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Our editors’ weekly take on humanitarian news, trends, and developments from around the globe.
On our radar
Drone strikes bring conflict home to Addis Ababa
If Ethiopia’s federal government thought Addis Ababa was insulated from the conflict in its restive Tigray and Amhara regions, drone strikes have forced a reappraisal. Blasts were heard overnight on 1 October near the military’s headquarters in the west of the city, and another military camp in the south. The seven-member opposition Alliance for Survival claimed responsibility. Meanwhile, as fighting worsens, the federal army and a pro-government militia appear to be advancing towards northern Tigray’s main city of Mekelle. At least 52 civilians were killed in three days of heavy clashes around Alamata, 180 kilometres south of Mekelle. Fighters of the region’s ruling party, the TPLF, are also reported to have attacked east into the Afar region – landlocked Ethiopia’s strategic corridor to neighbouring Djibouti’s ports. As concerns mount over the humanitarian impact of the expanding combat, the UN and African Union have backed a mediation effort by former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo. The risk remains, however, of a wider conflagration, with Ethiopia accusing Egypt, Eritrea, and Sudan of backing its opponents. Ethiopia and Eritrea cut diplomatic relations on 2 October.
Malaysia begins Rohingya repatriations even as Myanmar violence escalates
Conflict and displacement in Myanmar’s Rakhine state are escalating on multiple fronts. Myanmar’s military hit a local market on 28 September, killing at least 50 people and wounding 58. UN investigators are looking into the attack – which occurred as Myanmar’s ruling junta stepped up its campaign against the Arakan Army (AA), an ethnic militia that controls much of northern Rakhine state – as a potential war crime. Nearly a decade after the Myanmar military began ethnically cleansing Rohingya Muslims from the area, the AA is accused of deploying similar tactics, seizing Rohingya villages and farmland to build detention camps and military infrastructure, according to recent UN research and satellite imagery. A quarter of all Rohingya who stayed in Myanmar after the 2017 mass displacement campaign have left the country since 2024. Most have crossed into Bangladesh, but some have taken dangerous boat journeys to Malaysia. Despite the escalating violence in Myanmar, the Malaysian government began on 29 September repatriating the first 1,500 of a planned 5,000 Rohingya who purportedly volunteered to return while in detention.
Yemen’s west coast fighting displaces more than 145,000
Fighting along Yemen’s west coast has now displaced more than 145,000 people since June, with entire displacement camps emptying out as people head to new villages and sites without extra clothing, shelter, food or water. “The ability of humanitarian organisations to respond falls short of the vast ocean of needs that we see,” said Alison Bottomley, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s advocacy adviser in Yemen, in a statement, citing scarce funding in an already neglected crisis. More than half of the newly displaced people are in Taiz province, followed by Lahj and Aden where Médecins Sans Frontières said newly displaced arrivals are struggling to access healthcare, with medicines and transport out of reach for many. Hans Grundberg, the UN’s envoy for Yemen, said on 29 September that he had recently met with the Houthis’ chief negotiator, as well as with officials from Yemen’s internationally recognised government and Saudi Arabia. He admitted that “the current situation is going to be challenging to resolve”. Given the multiple powers and interests inside and outside Yemen that have become involved and entangled, that’s likely a serious understatement.
US Supreme Court allows third-country deportations despite UN expert condemnation
After a brief pause, the US Supreme Court on 29 September allowed the Trump administration to continue carrying out rapid third-country deportations. The US government has spent more than $49 million to deport over 25,000 people to countries they have no connection to and where many have never set foot since US President Donald Trump returned to office. The deportations have triggered “a cascade of human rights violations”, according to 24 experts advising the UN Human Rights Council. The experts said they had contacted 35 governments who have signed third-country deportation deals with the US – as well as the Trump administration – to raise their concerns and call for an immediate end to the practice. Burundi, however, has become the latest country to announce that it has signed a deportation deal with the US. People who have been deported have later been forcibly returned to countries they fled and are at risk of other abuses, from torture to enforced disappearance. The experts also warned against UN entities, specifically the UN’s migration agency IOM, legitimising third-country deportations. IOM has recently faced scrutiny for its role in the practice.
The scale of Gaza’s destruction in the palm of your hand
Thanks to a recent update to its satellite imagery, anyone who wants to can now go to Google Maps, type in Gaza, and witness the vast extent of devastation wrought over the past three years by Israel’s genocidal military campaign and ongoing attacks and demolitions throughout the territory. Zoom in on the southern city of Rafah. It doesn’t exist anymore. Streets and landmarks, like coffee shops, parks, schools, and mosques, are just piles of rubble. Along the coast, in the roughly 30% of Gaza into which Israel has forced the enclave’s 2.1 million residents, sprawling tent encampments hug the sea. In the north, around the ruins of Beit Hanoun, newly constructed bases for the Israeli military and Israeli-backed Palestinian militias are clearly visible. The New Humanitarian has documented Israel’s widespread demolition of communities and agricultural land in eastern Gaza since the ceasefire agreement signed by Israel and Hamas last year, and UN damage assessments have captured the scale of overall destruction. But its plain visibility on an app millions of people use for mundane purposes every day is still shocking.
Weekend read
Six months after supposed ceasefire, Lebanon’s displaced face an uncertain future
As Israel holds territory and continues its bombardment, families face destroyed homes, lost livelihoods, and little clarity over what comes next.
And finally…
Traoré’s golden bet on resource sovereignty
Burkina Faso has announced the opening of the country’s first gold refinery in a bid to capture more value from minerals and exert greater control over the supply chain. Like many formerly colonised countries, the West African nation was integrated into the global economy primarily as an exporter of raw materials and cheap labour, a position that has constrained its development ever since. Things have shifted somewhat since army captain Ibrahim Traoré came to power in a 2022 coup. He has won a strong following at home and abroad for his outspoken criticism of imperialism, and for pushing the country to have better control over national resources. As well as the refinery, he has nationalised some industrial gold mines, invested in domestic cotton processing, and supported food processing industries. Critics, however, argue that these social projects remain limited and that his anti-imperialist rhetoric helps shore up a regime that is perennially threatened by disgruntled soldiers and jihadist insurgents. Under Traoré, authorities have also been accused of carrying out brutal counterinsurgency campaigns, including a string of massacres of civilians living in areas controlled by the al-Qaeda-linked JNIM group. See our latest in-depth reporting for more on that.
