands of troops fighting alongside the M23) is finally growing among its Western donors. They are summoning Rwandan diplomats, sanctioning government officials, and belatedly describing the offensive as a breach of the UN charter and DRC’s sovereignty.
Egypt offers alternative to Trump’s Gaza “riviera”
While President Trump has proposed a US takeover of Gaza, permanently displacing the more than two million Palestinians who live there to turn it into a “riviera” – a move that rights groups say would be ethnic cleansing – Egypt is now developing an alternative reconstruction plan for the strip. This proposal would reportedly see the establishment of “secure zones” inside Gaza, where Palestinians can live during a rebuild, with reconstruction funded by Arab and Gulf states. Under this plan, which is still being drawn up, Palestinians would have the right to stay in Gaza (rather than being forced into Jordan or Egypt), and Hamas would be excluded from governance. Its military status, which is likely to be a sticking point for Israel, is unclear. No matter who does it, any reconstruction is going to be expensive: The World Bank has put the estimated cost of reconstruction and recovery in Gaza at $53 billion. Rebuilding also requires peace, which is no guarantee: The first phase of the three-phased Hamas-Israel ceasefire will expire on 1 March. Negotiations on the second were supposed to begin weeks ago, and while talks now look set to begin, there are still plenty of potential stumbling blocks ahead.
US and Ukraine trade insults as Trump continues push to end war
Tensions between the US and Ukraine escalated on 19 February when Trump said President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was a “dictator without elections” and accused him of starting the war between Ukraine and Russia three years ago. Zelenskyy retorted that Trump lives in a “web of disinformation”. The insults came a day after senior US and Russian officials discussed ending the war during a meeting to which Ukraine was not invited. Zelenskyy said the meeting served only as a gift to Russian President Vladimir Putin, effectively bringing him back from his diplomatic isolation. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said after the meeting that peace would require concessions from both sides. Russian officials have not publicly offered any concessions but reportedly demanded that Ukraine commit to neutrality and not be allowed to join the NATO military alliance. On 20 February, the day after the barrage of insults between the two leaders, Zelenskyy met in Kyiv with Trump’s Ukraine and Russia envoy, Keith Kellogg, and said the meeting gave him hope. But a joint press conference afterwards was cancelled, at the request of the US. China has come out in support of Trump’s negotiations with Russia, while European leaders have said they are considering sending peacekeepers to Ukraine.
Far-right eyes gains in German elections
Marked by battles over the centre ground that typically end in stable coalition governments, post-World War II elections in Germany have tended to be rather staid affairs. This one feels very different. Germans go to the polls on 23 February in parliamentary elections with a hell of a lot on the line, not least the country’s continuing support for Ukraine (Germany is the second largest provider of arms to Ukraine after the US). Most shocking is the rise in the opinion polls of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) – a party whose members espouse a brand of xenophobic nativism that calls for blood-based citizenship, and whose candidate for chancellor, Alice Weidel, has called for “large-scale repatriations” of immigrants. Buoyed by Musk saying it was the only party that could save Germany, and US Vice President JD Vance meeting with Weidel on the sidelines of the recent Munich Security Conference – at which he scolded European leaders for snubbing far-right parties – the AfD could on Sunday become the second largest party in the Bundestag. Most Germans are still solidly against it having any part of government, but, against the backdrop of a weakening economy and turbulent geopolitical times, the old alliances that have kept the far-right at bay appear to be fraying, and some of the AfD’s anti-immigrant policies are creeping into the mainstream.
Weekend read
Myanmar in “polycrisis” as US aid freeze compounds long-term donor neglect
“The longer the conflict goes on, the higher the possibility of the rise of warlords. Once we reach there, it’ll be much more difficult to rebuild.”
Conflict, disease, and poverty are driving unprecedented needs as junta rule enters a fifth year. So why is humanitarian assistance shrinking?
And finally…
Uganda’s serial political detainee charged with treason
Spare a thought this week for Kizza Besigye, Uganda’s serial political detainee. He has been charged with treason – which carries the death penalty -- in the latest twist to the psychodrama that is his relationship with his former comrade-in-arms, President Yoweri Museveni. His new brush with the authorities began late last year when he was abducted from a book launch in Kenya, whisked away home, and placed in military custody. He was charged by a military court with threatening state security. The Supreme Court ruled on 31 January that a military trial was unconstitutional – a decision Museveni said was “wrong”. But it took a hunger strike by Besigye, 68, before the government agreed to the jurisdiction of a civilian court. Besigye, meanwhile, was rushed from prison to a clinic on 18 February for medical treatment. Three days later, the new treason charge was announced. Besigye, once Museveni’s private doctor, has lost in elections four times to the ageing strongman. He has also been arrested more than 100 times.
