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Our editors’ weekly take on humanitarian news, trends, and developments from around the globe.
On our radar
Glacial collapse triggers catastrophic Himalayan flood
A catastrophic landslide and flash flood struck a Himalayan border area connecting Nepal and China’s Tibet region on 26 August, destroying roads, bridges, homes, and hydropower facilities, and damaging the Gyirong Port border crossing. At the time of publication, the death toll had reached 538 in Nepal and five in Tibet, with as many as 1,500 people, including foreign tourists and pilgrims, still listed as missing. The US Geological Survey reported that the landslide was likely caused by a glacial collapse in Nepal, sending a rapidly accumulating mass of ice, rock, river water, and debris 100 kilometres downstream. Experts say climate warming likely played a role by destabilising mountain ice and rock, though the immediate cause of the collapse remains under investigation. Similar surges have become more frequent and intense as Himalayan ice loss accelerates. China suspended rescue efforts on 28 August in areas threatened by further flooding from a debris-dammed lake that has begun to overflow.
In Haiti, a new massacre threatens December’s election
Haiti’s gang violence is continuing to flare and spread. On 23 August, at least 47 people were killed, 22 injured, and dozens kidnapped in Kenscoff, a farming community on the hills overlooking Port-au-Prince. Gang members also burnt houses and raped women, fuelling fears the violence could expand further into the few relatively safe areas around the capital. The massacre comes as Haiti prepares to hold presidential elections next December – the first in more than a decade – and underscores the scale of the security challenge facing a country where the unrest has now displaced nearly 1.5 million people, or 10% of the entire population. Efforts to contain the gangs have so far failed. In September 2025, the UN authorised a UN-backed Gang Suppression Force. Six months earlier, the Haitian prime minister created a special task force to conduct drone strikes against gangs with support from controversial US private military contractor Erik Prince. Neither has managed to restore the security needed for elections. According to the UN, at least 1,408 people were killed and 656 injured during the second quarter of 2026, with security forces operations accounting for 40% of the deaths.
Ratko Mladić, convicted of Srebrenica genocide, dies at 84
Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladić, who commanded forces responsible for one of the worst atrocities in Europe since the 1940s, has died in prison in The Hague aged 84. He led a brutal campaign during the Bosnian war, which began in 1992 as Yugoslavia broke apart. Bosnian Serb forces sought to seize territory and establish a separate Serb-controlled state within Bosnia. In the process, Mladić’s forces besieged Sarajevo and murdered more than 8,000 Muslim Bosniak men and boys in Srebrenica, despite UN peacekeepers being stationed nearby. After 16 years on the run, Mladić was arrested in 2011 and, in 2017, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia convicted him of genocide for Srebrenica, among other crimes, sentencing him to life imprisonment. Yet some Bosnian Serbs continue to deny his crimes and see him as a protector during the war, a reminder that securing justice for atrocities does not necessarily bring post-war reconciliation.
Liberia begins receiving Trump’s third-country deportees
Twenty deported migrants arrived in Liberia from the United States this week, the first of up to 1,200 deportees – none Liberian – the country has agreed to receive under a deal with Washington. Future arrivals will include nationals from North America, South America, the Caribbean, and other African countries. The Trump administration has deported more than 23,000 people under opaque agreements with 35 countries looking to curry his favour. These forced third-country transfers can occur with no warning, and immigration lawyers describe the practice as a deliberate policy to deny protection and spread fear among people who have been granted – or are seeking – safety in the United States. Cases have included a gay Moroccan woman deported to Cameroon – where homosexuality is illegal – and an Iranian woman with US court protection against being returned to Iran who was sent to the Central African Republic. Although such transfers can amount to refoulement – prohibited under international law when people face persecution or serious harm – they are currently allowed. A US appeals court ruled in March that the deportations can proceed for the time-being, although a verdict is expected imminently on a legal challenge.
Syria’s Kurdish-led SDF dissolves, but true integration remains elusive
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced its dissolution on 25 August, as part of a plan to integrate its fighters into Syria’s army. The move is a key part of Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s plans for a united Syria – a country that this week was removed from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism. In return for bringing the SDF – a powerful force and key part of the fight against the so-called Islamic State – under state control, analysts say Syria’s Kurds have secured some important concessions, including recognition of Kurdish as a national language, positions for Kurdish civil servants, and the appointment of SDF leader Mazloum Abdi as a presidential adviser. These are significant gains after decades of anti-Kurdish discrimination under the al-Assad regime. But not all Syrian Kurds support the deal, and obstacles remain. Most notably, the future of the SDF’s all-women unit, the YPJ, is unresolved. The all-female militia is important symbolically, politically, and on the ground, and with the Syrian army having no units for women anymore, discussions over the YPJ’s role are ongoing.
El Niño and Indian Ocean Dipole raise East Africa flood risk
The Indian Ocean Dipole, a climate pattern involving contrasting sea-surface temperatures in the western and eastern tropical Indian Ocean, doesn’t get as much press as its Pacific cousin, El Niño. But it can have a significant impact on weather conditions in East Africa, especially when the two systems work together. With El Niño already established and expected to strengthen through the end of the year, a report by the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) warns that the coming rainy season could bring widespread flooding and displacement, depending in part on how the two climate patterns interact. The DRC report outlines three scenarios for October to December, with as many as 3 million people at risk of displacement in Somalia, Kenya, South Sudan, and Uganda. Kenya, which could face more than a million displacements, is already planning evacuations, mapping out flood hotspots and revamping drainage systems in Nairobi, and urging businesses in areas that could be cut off for months to stock up on essentials. In Somalia, which has the highest projected displacement, the World Food Programme is planning to assist between 800,000 and 1.2 million flood-exposed people, warning that preparations may need to scale up.
Weekend read
Nine years on, a Rohingya survivor revisits the massacre that killed her family, and dreams of going home
Laila Begum knows justice won’t restore what she has lost but struggles to understand why it can’t help her return home with safety and dignity.
And finally…
Russia’s African influence campaign, and the West’s retreat
Russia has been planting ghost reporters and fake experts in African media to advance its strategic interests, according to a new report by Code for Africa and Graphika. The content typically praises Russia’s paramilitary groups and good works, while denigrating Moscow’s geopolitical rivals – especially Ukraine, France, and the United States. So far, so unsurprising. Code for Africa we know does a sterling service around data journalism on the continent, supported by US philanthropies. What’s more interesting is who Graphika is. It turns out they receive their funding from US government military research grants to track foreign disinformation. Which begs the question, what the hell happened to the West’s own influence campaigns? Makes you feel almost nostalgic for the old days, when the US State Department provided golden ticket junkets to Washington for journalists to see "democracy in action"; when they bothered to groom civil society talent; when the continent felt a little more wooed. Now it all seems shabbier. No romance, just fork over the raw materials.
