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Our editors’ weekly take on humanitarian news, trends, and developments from around the globe.
Our editors’ weekly take on humanitarian news, trends, and developments from around the globe.
On our radar
Flotilla intercepted as world awaits response on Trump “peace plan”
US President Donald Trump presented a controversial 20-point plan to end Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip during a White House meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on 29 September. At the time the Cheat Sheet went to press, Hamas had yet to respond to the proposal and was reportedly pushing for revisions. If it does not accept, Trump has said he will give Israel full US backing to “finish the job” in a war seen as a genocide by an ever-growing international consensus. The plan itself – developed without Palestinian input – is short on details. Analysts have pointed out its significant shortcomings and alignment with many Israeli interests, with some questioning if it is designed to fail. Closer to Gaza, on 2 October, the Israeli military intercepted over 40 boats from the Global Sumud Flotilla, which was aiming to break Israel’s siege on Gaza and deliver humanitarian supplies, prompting protests, strikes, and diplomatic reactions around the world. With international attention focused on the peace plan and flotilla, the Israeli military issued a final order for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians remaining in Gaza City to evacuate south as it continues to escalate its ground invasion and destruction of the enclave’s main metropolis. "The notion of a safe zone in the south is farcical," UNICEF spokesman James Elder told reporters on 3 October. For an intimate view of what life is like for those who have recently been forced to flee Gaza City, read Rasha Abou Jalal’s latest diary: “We live as if we are in a barren desert”.
Will the new anti-gang force in Haiti be any different from its predecessor?
The UN Security Council has approved a resolution transforming the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission – whose mandate ended on 2 October – into a Gang Suppression Force (GSF). Sponsored by the United States and Panama, the new force is set to include up to 5,500 military and police officers, and 50 civilians – the old MSS force was supposed to be 2,000-strong but mustered fewer than 1,000, mostly from Kenya. It’s not clear which countries the personnel for the GSF will come from, but it will also have “a broader mandate” than the MSS, which was restricted to supporting the Haitian National Police (PNH). The initial 12-month mandate includes “intelligence-led targeted, counter-gang operations to neutralise, isolate, and deter gangs”, “provid[ing] security for critical infrastructure sites and transit locations”, and supporting the PNH, the Haitian armed forces, and national institutions to ensure the security conditions needed to hold elections and allow access to humanitarian aid. Additionally, a UN Support Office will be established to provide logistical and operational support to the GSF. The news was welcomed by transitional Haitian President Laurent Saint-Cyr, the Organization of American States, and the regional CARICOM bloc. However, other than a US State Department press release stating that it will be “an international burden-sharing model with the sufficient resources needed to fight the gangs”, little is known about its composition and funding. For more on why the underfunded MSS failed to make much headway, read this investigation we published earlier this year.
Worsening violence in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado
A wave of insurgent attacks in Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado region has forced Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) to suspend its work in the town and district of Mocímboa da Praia. Raids by Islamic State Mozambique (ISM) have sent thousands of people fleeing from Mocímboa da Praia, while attacks have intensified in other Cabo Delgado districts, including Ancuabe, Balama, Chiúre, Montepuez, Muidumbe, and Nangade, and in Memba in neighbouring Nampula province. The surge in violence has involved killings, but also looting, burning of homes, ransom demands, and abductions – especially of children who are forced to fight. Civilians have also been caught up in government military operations, including airstrikes. According to the UN’s emergency aid coordination body, OCHA, the violence is on track to reach a record high this year, with 519 attacks reported by the end of August, compared to 448 in 2022. Mozambican and allied Rwandan forces launched an operation in September to dismantle ISM bases in Macomia and Mocímboa districts, but that may have contributed to the group’s increasingly dispersed attacks.
Trump aides push for regime change in Venezuela
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said on 30 September he was ready to declare a state of emergency in response to aggression by the United States. Such a declaration would give the army control over public services and the country’s oil industry, which Venezuelan leaders believe the US has long sought to control. These preparations come as senior US officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA director John Ratcliffe, are reportedly backing plans to overthrow Maduro. The US increased its naval presence in the Caribbean and recently struck three civilian boats in international waters near Venezuela. President Trump has claimed, without evidence, that the boats were carrying drug traffickers. Rubio recently described Maduro as a “fugitive from American justice” who leads a terrorist and criminal organisation bringing narcotics into the US. A recent US intelligence memo found that Maduro’s government did not control or cooperate with Venezuela’s main criminal gang, Tren de Aragua. The US Drug Enforcement Agency’s latest National Drug Threat Assessment describes Tren de Aragua as being involved in “small-scale drug trafficking activities”. The leading causes of fatal overdoses in the US are fentanyl and methamphetamine, which are mainly brought in by Mexican cartels. As for Maduro’s alleged links to organised crime, reports and in-depth investigations from the likes of Caracas Chronicles and Insight Crime suggest… that’s complicated.
From Asia to Africa: Deadly Gen Z protests spread to Morocco and Madagascar
Frustration with water shortages, power cuts, and the broader political system has triggered nationwide Gen Z protests in Madagascar, forcing President Andry Rajoelina to dissolve his government. But protesters are demanding more: Rajoelina’s resignation and an overhaul of the institutions they say enable corruption. The protests began on 25 September, and security forces have since killed 22 people and injured over 100. Protesters say they are drawing inspiration from the wave of Gen Z movements in Asia – which we’ve covered in recent editions of Cheat Sheet – that have challenged entrenched political orders across the region. Gen Z protests have also taken place in Morocco since last weekend, targeting corruption and poor public services. Hundreds have been arrested and security forces have shot dead several people. Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch has said he is ready for “dialogue and discussion”.
Humanitarian reform nears a crossroads
Is this the end of the road for the Grand Bargain reform agenda, or the start of something new? The annual meeting of Grand Bargain signatories takes place in Geneva 8-9 October, amid a whiff of sector-wide existential angst. The current version is due to wrap up in 2026 – a decade after the Grand Bargain was launched at the World Humanitarian Summit. The reform agenda gathers donors, local civil society groups, big NGOs, and UN agencies in the same room – a rare bit of broader representation in the internationally dominated humanitarian sector. But it’s also a discussion forum with few institutional levers: Attendees from big agencies may agree on the need for change, but that doesn’t mean they have any power to make them happen back at HQ. Meanwhile, in a year of deep cuts and attacks on aid, much of the reform air has been vacuumed up by the so-called humanitarian reset and the UN80 proposals – led and dominated by the UN.
Weekend read
The M23 takeover, part 1: In DR Congo’s Walikale, forced labour and fears of arrest
“They sow terror so that they will be listened to.”
The first of three stories on rebel rule in overlooked areas.
And finally…
Afghanistan goes back in time
At 5pm local time on 30 September, WiFi networks across Afghanistan went dark. Within a few minutes, all five of the nation’s mobile phone carriers went offline and Afghanistan was sent racing back to the mid-century, the mid 19th century that is. Before Antonio Meucci invented the first telephone in 1849 and long before Alexander Graham Bell said ‘Ahoy!’ in the world’s first intelligible call in 1876. The next 48 hours saw millions of confused and despondent people milling about the streets of the country’s urban centres. As young people wondered about their TikTok feeds (technically banned by the Taliban-led government back in 2023), SnapChat streaks, and PUBG high scores (also banned by both the former Western-backed government and the Islamic Emirate), the two-day blackout also led to serious economic, social, and even health setbacks. Flights across the nation’s airports were grounded, banks were forced to shut most of their services (including ATMs), ambulances and other health services were largely unreachable, and customs operations ground to a halt. Despite a quickly debunked claim by the Associated Press, the Afghan government gave no explanation for the unannounced blackout when services were suddenly restored on Wednesday evening. In fact, even the Islamic Emirate’s spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said he was without mobile service of any kind during that 48-hour period. Mujahid’s admission has done little to reassure the population, who live in fear of another unexpected blackout.
