Share & more
Our editors’ weekly take on humanitarian news, trends, and developments from around the globe.
On our radar
Ethiopia clashes raise fear of return to civil war
Over the last few years, there have been multiple rounds of warnings that Ethiopia could slide back into civil war – they look a lot more real now. Fighters from the northern region of Tigray took over the main airport at Mekelle on 23 September and fought federal troops in neighbouring Afar and Amhara. A few days earlier, its ruling party, the TPLF, joined a new alliance of seven rebel groups to overthrow the government. Addis Ababa has responded with drone strikes – including a hit on a Catholic Relief Services convoy carrying food aid – and counter-attacks. The escalating clashes and bellicose language by both sides renders the already problematic 2022 peace agreement irrelevant. Tigray has been under quasi-siege for months, with the government preventing the transfer of fuel, medical supplies, and civil servant salaries. Switching off power and communications could be next. To add to Tigray’s woes, “many households” are experiencing complete crop failure due to drought, according to a 17 September government report – a copy of which The New Humanitarian has seen. “Without continued rainfall, even minimal production cannot be expected,” it warned. For more context, read our full coverage of Ethiopia’s 2020-2022 civil war – which killed an estimated 600,000 people – and its aftermath.
What happened at UNGA, beyond the bravado
António Guterres used his final spin at the UN General Assembly podium to defend multilateralism, speaking of interdependence and collective security. US President Donald Trump used his debate slot to talk about annihilating Iran. Not exactly inspiring, but there’s more to UNGA’s high-level pageantry than a secretary-general swan song, violent bravado, or room-clearing speeches. Nepali Prime Minister (and rapper) Balendra Shah called for faster climate action after August’s catastrophic Himalayan floods, and suggested a regional assistance body. Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley warned against “selective” reform at the UN, and said at-risk countries needed to mobilise much more climate finance. Multiple leaders, from Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to Palau’s Surangel Whipps, said their homes weren’t testing grounds for geopolitical strategy or military power. Some 128 countries indicated support for a declaration on “suspending” the use of the Security Council veto for mass atrocities (two of five veto-wielders, the UK and France, are on board). The leaders of 22 countries signed on to a call to control frontier AI. And the grapple to pick the next secretary-general continues with another closed-door straw poll on 29 September. The inconclusive scramble so far raises a question fit for this chaotic era: What happens if no one is picked?
US blocks Sudan army chief from attending UNGA
The US government has been withholding a visa to Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, preventing him from attending the UN General Assembly and sparking dispute among the countries mediating an end to Sudan’s war. The UN system treats al-Burhan as the de facto leader of Sudan, yet his presence at UNGA has been made contingent on agreeing to a 90-day ceasefire proposed by the US, which is part of the so-called Quad mediation group that also includes the UAE, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. The army has repeatedly rebuffed truce proposals, yet the US pressure campaign is seen as coercive by the SAF and allied Quad countries, most notably Saudi Arabia, which has reportedly threatened to leave the grouping. The SAF views itself as a legitimate state authority battling a brutal paramilitary group – the Rapid Support Forces – and loathes being treated simply as a warring party. A US statement on 22 September arguing that neither the SAF nor the RSF “represent legitimate, constitutional governance for Sudan” shows growing divergence.
Charity Commission warns Save the Children over Yemen safeguarding failures
Save the Children International received an official warning on 9 September over its Yemen office’s “failing to safeguard staff” and other governance failures. The warning came nearly three years after the office’s security director, Hisham al-Hakimi, died in Houthi detention. The Commission echoed the findings of a 2025 investigation by The New Humanitarian, which reconstructed the events surrounding al-Hakimi’s detention and death, including months of internal warnings. Save the Children’s 2024 investigation found “fundamental failures of leadership, process, and accountability”. Yemen remains among the most dangerous environments for aid workers, with 73 UN personnel and dozens of workers from other organisations currently in Houthi detention. More than 700 people have been killed and 120,000 displaced by renewed fighting between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia in recent weeks. The group struck Riyadh on 19 September and has seized large areas near the country’s western coast. For more on the risks aid workers face in Houthi-controlled areas, read our investigation.
In Venezuela, it’s a slow road to recovery for quake survivors
Three months after two earthquakes struck on 24 June, killing at least 6,509 people and leaving thousands more missing, many of the 1.3 million people deemed by the UN to be in need of urgent humanitarian assistance continue to face dire living conditions. So far, authorities have assessed nearly 61,000 homes, 11,000 of which are considered high-risk, forcing thousands of families to sleep in tents beside their damaged buildings. Many of them are still searching for missing relatives on their own. According to aid groups – who stress that this disaster struck a population already facing a complex humanitarian emergency – the main challenges remain the lack of clean water, food insecurity, inadequate shelter, and protection risks. Added to this, heat waves and intense rains have caused dehydration, gastrointestinal illness, and sanitation problems in displacement camps, especially among children. And as the school year starts, access to education – in a country with a dilapidated public system – has been further disrupted: 900 schools have been damaged, including 11 that completely collapsed; while another 67 are still being used as displacement camps.
The Board of Peace’s big Gaza announcement that probably isn’t
At this point, it feels like déjà vu: President Trump’s Board of Peace makes a major announcement about plans for redeveloping the Gaza Strip; statements highlighting supposed progress and the requisite headlines follow. But scratch below the surface, and the chances of any of it actually happening are slim. Questions around whether the people in the room are genuinely working for the benefit of the people of Gaza, or what Palestinians in the enclave want for their own future, conveniently remain unasked. This is what played out, once again, on the sidelines of UNGA. The plans this time, focusing on the first six months of recovery, are more detailed. But even members of the Board of Peace hint that zero progress will be made before Israeli elections at the end of October. After that, regardless of the composition of Israel’s next government, massive obstacles remain. Meanwhile, life in Gaza is frozen where it was after last October’s ceasefire: Israel continues to carry out attacks and directly occupy nearly 70% of the Strip; more aid and food are available, but still not nearly enough; and 2.1 million Palestinians are crammed into a sliver of territory, living in tents and war-damaged buildings, navigating life among the ruins for as far into the future as anyone can see.
Weekend read
Why humanitarians see potential in stablecoin crypto
It’s not a silver bullet and there are risks, but experts say using stablecoin in aid responses could thrive under the right conditions.
And finally…
A Nobel peace prize in a time of war?
Fist-shaking, wall-building, and aid-cutting might seem more the global mood these days than peace-making. But news headlines may get a brief reset on 9 October, when this year’s Nobel Peace Prize is scheduled to be announced. Some past winners have been more aspirational than reflective of reality. This is, after all, a prize that was once given to Henry Kissinger. Humanitarian groups have also been recognised: World Food Programme in 2020 (and not its executive director, as some bios might suggest), or Médecins Sans Frontières in 1999. So who’s in the conversation this year? PRIO, the Oslo-based peace research organisation, has weighed in with its shortlist. The suggestions include recognition for aid efforts: a joint award to Ukrainian humanitarian Mykola Kuleba and Save the Children, or to Sudan’s emergency response rooms. The Committee to Protect Journalists gets a nod at a time when journalists around the world face high levels of repression and record killings. So too do the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court – the US is campaigning to dismantle the latter. Lastly, there’s the International Space Station, as a reminder, PRIO says, of “why and how multilateral cooperation matters”.
