Our editors’ weekly take on humanitarian news, trends, and developments from around the globe.
On our radar
Heads of UN agencies: “Utter disregard for human life” in Gaza
Critical supplies are rapidly running out in the Gaza Strip, which has been under total Israeli siege since 2 March. Food, medicine, and fuel are all in short supply, bakeries have shut down, and the prices of remaining food items in the market have skyrocketed. A joint statement by the heads of seven UN humanitarian agencies said: “We are witnessing acts of war in Gaza that show an utter disregard for human life”. More than 390,000 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced again since Israel resumed its assault on Gaza on 18 March, ending a 60-day ceasefire. The Israeli military has seized more than 50% of the land in Gaza, dramatically expanding a so-called buffer zone in recent weeks. Its renewed offensive also damaged a pipeline providing 70% of Gaza City’s water on 5 April, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without access to clean supplies. UN Secretary-General António Guterres rejected an Israeli proposal to control aid supplies entering Gaza, saying it risked “further controlling and callously limiting aid down to the last calorie and grain of flour”. Guterres described the situation in Gaza as “totally intolerable in the eyes of international law and history”.
Two years into war, Sudan’s needs greater than ever
The war in Sudan reaches its two-year mark next week, and while the dynamics of the conflict have shifted significantly, there are few indications that the fighting is letting up. Some had hoped the army’s recent gains against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (in Khartoum and elsewhere) would push it towards peace talks, as it has been the main party refusing negotiations. However, it has instead continued its military offensives, carrying out deadly airstrikes in Darfur. Though weakened, the RSF is still threatening Khartoum, and is forging pacts with other rebel groups to broaden its coalition. It is also tightening control over Darfur, finalising plans for a parallel government that could cement Sudan’s de facto partition. The humanitarian situation is as bad as it has ever been. More than 25 million people are experiencing extreme hunger, with around 600,000 expected to face famine by mid-2025. The UK is the latest to enter the diplomatic arena, organising a so-called peace conference on 15 April. Foreign ministers from nearly 20 states have been invited, but not the warring parties themselves. The UK, like many countries, is accused of double-speak on Sudan – calling for peace while selling substantial arms to the UAE, a key backer of the RSF. For an in-depth look at the war – and the struggling relief operations – read our just-published special report: Sudan aid efforts blocked and weaponised amid sweeping cuts and army gains.
Haiti's government in the crosshairs
Criticism of Haiti’s transitional government is growing fiercer, as authorities appear helpless to prevent gangs from tightening their grip on the country. According to a new report by the United Nations Integrated Office (BINUH) in Haiti, at least 1,518 people have already been killed due to gang violence this year. Attacks have targeted key towns such as Kenscoff, a strategic residential commune south of Port-au-Prince where 262 people were murdered in the scope of two months. The report states that authorities had known for days that the assaults were in preparation and that it took security forces five hours to reach the area when the first attack started on 27 January. In early April, thousands of Haitians took to the streets in protest, demanding that the authorities do a better job protecting them, but the transitional presidential council (CPT) continues to disappoint. At the beginning of the year, its members announced a war budget to reinforce Haitian security forces; three months later, they haven´t adopted it yet. More recently, the head of the CPT said it would tap into the Brigade for the Security of Protected Areas – an environmental force that evolved into a paramilitary group – to fight gangs, spurring outcry from Haitian human rights groups. For more on Haiti's deepening crisis, read our coverage here.
A decade after Trump pulled out of nuclear deal, US and Iran to restart talks
The United States and Iran are expected to begin talks over Iran’s nuclear programme this weekend, although US President Donald Trump is threatening military action if they fail, while Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says his country “would never accept coercion”. Although Trump initially framed the Oman negotiations as “direct”, they are more likely to be “indirect” – which means Omani diplomats will be passing messages between the two parties, which do not have official diplomatic relations. During his first term, Trump pulled out of a previous deal that limited Iran’s nuclear programme, negotiated by the US, China, France, Russia, Germany, and the UK. That deal, which was supposed to last 15 years, saw the countries lift heavy economic sanctions on Iran. Trump has said he will get a “better” deal, but it’s not clear what that might look like, or if it will involve European countries. Trump did say this week that Israel would be the “leader” of a military strike against Iran if the country doesn’t give up its nuclear programme.
Trump tariffs bring crippling uncertainty
Uncertainty abounds in the global economy after President Trump paused his biggest tariff hikes – except on China – following outrage from financiers and pleas from lower-income countries to reconsider. Trump wrote on social media that 75 countries had reached out to the US to negotiate the tariff terms. They were “getting a little bit yippy”, said the president. Among those countries was Bangladesh, whose interim leader, Muhammad Yunus, later thanked Trump online for “responding positively to our request for a 90-day pause on tariffs”. But a new US baseline tariff rate of 10% still applies, which could potentially harm developing markets – along with the fallout of any ongoing trade war between the US and China, the world’s biggest economies. “The most important point is the problem of the uncertainty,” said Rebeca Grynspan, the head of the UN trade and development agency (UNCTAD). “If we have a prolonged period of uncertainty, where things change all the time, this is damaging because we don't know what to do. Investment is paralysed because CEOs are deciding to sit and wait, which means investment will not come back at the scale the world needs.”
Who gets a say in the humanitarian “reset”?
Civil society groups are calling for a UN-floated sector revamp to aim big – and to include more than the usual circle of UN agencies and multinational NGOs. “The ongoing financial shock to the humanitarian sector demands that we move beyond small fixes,” reads the 10 April statement, signed by networks and civil society groups from Afghanistan to Vanuatu. UN relief chief Tom Fletcher pitched a “reset” in response to the sector’s Trump-worsened funding crisis. Drips of public info – from tweet threads or a pair of letters – has focused on tightening the international sector’s coordination machinery. There’s little sign of a wider consultation (or a deeper transformation), which has prompted some citizen humanitarians to float their own polls in search of ideas – and to wonder who has been asked to participate. “A true reset must lead to more fundamental changes to longstanding humanitarian power structures that have contributed to exclusion, inefficiency, and a lack of accountability to crisis-affected people,” reads the statement, whose signatories include NEAR, a network of Global South civil society groups.
Weekend read
Mines: The deadly legacy of Syria’s war
As Syrians head home in large numbers, they are unearthing new dangers in mines, bombs, and other explosive remnants of war.
And finally…
Brussels breaks up with Kigali
From donor darling to embarrassing ex, Europe’s break-up with Rwanda’s leader Paul Kagame has turned testy. “Go to hell”, was Kagame’s pithy response this week to EU countries that have sanctioned Kigali over its military support for the M23 opposition group in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The EU imposed a travel ban and asset freeze on named Rwandan military commanders and government officials in March for backing the M23 – which has included the deployment of at least 4,000 special forces. The EU had been divided over how to respond, with some seeing Rwanda as a key partner in the region. But Belgium, the former colonial power – which has longstanding beef with Kagame – pushed for a firm response. That hard line has resulted in a tit-for-tat diplomatic spat. Pressure is now on the EU to shelve a minerals supply agreement with Rwanda for tin, tungsten, and tantalum mined by the M23 in eastern DRC.
