By Aaron Ross and Giulia Paravicini A damaged Eritrean military tank is seen near the town of Wikro, Ethiopia, March 14, 2021.Picture taken March 14, 2021. Reuters/Baz Ratner/File NAIROBI, March 13 (Reuters) - Longtime foes Ethiopia and Eritrea could be headed towards war, officials in a restive Ethiopian region at the centre of the tensions have warned, risking another humanitarian disaster in the Horn of Africa. Direct clashes between two of Africa's largest armies would signal the death blow for a historic rapprochement for which Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 and could draw in other regional powers, analysts said. It would also likely create another crisis in a region where aid cuts have complicated efforts to assist millions affected by internal conflicts in Sudan, Somalia and Ethiopia. "At any moment war between Ethiopia and Eritrea could break out," General Tsadkan Gebretensae, a vice president in the interim administration in Ethiopia's Tigray region, wrote in Africa-focused magazine the Africa Report on Monday. A 2020-2022 civil war in Tigray between the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and Ethiopia's central government killed hundreds of thousands of people. Fears of a new conflict are linked to the TPLF's split last year into a faction that now administers Tigray with the blessing of Ethiopia's federal government and another that opposes it. On Tuesday, the dissident faction, which Tsadkan accused of seeking an alliance with Eritrea, seized control of the northern town of Adigrat. Getachew Reda, the head of Tigray's interim administration, in turn asked the government for support against the dissidents, who deny ties to Eritrea. "There is clear antagonism between Ethiopia and Eritrea," Getachew told a news conference on Monday. "What concerns me is that the Tigray people may once again become victims of a war they don't believe in." 'Dry Tinder Waiting For A Match' Ethiopia's federal government has not commented on the tensions. Eritrea's information minister dismissed Tsadkan's warnings as "war-mongering psychosis". However, Eritrea ordered a nationwide military mobilisation in mid-February, according to UK-based Human Rights Concern - Eritrea. And Ethiopia deployed troops toward the Eritrean border this month, two diplomatic sources and two Tigrayan officials told Reuters, asking not to be named due to the sensitivity of the situation. Reuters could not independently verify these developments. Eritrean and Ethiopian government spokespeople did not respond to requests for comment. Payton Knopf and Alexander Rondos, the former U.S. and EU envoys to the region, say the prospects of a new war are real. "The deterioration of the political and security situation in Tigray is dry tinder waiting for a match," they wrote in an essay for U.S. publication Foreign Policy on Wednesday. Relations between Ethiopia and Eritrea have long been fraught. Eritrea broke away from Ethiopia in 1993 after a 30-year fight for independence. The neighbours then fought a 1998-2000 border war. They remained formally at war until 2018, when Abiy and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki agreed to normalise ties. Eritrean troops even supported Ethiopian federal forces against TPLF-led rebels during the Tigray civil war. But the exclusion of Eritrea from subsequent peace negotiations once again chilled relations. Eritrean officials have bristled at repeated public declarations by Abiy since 2023 that landlocked Ethiopia has a right to sea access, comments some analysts view as an implicit threat of military action against Eritrea, which lies on the Red Sea. Last October, Eritrea, an authoritarian and insular state, signed a security pact with Egypt and Somalia that was widely seen as aimed at countering Ethiopia's potential expansionist ambitions. © 2025 Reuters. All rights reserved

U.N. Accuses Israel of Targeting Reproductive Health Facilities in Gaza The New York Times March 13, 2025 A report by a U.N. committee found that Israel has committed “genocidal acts” intended to prevent births. Israel quickly rejected the findings as biased. Basma I.V.F. Center, Gaza’s largest fertility clinic, was struck by an Israeli shell during the war with Hamas. Credit...Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters By Nick Cumming-Bruce Reporting from Geneva A United Nations commission on Thursday accused Israel of targeting hospitals and other health facilities in Gaza that provide reproductive services, including an I.V.F. clinic where thousands of embryos were destroyed, in what it called an effort to prevent Palestinian births. The report  by the U.N. Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, called that and other actions that cause harm to women and girls “genocidal acts” and accused Israel of punishing Palestinians collectively for the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack that killed 1,200 people. Israel’s mission to the United Nations in Geneva immediately rejected the report, saying in a statement that the commission was engaged in “a shameless attempt to incriminate” the Israeli military “to advance its predetermined and biased political agenda.” Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, accused the United Nations Human Rights Council of attacking the country with “false accusations.” The commission, set up by the Human Rights Council in 2021 and made up of three lawyers with expertise in human rights, said its report drew on earlier investigations it had carried out since the Hamas attack on southern Israel and on some 25 interviews conducted over recent months with medical experts, as well as victims and witnesses of the violence in Gaza. Some of the testimony was aired over two days of hearings in Geneva this week. The report marked the first time a United Nations committee has found that Israel has committed genocidal acts under the Rome Statute, which created the International Criminal Court, and under the international treaty that criminalizes genocide. “Israeli authorities have destroyed in part the reproductive capacity of the Palestinians in Gaza as a group, including by imposing measures intended to prevent births, one of the categories of genocidal acts in the Rome Statute and the Genocide Convention,” the commission said. Israeli officials have long accused the rights council of singling Israel out, arguing that U.N. officials and committees condemn the country with far greater frequency than it does dictatorships like North Korea. In February, Gideon Saar, the Israeli foreign minister, said  Israel would stop participating in the council, accusing it of demonizing Israel. The Israeli military’s bombardment and invasion decimated Gaza’s health care system in a way that aid groups and international bodies have called “systematic .” The report said this included damage to clinics and other facilities that provide maternity services affecting more than half a million women and girls of reproductive age in Gaza. Israel has said that Hamas fighters have embedded themselves in hospitals and other buildings. Under international law , if there is doubt about whether a hospital is being used for military purposes, it should be presumed not to be, according to the Red Cross, and civilians should not be targeted. The report cited in particular the destruction of Al Basma I.V.F. clinic , Gaza’s largest fertility clinic, which was destroyed in December 2023 by artillery fire, which is typically less accurate than missiles. The commission heard from expert witnesses that the clinic’s destruction caused the loss of some 4,000 embryos and other reproductive material from Palestinian patients for whom it often represented a last chance to have children. Al Basma I.V.F. Center lost some 4,000 embryos when it was hit by Israeli forces, experts said. Credit... Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters The circumstances of the destruction of the clinic are not entirely clear, but Chris Sidoti, a member of the panel, said at a news conference that Israeli military commanders had detailed knowledge of the location and services provided by all the medical facilities in the enclave. The commission said that it did not find any evidence that the facility was a legitimate military target at the time that it was attacked by Israeli forces. “It is not possible to say the destruction of the building was unintentional or accidental,” Mr. Sidoti said. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the claim. The commission also said that Israel’s blockade of Gaza, which curbed humanitarian aid and access to medical care, had caused severe reproductive harm to women and girls, which it said was calculated to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinians as a group. Women and girls died from pregnancy and childbirth complications because of Israel’s siege, the commission said. That, it declared, amounted to the crime against humanity of extermination. The commission also documented what it said were wide-ranging abuses, including forced stripping and nudity, sexual harassment, rape or threats of it, and the sexual torture of detainees, which it said had become standard operating procedures for Israeli security forces toward Palestinians. Israeli forces who invaded Gaza after the Oct. 7 attack have detained men, women and children by the thousands. The New York Times has previously reported on accounts by nearly a dozen detainees  or their relatives who described being stripped, beaten, interrogated and held incommunicado. Israeli military officials say that soldiers routinely order detainees to strip for security reasons to be sure that they are not carrying weapons, including explosive vests. The U.N. committee said that the frequency, prevalence and severity of sexual and gender-based violence showed it has been “increasingly used as a method of war by Israel to destabilize, dominate, oppress and destroy the Palestinian people.” The U.N. panel also said it had documented cases of rape and severe physical assaults carried out against Palestinian detainees in Israel’s Sde Teiman detention center. An Israeli military prosecutor charged five reservist soldiers  with abuse of a Palestinian detainee, including using a sharp object to injure his rectum. But the commission noted that the five were not ultimately indicted for any sexual offense, although prosecutors had initially suspected them of doing so. The commission said that it had not seen evidence that the Israeli authorities have taken any effective measures to prevent acts of sexual violence and that it had not seen any move to identify and punish perpetrators despite witness and other evidence. On the contrary, “the lack of effectiveness shown by the military justice system to prosecute cases and convict perpetrators sends a clear message to members of the Israeli Security Forces that they can continue committing such acts without fear of accountability,” Navi Pillay, a former U.N. human rights chief and the commission’s chair, said in a statement released with the report. Israel’s mission said that Israeli military orders unequivocally prohibit sexual violence and that any allegations were investigated in accordance with international norms. Nitrogen tanks, where embryos were stored, at Al Basma I.V.F. Center.Credit ... Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters Previous commission reports to the U.N. Human Rights Council have identified what it said were war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Israel and Palestinian armed groups in the Gaza war. A report released last year  found signs that participants in the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel committed sexual violence in multiple locations and said that some hostages held in the Gaza Strip had been subjected to rape and sexual torture. Although the commission said in its new report that Israel had carried out two categories of genocidal acts, it stopped short of concluding that Israel had committed genocide, a determination that requires a higher standard of proof of intent. The committee has no legal standing to intervene in the ICJ case , but Mr. Sidoti said that its findings would help inform the deliberations of the International Court of Justice, which is considering a South African case accusing Israel of genocide, and the International Criminal Court, which in November issued warrants for the arrest of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, over alleged war crimes in Gaza. Israel denies that it has committed genocide in Gaza, characterizing the claim as a perversion of history . The reports may also form part of the evidence presented in a number of cases brought in national courts or under universal jurisdiction considering the legality of providing arms to Israel, Mr. Sidoti said. Aaron Boxerman in Jerusalem contributed reporting. Copyright 2025 The New York Times Company For the text of the UN Commission Report see the attachment below:

Tommy Walker  in Bangkok Myanmar's embattled junta has boosted its ties with Russia, which has been a longtime military backer. Now that the junta's leader has met with Vladimir Putin, more high-tech drones could soon enter the battlefield. Myanmar's junta chief, Min Aung Hlaing, presents a Buddhist text to Vladimir Putin during a meeting last week in Moscow. Source: Pavel Bednyakov/AP/picture alliance Myanmar's junta chief , Min Aung Hlaing, visited Moscow for high-level talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week. It was Min Aung Hlaing's fourth visit to Russia since he took power in a 2021 coup, but last week's visit was the first official visit at the invitation of Putin, who hailed his ties with the junta, and lauded a 40% increase in bilateral trade last year. Both Myanmar's junta and Russia are subject to international sanctions over human rights violations committed during both countries' respective ongoing wars. As part of the exchange in Moscow, Myanmar agreed to open two new consulates in St. Petersburg and Novosibirsk. Myanmar and Russia also signed an agreement for the construction of a small-scale nuclear plant in Myanmar. Zachary Abuza, a professor at the National War College in Washington who focuses on Southeast Asian politics, called the talks a "diplomatic win" for the junta leader, but downplayed the significance of the nuclear energy agreement. "There have been four such agreements before, and none have been implemented, not even close. Yes, the junta is facing acute energy shortages, but the regime has neither the security over its territory, the skilled manpower, or finances for even a small modular reactor," he told DW. Min Aung Hlaing inspects a military parade in 2024. Source: Aung Shine Oo/AP Photo/picture alliance Russia's support for Myanmar's junta Both Min Aung Hlaing and Putin are pariahs in the West. Putin is under an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC), while an ICC prosecutor has requested an arrest warrant for General Hlaing. Both leaders are also embroiled in costly wars. And for Myanmar's junta, things are not going very well , with ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) commanding large swathes  of Myanmar, and the junta's forces thought to control less than half of the country. Min Aung Hlaing reportedly also asked Putin for assistance with drone technology for his troops. Russia has long been a major military supplier to the junta, providing helicopters, jets, armored vehicles, and artillery, which rights groups say have also been used against the civilian population. "It is very disheartening that Russia is supporting this junta to keep killing the people. Russia is not only complicit in the junta's war crimes and crimes against humanity against Myanmar people, but also supporting to prolong the military tyranny in Myanmar," Khin Ohmar, a democracy activist in Myanmar, told DW. Abuza says drone production could provide a boost for Myanmar's weakened military. "The most important piece from the visit will be in the licensed production of drones," he said. "It took the Tatmadaw [Myanmar's military] years to catch up to what the rebel groups were doing with drones, but they are now being deployed with effect. The opposition has taken heavy casualties and their offensives have slowed. Licensed drone production is essential for the cash-strapped junta," Abuza added. China the friendly neighbor Myanmar's military has long been supported by Beijing , which has supplied the Tatmadaw with arms for decades.  China is Myanmar's biggest trade partner and has also invested billions in the country's infrastructure, including the oil and gas sector. Beijing is keen to protect its interests in neighboring Myanmar as the junta's hold on power continues to be tenuous. General Hlaing visited China in November at the Mekong Summit. Experts say the meeting shows Beijing is still backing the struggling junta, but Beijing knows it holds all the cards in bilateral ties. Jason Tower, Myanmar  country director at the United States Institute of Peace, said Min Aung Hlaing is trying to hedge between Beijing and Moscow. "Min Aung Hlaing's weak regime has been trying to avoid being completely captured by Chinese interests, but has largely failed as the vast majority of states are anxious about engaging with an illegitimate, incompetent regime that has lost control of the vast majority of the country's geo-strategic resources, and which is being dealt new defeats on the battlefield almost daily," he told DW. "Min Aung Hlaing's visit to China last year in many ways paved the way for him to make a higher-level visit to Russia, and it is clear that the military regime is trying to exploit any possible openings to hedge between China and Russia," he added. However, he said this strategy is not likely to bear fruit. "The Myanmar military is heavily dependent on China, given the influence that China has over Myanmar's most powerful ethnic armed organizations, including the United Wa State Army, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, the Arakan Army , and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army." "If China removed the pressure that it is currently placing on these EAOs, and if it once again permitted the flow of cross-border resources to these EAOs, this would dramatically speed up the pace of the defeat of Min Aung Hlaing's remaining forces," Tower said. "There is very little that Russia can or is willing to do to reverse these trends. Russia has not demonstrated any interest in getting involved in the battlefield situation in the China-Myanmar border area, almost certainly because it fears angering China," he added. Edited by: Wesley Rahn  © 2025 Deustche Welle.

Syrian Democratic Forces, the Kurdish militia that defeated ISIS in northeast Syria, 2017 Credit...Ivor Prickett for The New York Times Genocide Emergency Alert - Syria By Aiden Carlton, Genocide Watch   Following a surprise offensive  in 2024, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), overthrew the tyrannical Ba’athist regime in Damascus led by Bashar al-Assad. HTS had been named a terrorist organization by the US , UK , and UN  because HTS’s predecessor organization Jabhat al-Nusra was a member of al-Qaeda  and had links to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) .   HTS has seized control  of the new interim Syrian government. HTS’s leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, promises that Syria will have a stable, inclusive future. But despite its new moderate image, HTS has historically been , and largely remains , a Salafist and sectarian Sunni organization.   Kurds have established an autonomous republic in northeastern Syria called Rojava. It is one of the few places in the Middle East where women have equal rights in governance with men. Kurdish forces are supported by US troops. They were instrumental in defeating ISIS. They hold thousands of ISIS prisoners. Turkey is at war with the Kurds, accusing them of supporting the formerly separatist and terrorist PKK in Turkey. Oçalan, the Kurdish political and ideological leader, has renounced violence and separatism, but Turkey still holds him in prison. Turkey seeks to control a strip of territory in Syria along the Turkish border. Syria’s interim president, Ahmad al-Shara, right, and Mazloum Abdi, the commander of the U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, sign a deal in Damascus, Syria, March 10, 2025 .Credit .. .SANA, via Associated Press   HTS insists on Kurdish forces joining the Syrian Army. HTS has negotiated an agreement with the Kurdish-led militia that controls northeastern Syria (AANES )  The pact promises that religious and ethnic minorities will be included in drafting a new Syrian constitution .   Despite HTS’ efforts to establish a control over all of Syria and a monopoly on the use of weapons ,  Assadist militias  have attacked HTS forces in the northwestern Alawite provinces of Latakia and Tartus.   In response, HTS forces and allied militias have launched a counter-insurgency  in which over 1300 civilians , most of them Alawites, have been killed in just a few days. Some were killed in execution-style massacres . Over 10,000 Alawites have fled into neighboring Lebanon .   HTS leader al-Sharaa insists that those who committed massacres were not operating under orders from Damascus. HTS has created a commission to investigate the killings. However, HTS previously engaged in similar killings of Alawite civilians .   Al-Sharaa and other HTS leaders in public speeches and interviews have used discriminatory threats against religious minorities, especially against Shi'ites and Alawites.   Due to prevalent hate speech, Syria is at Stage 4: Dehumanization . As a one-party state that excludes moderates from Syrian opposition parties, Syria is at Stage 6: Polarization . Revenge massacres of 1300 Alawites indicate Stage 8: Persecution . If Turkey intervenes to crush Kurds in the northeast, Syria is at grave risk of reaching Stage 9: Extermination.   Genocide Watch recommends: Adoption of a truly federal Syrian constitution, with self-governance for ethnic regions Demobilization, disarmament, and reintegration of sectarian militias Investigation and prosecution of crimes committed by the al-Assad regime. Prosecution and punishment of current armed forces involved in massacres of civilians Inclusive non-sectarian government as called for in  UNSC Res. 2254

Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte arrested under ICC warrant The Washington Post March 11, 2025 By  Kelly Kasulis Cho   and  Victoria Craw   Duterte is accused of thousands of extrajudicial killings during his war on drugs. He was arrested in Manila and was “forcibly” taken to The Hague, his daughter said.   Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte delivers a speech during a rally for his political party in Manila on Feb. 13. (Eloisa Lopez/Reuters)   Rodrigo Duterte, the former Philippine president who has been accused of crimes against humanity and the extrajudicial killings of thousands of people during his “war on drugs,” was arrested Tuesday in Manila under a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court, the government  reported .   Duterte, 79, was detained by the Philippine police shortly after flying into the country from Hong Kong at about 9:20 a.m.  Video showed  him walking with a cane and accompanied by officials inside Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila.   Local media reported that he departed the Philippines on a private jet bound for the Netherlands. Unverified footage from a retired Philippine general published Tuesday night, which was shared widely by local media, showed the elder Duterte boarding a private jet; The Washington Post could not immediately verify where the plane was headed. The ICC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.   Duterte, a former lawyer turned populist leader, was president between 2016 and 2022, a period in which he advocated for executing alleged criminals and oversaw  the killings of thousands  of people in what authorities portrayed as drug-related cases.   On the campaign trail and in office, Duterte styled himself as a strongman who would prevent the Philippines from further cascading into a purported narco state. In 2016, he  said  he would be “happy to slaughter” drug addicts for the sake of his country, drawing a comparison to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.   It’s unclear how many people were killed during Duterte’s war on drugs, but Human Rights Watch  estimated in 2018  that about  12,000 Filipinos  had died since he took office less than two years before and attributed at least 2,555 killings directly to the Philippine National Police.  Some estimates  put the number at as many as 20,000 to 30,000 victims during the six-year war on drugs.   In June 2022, the country’s government reported that at least 6,252 people had died “during antidrug operations” since July 2016.   Duterte’s war on drugs drew fierce condemnation from  human rights groups , world leaders and several  U.N. agencies.  A case against Duterte was filed in the International Criminal Court in 2017, alleging mass murder and crimes against humanity.   Duterte denied the charges and responded by vowing to withdraw the Philippines from the ICC, a promise that was carried out  in 2019 . The ICC  formally authorized  an investigation into his drug crackdown in 2021.   While in Hong Kong this week, Duterte said he would accept his arrest and portrayed his actions as a way to bring peace to the Philippines,  according  to Reuters.   But his allies censured his arrest on Tuesday, with Sara Duterte saying: “Today, our own government has surrendered a Filipino citizen — even a former president at that — to foreign powers.” She called the arrest a “blatant affront to our sovereignty” and “oppression and persecution.” “What is the law and what is the crime that I committed?” Duterte said in a separate video posted to Instagram by his daughter Veronica Duterte. “Show to me now the legal basis for my being here.”   Duterte’s other daughter, Sara Duterte, who is vice president of the Philippines, said in a Tuesday night  statement  that her father was being “forcibly taken to The Hague,” where the ICC is headquartered.   Salvador S. Panelo, Duterte’s former chief legal counsel and presidential spokesman, called the arrest “unlawful” and said the ICC has “no jurisdiction over the Philippines” in a  statement on social media .   The ICC is  responsible  for investigating and trying those charged with some of the most serious crimes, including genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes of aggression.   It has in recent years issued arrest warrants for high-ranking officials accused of crimes during Ukraine and Gaza wars, including Russian President  Vladimir Putin ; Israeli Prime Minister  Benjamin Netanyahu ; Israel’s former defense minister, Yoav Gallant; and Hamas leader  Mohammed Deif , whom Israel’s military said was killed in a July 2024 strike. Those warrants were largely symbolic as the ICC does not try people in absentia, and neither Russia, Israel nor the United States is a member of the court.   The ICC does not have a police force and depends on its 125 member states to carry out arrest warrants, although there have been instances of members ignoring the warrants.   The Philippine government  previously indicated  it would comply with requests from Interpol — through which the ICC can issue arrest warrants — including those related to the ICC investigation. However, last year, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. — Duterte’s successor and the son of a disgraced Philippine dictator — said the government “will not lift a finger to help any investigation that the ICC conducts,” claiming it has no jurisdiction over the country.   The ICC says that despite the  Philippines withdrawing  from the court statute in March 2019, the court “retains jurisdiction” for alleged crimes that took place while it was still a member.   On Tuesday, the Philippine National Police deployed extra personnel to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and, in a  statement , warned against the spread of misinformation, advising the “public to rely only on official government sources for accurate information”   Kelly Kasulis Cho is a breaking news reporter and editor at The Washington Post, based in Seoul. Previously, she spent four years covering North and South Korea as a freelance foreign correspondent, and she has also worked at the New York Times and Bloomberg BNA. Follow her on Twitter: @KasulisK. follow on X@kasulisk Victoria Craw  is a breaking news reporter and editor in The Washington Post’s London Hub.   Copyright 2025 The Washington Post Company

A malnourished child is fed at a shelter in a refugee settlement in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. © UNICEF/Ilvy Njiokiktjien 11 March 2025 I Human Rights In Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar refugee settlements, child malnutrition has surged and cuts to aid funding risk creating a humanitarian “catastrophe”, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Tuesday.   “Children in the world's largest refugee camp are experiencing the worst levels of malnutrition since the massive displacement that occurred in 2017,” Rana Flowers, UNICEF representative in Bangladesh, told journalists in Geneva, almost eight years since hundreds of thousands of ethnic Rohingya fled widespread military attacks in Myanmar. Speaking from Dhaka, Ms. Flowers said that last month in the camps in Cox’s Bazar, admissions for severe acute malnutrition surged by over 27 per cent compared to February 2024, with more than 38 children under five admitted for emergency care every day. Preventable deaths “Unless additional resources are secured, only half of the children in need will have access to treatment this year, and that's going to leave about 7,000 children at risk, with the expectation of a rise in morbidity and mortality,” Ms. Flowers said. “That’s babies dying.” Bangladesh hosts more than one million stateless Rohingya driven from their homes in neighbouring Myanmar over the course of several years following the  brutal military crackdown in 2017. Some 500,000 Rohingya refugee children live in the camps of Cox's Bazar. The UNICEF representative highlighted several “compounding crises” that are driving the surge in malnutrition. Among them was last year’s unusually long monsoon season, which exacerbated the unsanitary conditions in the camps, bringing on severe diarrhoea in children and outbreaks of cholera and dengue. Violence over the border in Myanmar triggered more displacement while food rations dwindled. Now, the global aid funding crisis has refugee families on the brink of “extreme desperation”. “Food rations have reached a critical point,” Ms. Flowers said. “According to the World Food Programme, without immediate funding, rations could soon be reduced to less than half just $6 a month, an amount that falls drastically short of basic nutritional needs.” She stressed that pregnant and breastfeeding mothers along with their infants would be among the most vulnerable. Myanmar still not safe The UNICEF representative insisted that these families “cannot yet safely return home” to Myanmar. Just 10 days ago in a briefing to the UN Human Rights Council , High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said that the country is mired in one of the world’s worst human rights crises. He denounced the Myanmar military’s “campaign of terrorizing the population through acts of extreme brutality”. The Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh also have no legal right to work, Ms. Flowers said, which makes them reliant on aid. “The sustained humanitarian support, it's not optional. It is essential,” she insisted. UN Secretary-General António Guterres is set to travel to Bangladesh later this week and meet with Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, as part of his annual Ramadan solidarity visit. Funding freeze Asked about the impact of major cuts in aid funding from the United States, Ms. Flowers said that following the announcement of a US foreign assistance freeze earlier this year, UNICEF received a humanitarian waiver for its nutrition programme. “That may allow us to use the ready-to-use therapeutic food to treat and cure the very sick children with severe acute malnutrition. But we need both waiver and the actual funding to maintain this work,” Ms. Flowers said. She stressed that funding for the agency’s detection and treatment services for child malnutrition will run out in June 2025. The US State Department announced on Monday that some 80 per cent of the US Agency for International Development's (USAID) programmes would be ending. Ms. Flowers added that “other US grants for Bangladesh have been terminated”, representing about a quarter of UNICEF’s Rohingya refugee response costs. Without the funding, “services for these children will be significantly scaled back, putting their survival, safety and futures at risk”, she said. Parts of the humanitarian response that are in jeopardy include safe water and sanitation services, which “will deteriorate, increasing the risk of deadly disease outbreaks with flow-on effects for the public health security,” Ms. Flowers warned. Health access will shrink, “clinics will close and immunizations will be disrupted”, she said. “Education will be cut off, leaving hundreds of thousands without learning opportunities. And that's without hope,” she concluded. © 2025 United Nations.

Harriet Orrell Mali's army is struggling to combat Islamist insurgents in the Sahel The Sahel region of Africa is the "epicentre of global terrorism" and now, for the first time, accounts for "over half of all terrorism-related deaths", according to the Global Terrorism Index (GTI). Its new report says that in this semi-arid area to the south of the Sahara Desert 3,885 people out of a worldwide total of 7,555 died. The GTI report adds that while the global figure has declined from a peak of 11,000 in 2015 the figure for the Sahel has increased nearly tenfold since 2019, as extremist and insurgent groups "continue to shift their focus" towards the region. The index is published by the Institute for Economics and Peace, a think-tank dedicated to researching global peace and conflict. It defines terrorism as the "threatened or actual use of illegal force and violence by a non-state actor to attain a political, economic, religious, or social goal through fear, coercion, or intimidation". Source: Terrorism tracker/ Institute for Economics & Peace calculations The Sahel stretches from the west coast of Africa eastwards across the continent. The GTI's definition of the region includes parts of 10 countries: Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Cameroon, Guinea, The Gambia, Senegal, Nigeria, Chad and Mauritania. The Sahel has some of the world's highest birth rates, and almost two-thirds of the population is under 25. Unlike in the West where "lone actor terrorism is on the rise", the Sahel, has seen the rapid expansion of militant jihadist groups, according to the report. It says most of the attacks there were carried out by two organisations: the Islamic State group affiliate in the Sahel and Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM) - a branch of al-Qaeda. "They're trying to introduce new legal orders," explains Niagalé Bagayoko, chair of the African Security Sector Network. "They're trying to administer justice in particular based on Sharia." And in the process, she says they "are competing with one another" for land and influence. IS-Sahel has reportedly doubled the amount of territory it controls in Mali since the country's coups of 2020 and 2021 - largely in the east near its borders with Burkina Faso and Niger - while JNIM also continued to expand its reach, according to a UN panel of experts on Mali. The GTI report notes that both groups have recruited more fighters, including child soldiers in the case of IS. "In some instances, people tend to be in a point of choicelessness by the time they decide to join a militant group," says Beverly Ochieng, a senior analyst specialising in Francophone Africa at Control Risks, a geopolitical risk consultancy. "These are communities that are very vulnerable." The GTI report explains how political instability and weak governance are creating ideal conditions for insurgent groups to grow, pointing to conflict as "the primary driver of terrorism". The Sahel is sometimes referred to as the "coup belt" of Africa. Since 2020 there have been six successful coups in the region as defined by the GTI report: two in Mali, two in Burkina Faso, one in Guinea and one in Niger. These countries are now all run by military juntas. "The Sahel has experienced a breakdown in state society," says Dr Folahanmi Aina, an expert on the region at SOAS University in London. "It's been informed by years of neglect from political leaders who haven't necessarily prioritised people-centred governance and local grievances have festered, resulting in terror groups trying to leverage these." There was a perception that civilian governments were unable to combat security threats from insurgent groups, "but despite these juntas taking over, they haven't necessarily improved optics on the ground and in fact insecurity has worsened," says Dr Aina. "The juntas are professionally unprepared for the rigours of governance." In fact in 2024, Burkina Faso "remained the country most affected by terrorism for the second year in a row" according to the GTI. In the 14 years since the report began, it is the only country to top the list that is not Iraq or Afghanistan. Jihadist groups sustain their operations in the Sahel with a range of illicit economic activities, including kidnap for ransom and cattle rustling, according to the GTI report. The region has also become a key route for drug traffickers bringing cocaine from South America to Europe, and the report notes that "drug trafficking represents one of the most financially lucrative illicit activities linked to terrorism in the Sahel". It points out that that some groups veer away from directly engaging in organised crime, however, preferring to "make money by imposing taxes or providing security and protection in exchange for payment". It goes on to explain: "This model not only generates revenue but also helps these groups integrate into local communities, strengthening their influence." Insurgent groups are also vying for control of the Sahel's rich natural resources. Niger is the world's seventh-largest producer of uranium, and unregulated artisanal gold mines found throughout the region are often taken advantage of by the likes of IS-Sahel and JNIM. Unregulated mining of resources such as gold in the Sahel has helped fuel insecurity Following the recent wave of coups, Sahel governments have pivoted away from Western allies, such as France and the US, towards China and Russia for support in tackling militants. "Right now we're seeing that Russia is taking more assertive control over Russian paramilitaries in the region known as the Africa Corps [formerly Wagner]," says Ms Ochieng. "Their work is to train and support the local armies to be able to counter the insurgency in the region, but so far it hasn't been effective." As a result, the GTI report warns that there is now a risk of overspill beyond the so-called "epicentre of terror" to neighbouring countries. In fact, it says this may already be happening - Togo recorded 10 attacks and 52 deaths in 2024, the most since the index began. These were largely concentrated along the country's border with Burkina Faso. Ms Ochieng agrees with this assessment, saying that "the expansion of militant groups within the region in countries like Benin or Togo or other coastal West African states seems to be imminent"

'Here you will die': Executions, Starvation and Beatings at Hands of Sudan's Rapid Support Forces The Guardian By Mark Townsend A bloodied mattress lies next to mass graves at the site. Photograph: Mark Townsend/The Guardian Haunting accounts of torture in newly found detention centre lead to calls for an investigation into what experts say could be among the worst atrocities of Sudan’s civil war Evidence of torture found as detention centre and mass grave discovered outside Khartoum Lying between the makeshift graves is a mattress, a large bloodstain visible in the midday sun. A name is scrawled in Arabic on its ragged fabric: Mohammed Adam. Who was Adam? Had he ended up here, in a bleak corner of a remote military installation in Sudan’s Khartoum state? Had his body been stretchered on the mattress from the detention centre nearby and dumped into one of hundreds of unmarked graves? Almost two years into Sudan’s catastrophic civil war, Adam’s likely demise reflects the unanswered questions being asked across the country. The conflict is characterised by unrecorded killings, enforced disappearances, by families searching vainly for lost loved ones. No one knows exactly how many have died. A view inside a filthy ‘torture chamber’ run by the RSF. Although water bottles are chained to the door, detainees claimed these were rarely filled. Photograph: Mark Townsend/The Guardian Similarly it is a conflict contaminated by myriad war crimes. Few episodes may prove to be more egregious than what evolved within the amber-bricked building several hundred metres from where Adam’s mattress was found. The building housed an apparent torture centre under the command of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). As calls start for an investigation into the magnitude of what unfolded inside, attempts to identify the bodies within hundreds of unmarked graves nearby will hopefully begin. Possible clues to who may lie in the hastily dug graves might be found in an A3-size notebook found by the Guardian on the grubby floor of the torture centre. On each page, carefully written in ballpoint pen, are listed 34 names in Arabic. Some have been crossed out. Whoever the detainees were, they suffered. They were beaten repeatedly, and daily life was unswervingly horrific. Scores were rammed into rooms no bigger than a squash court. Survivors describe being wedged so tightly they could only sit with knees tucked under their chin. A corner of the room doubled as a toilet. When the Guardian visits, the air is thick with flies; the stench unbearable. Graffiti covers the walls. Some pleads for mercy. One message reads: “Here you will die.” Behind a mesh door with manacles swinging from it are several windowless rooms 2 metres square that doubled as torture chambers, say Sudanese military officers. Guardian graphic: Image: Planet Labs According to statements given to doctors, detainees were repeatedly thrashed with wooden sticks by RSF guards. Others were shot at point-blank range. In an area used by the RSF guards, bullet holes have scarred the ceiling. Those not tortured to death faced gradual starvation. Speaking on a military base in the city of Shendi, Dr Hosham al-Shekh says detainees have revealed that they received a modest cup of lentil soup, about 200ml, a day. Such sustenance yielded about 10% of the calories required to maintain body weight. Swiftly, they wasted away. Physically broken, the detainees were also psychologically shattered. Trapped in a twilight world with no hope of exercise – no space to move – many of them were rendered almost mute by the trauma of their existence. Sergeant Mohammed Amin beside a makeshift grave, one of hundreds that make up a large burial site on a former RSF military base. Photograph: Mark Townsend/The Guardian Atrocity experts say the size of the makeshift burial site is unprecedented in terms of the ongoing Sudanese war. So far, nothing has come close to matching its magnitude. Military sources who have inspected the site say each corpse is commemorated by a breeze block that serves as a headstone. A number of the graves – their mounds of earth conspicuously bigger than others – are framed by at least 10 breeze blocks. Jean-Baptiste Gallopin, of Human Rights Watch , urged the Sudanese military to grant “unhindered access” to independent monitors, including the UN, to collect evidence. The experiences of detainees also reflect the wider war. From the start, Sudan’s conflict was marked by ethnically motivated attacks and detainees reported being racially abused in the torture centre. “They were racially abused a lot. They suffered verbal harassment, racism,” says Shekh. All were derided as belonging to the “56 state” a reference to the year Sudan achieved independence and a construct that the RSF guards told inmates they wanted to “destroy”. A room where scores of detainees were held in conditions so cramped they could hardly move. The only light came though a slight gap in the window.Photograph: Mark Townsend/The Guardian Underlining the misery of their situation is the fact that all were seemingly detained for minor, arbitrary reasons. Most were reportedly detained after preventing RSF troops from looting their homes. Some, says Shekh, were arrested after refusing to hand over their smartphone. Although all those found in the centre were civilians, during the visit the Guardian also finds several official Sudanese military ID cards among the detritus on the facility’s floor. Also among the debris were boxes of syringes and discarded packets of prescription drugs, some of which can make users feel lightheaded and drowsy. Military sources believe RSF troops may have used the drugs to numb the monotonous reality of guard duty. It is a claim underscored by frequent reports of drugged-up RSF fighters as well as a recent discovery eight kilometres south of the torture centre. Several weeks ago, close to Sudan’s main oil refinery, Sudanese army intelligence officers found an industrial-scale factory producing the banned drug Captagon , capable of making 100,000 pills an hour. Evidence was found that the amphetamine was used locally and smuggled abroad. The discovery of the RSF torture centre and nearby large-scale Captogan factory raise unfavourable comparisons with Syria , whose former president, Bashar al-Assad, turned his country into the world’s largest narco state . Similarly, the grisly finds at the military base north of Khartoum appear to be part of a network of RSF torture centres around the capital. Military sources said they had recently found another in southern Khartoum. There, Egyptians were among those tortured, some to death. As the battle for the capital intensifies and the military – itself accused of myriad war crimes and abuses – posts steady advances against its nemesis, more grisly discoveries are inevitable. Slowly, shockingly, the true scale of Sudan’s terrible secrets will come to light. © 2025 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. (dcr)

A humanitarian convoy delivered aid to residents of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region in January. © UNOCHA 9 March 2025 I   Peace and Security        Attacks across Ukraine on Friday reportedly left 21 civilians dead and scores injured, making it one of the deadliest days this year, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in the country said in a statement issued on Saturday night.   “With 21 civilians reported killed, 7 March was one of the deadliest days for civilians in Ukraine so far this year,” UN mission chief Danielle Bell said. Russian’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 has killed thousands and left millions displaced by the ongoing war. The UN monitoring mission said all the civilian deaths and 79 of the 81 injured on 7 March occurred in territory controlled by Ukraine. Right now, the mission is working to verify the casualty numbers according to its standard methodology. Deadly attacks in Donetsk Most of the casualties occurred in Donetsk region, including in Dobropillia town where a Russian attack with multiple weapons late on Friday evening killed 11 civilians and injured 47, including seven children, the UN mission reported. According to local authorities, the attacks destroyed or heavily damaged at least eight five-story residential buildings, an administrative building and a shopping centre. Only two other days in 2025 have seen as many people killed, the UN monitoring mission said. Local authorities reported 21 civilians killed on both 8 January and 1 February. For both dates, the UN mission was able to verify 19 of them. Though casualty numbers have fluctuated over recent months, they overall remain higher than in 2024. The UN monitoring mission said it will release its monthly protection of civilians update for February on its website  on 11 March. © 2025 United Nations.

Some opposition MPs lit flares and threw smoke bombs during a parliament session - the first since mass protests claimed the resignation of the Serbian prime minister. Milica Stojanovic and Katarina Baletic, March 4, 2025 Smoke bombs in the Serbian Parliament, March 4 2025. Screenshot: parlament.gov.rs Serbian MPs from the ruling majority and opposition brawled on Tuesday inside the National Assembly chamber, where smoke bombs were also set off on the first of this year’s parliament sessions, which was held amid heightened tensions as mass protests continue to shake the country. In the tense atmosphere, MPs could not even agree on the session agenda, with the opposition arguing that after Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic’s resignation last month, which came as the student-led protests escalated, the government has no right to propose any new laws apart from an amendment on university tuition fees. “We believe that only one item can be on the agenda, and that is the fulfillment of the student demands,” Radomir Lazovic from the Green-Left Front told media in front of parliament after the incidents. After the ruling majority voted for the planned agenda, a couple of MPs got into a fight, initially with the parliamentary security, then some of them lit flares and threw smoke bombs. Amidst the chaos, a fight broke out among MPs. Despite the chaos and smoke, governing coalition MPs continued the session. Parliament speaker Ana Brnabic said that three ruling party MPs had been injured, but insisted the working day would not be interrupted. “We will work today in accordance with the rules of procedure, until 6 p.m.,” she said. Riot police deployed at the back entrance of the Serbian parliament. Photo: BIRN. The opposition meanwhile continued to try to disrupt the session by blowing whistles and vuvuzelas while ruling MPs were talking. Mass protests sparked by the Novi Sad railway station disaster in November, which left 15 people dead, have continued for three months. Protesters say the disaster highlighted official corruption and the government’s disdain for the population. The ongoing protests represent the most powerful challenge to President Aleksandar Vucic’s rule since he came to power, and have already claimed the resignations of several senior officials. However, the political opposition has been largely sidelined by the ongoing protests, which have strongly avoided being coopted for party purposes. Tuesday’s parliamentary session was the first one in 2025, and the first one after Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic resigned in February as the authorities sought to defuse the growing protest movement. At the end of the session, Vucevic’s resignation should be confirmed. While the chaos in parliament was ongoing, members of the public started to gather in front of the parliament and police forces were deployed. Copyright BIRN 2007

In the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), insecurity and horrific sexual violence have left tens of thousands fleeing across borders with no sign of the exodus stopping, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Tuesday. People continue to flee fighting in the eastern DR Congo where Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have made major gains. © MONUSCO/Aubin Mukoni “Near the frontlines, sexual violence and human rights abuses remain rampant, as is the looting and destruction of civilian homes and businesses,” said Patrick Eba, Deputy Director of UNHCR ’s Division of International Protection. Speaking in Geneva, Mr. Eba told journalists that that North and South Kivu provinces remain unstable, with “hundreds of thousands of people on the move”. Close to 80,000 people have fled armed clashes between Congolese Government forces and Rwanda-backed M23 rebels into neighbouring countries and some 61,000 have arrived in Burundi since January, Mr. Eba stressed. 60 rape victims a day A staggering 895 cases of rape were reported to humanitarian actors in the last two weeks of February alone, the UN refugee agency official continued - an average of more than 60 a day. The UNHCR official highlighted other risks faced by civilians, including the dangers posed by explosive remnants of war to children and farmers trying to tend their fields. On Monday, the UN humanitarian affairs coordination office ( OCHA ) reported that armed men had raided at least two hospitals in North Kivu’s capital Goma, abducting dozens of patients. The fighting has also impeded humanitarian access to people on the move. The UN World Food Programme ( WFP ) has had to pause its aid operations in conflict-affected areas but was resuming emergency food assistance “in some parts of North Kivu” according to a post on social media platform X on Tuesday morning, aiming to reach over 210,000 people. M23 forced evictions Inside North and South Kivu, “significant” population movements have continued, in line with reported M23 orders issued to internally displaced people (IDPs) to leave the camps around Goma, UNHCR’s Mr. Eba said. “Today, only around 17,000 people are left residing in IDP sites, schools and churches around Goma, while an estimated 414,000 of their neighbours have been on the move for the past four weeks, encouraged by the de facto authorities to return to their villages of origin,” he explained. Given the widespread insecurity in eastern DRC, “many more” people may need to cross borders in search of safety, Mr. Eba warned. UNHCR’s position regarding returns to the area is that “Congolese nationals fleeing the conflict, as well as those who are outside the country, who originate from the areas affected by the conflict, may need refugee protection under international and regional legal frameworks,” he said. The UNHCR official emphasized the importance of “informed decision-making” for any voluntary returns to conflict-affected areas. Exempt from funding freeze Assistance for the current crisis that was spawned by a decades-long conflict in the mineral-rich region had “always been underfunded”, she said, expressing hope that UNHCR will be able to “continue to support this emergency”. There are over one million Congolese refugees across Africa, mainly in neighbouring countries. Uganda hosts more than half of that total, while Burundi has seen most new arrivals since January’s flash M23 offensive. Prior to the current crisis, some 6.7 million people were internally displaced within the DRC. Copyright © United Nations

UNICEF report says sexual violence, including rape, is ‘being used as a tactic of war’ in violation of international law and laws protecting children. Published: March 4, 2025 The war broke out in Sudan in April 2023 between the military and its rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, resulting in the death of at least 20,000 people and displacing more than 14 million from their homes [File: Diego Menjibar/EPA] Children in war-ravaged Sudan , some as young as a year old, have been raped since the beginning of 2024, according to the United Nations children’s agency. In a report published on Tuesday, UNICEF said at least 221 children, including boys, were raped by armed men, according to records compiled by gender-based violence service providers in the North African nation. Of those cases, 66 percent of the survivors were girls and the rest were boys. There were 16 survivors below the age of five, including four who were as young as one. UNICEF recorded an additional 77 reported cases of sexual assault against children – primarily attempted rape. The war in Sudan broke out in April 2023 between the military and its rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, with battles in capital Khartoum and around the country. Since then, at least 20,000 people have been killed, though the number is likely much higher. The war has also driven more than 14 million people from their homes and pushed parts of the country into famine. ‘Rape as war tactic’ According to rights groups, atrocities, including sexual violence and forced child marriages, have been committed by both sides. An estimated 61,800 children have been internally displaced since the war began, according to UNICEF. The agency reported documented cases involving children who were raped during attacks on cities. UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in the report that sexual violence, including rape, is “being used as a tactic of war” in violation of international law and laws protecting children. Since December 2024, about 110,000 people have arrived in Renk County in neighbouring South Sudan amid continuing violence in Sudan, according to Doctors Without Borders [File: Diego Menjibar/EPA] The cases of rape were reported in the states of Gadarif, Kassala, Gezeira, Khartoum, River Nile, Northern State, South Kordofan, North Darfur and West Darfur. In South Kordofan, a boy was raped at gunpoint and several children, including a six-year-old, were also raped. They were all out picking fruit. “In a culture of really serious social stigma and at a time when access to services has been severely hampered, the fact that this group came forward tells us that it is only a small sample,” UNICEF spokesperson Tess Ingram told The Associated Press news agency. “It is only the tip of the iceberg of what are undoubtedly hundreds more children who have been raped.” Ingram, who was in Sudan in December, said she met with victims who “endured horrors that no person would want to experience in their lifetime, and in the aftermath of those horrors, their suffering doesn’t stop”. Many of the victims dealt with physical injuries and “serious psychological scars”, Ingram said, adding that some have attempted suicide. Survivors are often reluctant to report that they were subjected to sexual violence due to social stigma and fear of retribution from armed groups and rejection from family. UNICEF urged the Sudanese government and all parties to the conflict to respect their obligations to protect civilians, especially children, while those providing services to survivors must be protected. “Children as young as one being raped by armed men should shock anyone to their core and compel immediate action,” said Russell. © 2025 Al Jazeera Media Network