Our editors’ weekly take on humanitarian news, trends, and developments from around the globe.
On our radar
“God Bless America”
As thousands of brisk termination notices pinged into inboxes across the globe, aid officials scrambled to grasp the repercussions of the Trump machinery’s latest – and most sweeping – attacks on US aid. Trump appointees cancelled 90% of USAID contracts starting on 26 February, in an apparent response to court actions challenging an earlier aid freeze. “Thank you for partnering with USAID,” read emails accompanying some of the thousands of cancellations, “and God Bless America.” State Department aid contracts were also culled. The cuts span crises and sectors, with no particular pattern or justification: food in Syria; HIV treatment in South Africa; support for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh; programmes in Sudan or Yemen; all funding for UNAIDS. In many cases, the cuts were to projects that were recently granted elusive waivers. Even government counterparts seemed confused. “We were served a termination notice for an award that we don’t think even exists,” one aid official said, adding that they were later contacted by USAID, asking what had been cut. The disorganisation, chaos, and gaslighting that has swirled around the dismantling of government services since Trump’s return to power obscures what one aid official described as “terrifying”: the sudden gutting of US-funded aid, which comprises 30-40% of international humanitarian response funding alone. As US aid implodes, other governments that have traditionally propped up the system – from the UK to Germany – have also announced cuts or policy changes. All this is forcing a pivot point for international aid and for multilateralism.
Deadly attack on rally in Bukavu after M23 take the city
Grenade blasts at an M23 rally in Bukavu killed and wounded scores of people on 27 February as the civilian toll of the conflict mounts. Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province, had avoided the kind of violence seen when the M23 took over Goma, the capital of adjoining North Kivu, but the deaths this week show the danger the city is still facing. Corneille Nangaa, the head of the Rwanda-backed M23’s political wing, said the grenades were the same as those used by Burundi's army (which has been supporting the Congolese military), while Kinshasa blamed unspecified “foreign” forces. The prime minister of DRC, Judith Suminwa, said some 7,000 people have been killed in the conflict since January, including 3,000 in Goma, though journalists have disputed the accuracy of the Goma death toll, which may have been inflated to suit Kinshasa’s interests. Diplomatic efforts to address the conflict are, meanwhile, continuing, with east and southern African countries reportedly considering deploying a new force in M23-held areas, some of Rwanda’s Western donors pausing bilateral aid, and the UN Security Council calling on Rwanda to stop its support for the rebels.
Displacement crisis worsens as conflict escalates in northern Colombia
An escalation of violence in the northern Catatumbo region, where the National Liberation Army (ELN) rebel group has been in a bloody turf war with dissident groups of the now-disbanded Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), has seen 80 people killed and 53,000 displaced from their homes since January. A further 8,600 people are living under confinement and 19,000 more face restrictions on their freedom of movement. In Cúcuta, the city near the border with Venezuela where many displaced people have been seeking shelter, armed assaults on police stations and toll booths forced the mayor to impose a 48-hour curfew on 20 February. The humanitarian organisation Project Hope reported that 122,000 people are now in critical need of assistance in Cúcuta and the towns of Tibú and Ocaña. Of the people the group surveyed in shelters, 36% said they had no access to healthcare services, even as insects and animals carrying diseases were found in most locations. Those displaced also face inadequate water and sanitation facilities.
Gaza children dying due to cold weather and lack of shelter
Medics and health officials say that at least six infants have died in Gaza over the past two weeks, due to cold weather and a lack of proper housing and heating. Over the course of this winter, Gaza’s health department has recorded 15 deaths from hypothermia, all children. With the majority of Gaza’s more than two million people displaced at least once by Israel’s heavy bombardment and ground campaign that have killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, many people are staying in tents or other makeshift shelters that easily flood. While more than 586,000 people have returned to northern Gaza since a late January ceasefire, they haven’t been able to go home in the traditional sense: They have found bombed-out buildings and utter destruction. People say that despite the increase in aid since the ceasefire – Israel heavily restricted aid before the war, then blockaded some parts of the strip and attacked aid efforts and aid workers during it – it is still not enough. Israel cut off Gaza’s access to central electricity in October 2024, shortly after Hamas killed and kidnapped civilians, so they need heating supplies, blankets, warm clothes, and a safe place to stay.
Thailand deports Uyghur asylum seekers to China
After detaining them in squalid short-term holding facilities for more than a decade, Thailand deported 40 Uyghur asylum seekers to China on 27 February. Human rights groups had been urging the Thai government for more than a month to halt any plans to deport the group, though senior officials denied there were any such plans. The removals were carried out in a pre-dawn operation using trucks with blacked-out windows, flanked by police. The Chinese embassy in Bangkok described the men as “illegal immigrants” and said they would “return to normal life”. But rights groups, as well as relatives of the asylum seekers living abroad, worry that the group will remain detained in China or be sentenced to death. China has previously labelled anyone seeking asylum abroad as a terrorist. The UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, said the deportations were “a clear violation of the principle of non-refoulement” and international law. Recent reporting by The New Humanitarian has raised questions over whether the agency could have done more to protect the group.
Africa’s chronic disease time-bomb
African healthcare services could “collapse in the next few years” because of the soaring costs of chronic diseases, Dr Githinji Gitahi, a leading public health figure in the continent, has warned. Aid has historically focussed on bugs that could affect donors themselves – witness Elon Musk’s claimed reversal of cuts to Ebola funding. Neglected are non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like cancers and diabetes that impact the lives of many more people. NCDs are set to overtake communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional diseases combined as the leading cause of mortality in Africa by 2030. In low- and middle-income countries, nearly 30% of NCD deaths occur among people under 60, compared to just 13% in high-income countries. Not only that, but 80% of NCD care is out of pocket. Experts say the answer isn’t just more aid: “Sin taxes” on unhealthy tobacco, alcohol, and sugar could help strengthen health budgets and support the integration of NCD prevention into healthcare systems.
Weekend read
Ali Kony and the twilight of the Lord’s Resistance Army
“I wanted another life.”
What the defection of Joseph Kony’s son tells us about the once-dreaded Ugandan rebel group.
And finally…
What to root for at the Oscars?
This Sunday marks the 97th Academy Awards, where Emilia Pérez leads with 13 nominations, including Best Picture. Though the musical about a Mexican druglord who transitions into a woman won high praise from the likes of James Cameron and America Ferrera, it has been marred by controversy since its Netflix debut late last year. The initial backlash was in response to its questionable representation of Mexico, the drug war, and transgenderism, before years of racist, Islamophobic tweets by its star, Karla Sofía Gascón, came to light. For all the hype, other films take more nuanced looks at real societal issues. Incident is up in the Best Documentary Short category and uses bodycam footage to examine the racism and brutality that is rampant in American policing. No Other Land, up for Best Documentary Feature, tackles Israel’s continued destruction and landgrabs in the West Bank. Nickel Boys offers a glimpse at institutional racism in the US and is shot in a unique first-person style. For more on the many issues with Emilia Pérez, including its colonial underpinnings, read this opinion piece.
