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Business Insider
6 days ago
- General
- Business Insider
8 African countries battling massive humanitarian crises with little global attention
Conflict, political instability, climate shocks, and armed violence displaced millions across the continent in 2024, with eight African countries ranking among the world's most neglected humanitarian crises, according to a new report. Conflict, climate crises, and political instability are causing widespread displacement across Africa. These crises often receive minimal international media coverage and limited humanitarian funding. Eight out of ten of the most neglected displacement crises globally are within Africa, such as in Cameroon and Ethiopia. The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) 2024 report shows eight African countries face some of the world's most overlooked humanitarian crises, driven by conflict, climate shocks, and displacement, yet met with limited funding, media coverage, and global response. Yet many of these crises unfold far from the international spotlight, drawing little attention from global media, donors, or policymakers. As humanitarian funding falls short and coverage remains minimal, the needs of the displaced often go unmet, leaving entire communities in prolonged states of uncertainty, vulnerability, and despair. The NRC report shows global displacement has doubled in ten years, with 2024 marking record highs due to conflict, climate shocks, and political instability. Humanitarian systems are overwhelmed, and funding met just half of growing needs. The report notes a $25 billion shortfall roughly equal to global defense spending every 3–4 days. In most cases, response plans were barely 40% funded. Underfunding, coupled with weak media coverage, has left many of these crises largely invisible. In 2024, humanitarian funding met just half of global needs, as shifting priorities and economic strain led to sharp cuts. 'The shortfall between what was needed and what was delivered… reached a staggering USD 25 billion, roughly what the world spends on defence every three to four days,' the NRC reported. A 50% funding level is now seen as relatively strong, yet most crises received barely 40%. This chronic shortfall, the report adds, is deepened by minimal media attention, leaving many emergencies invisible. Neglected crisis regions in Africa Displacement in many African countries is a long-running, complex crisis, not a short-term emergency. Families are often uprooted multiple times, with limited access to food, shelter, education, and healthcare. Yet these crises remain underfunded and overlooked, not because they are less severe, but because they lie outside the strategic interests of major powers. Neglected crises in Africa are not ignored because they're less urgent, but because they fall outside the global community's strategic priorities. Political and economic considerations, along with limited media focus, often determine which emergencies receive attention. According to the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), the table below highlights the eight most neglected displacement crises in Africa for 2024 based on limited funding, weak media attention, and lack of political engagement. These countries represent some of the most severe yet overlooked humanitarian emergencies on the continent. Country Population Internally Displaced Refugees 1 Cameroon 28.8 m 1 m 480,000 2 Ethiopia 128.7 m 2.3 m 1 m 3 Mozambique 33.3 m 600,000 — 4 Burkina Faso 23.4 m 2 m 38,580 5 Mali 23.8 m 360,000 155,000 6 Uganda 48.6 m 300,000 1.8 m 7 DR Congo 105.8 m 6.2 m — 8 Somalia 19 m 3.5 m 43,800 According to the NRC's 2024 ranking, eight of the world's ten most neglected displacement crises are in Africa, with Cameroon, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Burkina Faso, and Mali leading the list. Iran and Honduras round out the top ten. Cameroon, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Burkina Faso, and Mali make up the top five, each grappling with widespread internal displacement from hundreds of thousands to over two million people, and mounting refugee pressures.
Yahoo
13-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
RSF storms cattle market and prison in 'death trap' Sudanese city
The Sudanese paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) stormed the besieged city of el-Fasher on Friday in a battle that raged for seven hours, witnesses told the BBC. RSF fighters managed to capture a cattle market, a prison and a military base while broadcasting videos of their members walking around empty stockyards. It was the first time RSF fighters had entered the city in large numbers since the siege of el-Fasher - an ongoing battle for control of the western Darfur city - began 15 months ago. On Saturday morning, the army retaliated and succeeded in pushing the RSF back beyond el-Fasher's limits. But Mathilde Vu, from the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), described the city as a "death trap". "What we're hearing is stories of horror and terror and weekly shelling, attacks on civilian infrastructure," Ms Vu told the BBC Newshour programme. "There are local volunteers - they are really struggling, risking their lives every day to try and provide a little bit of food for people who are mostly starving." Siddig Omar, a 65-year-old resident of el-Fasher, told the BBC the RSF entered the city on Friday from the south and south-west. The RSF, whose fighters have been mustering in trenches dug around the city, frequently attack el-Fasher. According to the army, this was their 220th offensive. But this time, during a battle that raged for seven hours, they managed to take control of the city's livestock market, which has been closed for business for several months. From here, they broadcast videos of their fighters walking around empty stockyards. They also briefly held Shalla prison and the headquarters of the military's Central Reserve Forces. On Saturday morning, the army retaliated and succeeded in pushing the RSF back beyond the city limits, saying it had inflicted "heavy losses" on the paramilitary group. But Mr Omar said RSF shelling - using drones - continued throughout Saturday. "One of the shells hit a civilian vehicle near my house resulting in the death of five civilians who were inside the car," he said. Sudan plunged into a civil war in April 2023 after a vicious struggle for power broke out between its army and the RSF. It has led to a famine and claims of a genocide in the western Darfur region. More than 150,000 people have died in the conflict across the country, and about 12 million have fled their homes in what the United Nations has called the world's largest humanitarian crisis. El-Fasher is the only city in Darfur now controlled by the military. But a communications blackout makes it difficult to confirm information from the besieged city, as only those with satellite internet connections are contactable. Sudan war: A simple guide to what is happening Sudan in danger of self-destructing as conflict and famine reign BBC smuggles in phones to el-Fasher to reveal hunger and fear The latest RSF offensive followed weeks of artillery and drone attacks. The group recently started using large drone aircraft. The army accuses the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of funding the RSF, an allegation the oil-rich Gulf state denies. This weekend's attack comes three months after the RSF overran Zamzam camp on the outskirts of el-Fasher. It had been the largest displacement camp in the country and many of its residents either escaped into el-Fashir or tried to make it to Tawila, 60km (about 40 miles) away. Ms Vu, NRC's advocacy manager in Sudan, said the team in Tawila has continued to hear horrific stories as people desperately try to find safety. "People fleeing at night by foot, on donkeys - trying to escape armed men targeting them, maybe raping them," she said. "We're getting people arriving into Tawila who are thirsty, who haven't eaten for weeks." Nearly 379,000 people have now fled to Tawila, where they are facing an outbreak of cholera and expected heavy rain is likely to destroy makeshift shelters. This week, residents of el-Fasher told the BBC Arabic's emergency radio programme more about their dire situation. "Right now, we are suffering deeply, and everyone around us is facing the same hardship," one man said. "There is no bread, no food, and no work to be found. Even if you have money, there's nothing available in the markets to buy. "When someone gets sick, we can't find any medicine or treatment. "There are no medicines in hospitals. The situation here is truly terrible." Another man said until recently, residents had been relying on something called "ombaz", a food waste left over after pressing oil from peanut shells. "We are in a very critical situation," he said. "Even ombaz is no longer available, as the peanut factories have stopped working. "We are calling out for help - please, we urgently need assistance." Ms Vu bemoaned the international community's apathy when it came to engaging with the warring parties and their backers. "The funding is completely decreasing and the consequence is that you can see it on the ground," she said. "People [in el-Fasher] just rely on the solidarity of others. "If they have a little bit of food, they will be sharing it among themselves." Last week, the International Criminal Court (ICC) said there were "reasonable grounds" to believe war crimes and crimes against humanity are being committed in Darfur. Allegations of war crimes have persisted throughout the past two years, and in January 2025 the US determined that the RSF and allied militias had committed a genocide against the region's non-Arab population. 'I lost a baby and then rescued a child dodging air strikes in Sudan's civil war' Last surgeons standing in el-Fasher A photographer's 11-day trek to flee war-torn Sudan Go to for more news from the African continent. Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica Focus on Africa This Is Africa
BBC News
13-07-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Sudan civil war: RSF storms cattle market and prison in 'death trap' city
The Sudanese paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) stormed the besieged city of el-Fasher on Friday in a battle that raged for seven hours, witnesses told the BBC. RSF fighters managed to capture a cattle market, a prison and a military base while broadcasting videos of their members walking around empty stockyards. It was the first time RSF fighters had entered the city in large numbers since the siege of el-Fasher - an ongoing battle for control of the western Darfur city - began 15 months ago. On Saturday morning, the army retaliated and succeeded in pushing the RSF back beyond el-Fasher's limits. But Mathilde Vu, from the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), described the city as a "death trap". "What we're hearing is stories of horror and terror and weekly shelling, attacks on civilian infrastructure," Ms Vu told the BBC Newshour programme."There are local volunteers - they are really struggling, risking their lives every day to try and provide a little bit of food for people who are mostly starving." Siddig Omar, a 65-year-old resident of el-Fasher, told the BBC the RSF entered the city on Friday from the south and RSF, whose fighters have been mustering in trenches dug around the city, frequently attack el-Fasher. According to the army, this was their 220th this time, during a battle that raged for seven hours, they managed to take control of the city's livestock market, which has been closed for business for several here, they broadcast videos of their fighters walking around empty stockyards. They also briefly held Shalla prison and the headquarters of the military's Central Reserve Saturday morning, the army retaliated and succeeded in pushing the RSF back beyond the city limits, saying it had inflicted "heavy losses" on the paramilitary group. But Mr Omar said RSF shelling - using drones - continued throughout Saturday. "One of the shells hit a civilian vehicle near my house resulting in the death of five civilians who were inside the car," he plunged into a civil war in April 2023 after a vicious struggle for power broke out between its army and the has led to a famine and claims of a genocide in the western Darfur than 150,000 people have died in the conflict across the country, and about 12 million have fled their homes in what the United Nations has called the world's largest humanitarian is the only city in Darfur now controlled by the military. But a communications blackout makes it difficult to confirm information from the besieged city, as only those with satellite internet connections are war: A simple guide to what is happeningSudan in danger of self-destructing as conflict and famine reignBBC smuggles in phones to el-Fasher to reveal hunger and fearThe latest RSF offensive followed weeks of artillery and drone attacks. The group recently started using large drone aircraft. The army accuses the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of funding the RSF, an allegation the oil-rich Gulf state weekend's attack comes three months after the RSF overran Zamzam camp on the outskirts of el-Fasher. It had been the largest displacement camp in the country and many of its residents either escaped into el-Fashir or tried to make it to Tawila, 60km (about 40 miles) Vu, NRC's advocacy manager in Sudan, said the team in Tawila has continued to hear horrific stories as people desperately try to find safety."People fleeing at night by foot, on donkeys - trying to escape armed men targeting them, maybe raping them," she said."We're getting people arriving into Tawila who are thirsty, who haven't eaten for weeks." Nearly 379,000 people have now fled to Tawila, where they are facing an outbreak of cholera and expected heavy rain is likely to destroy makeshift shelters. This week, residents of el-Fasher told the BBC Arabic's emergency radio programme more about their dire situation."Right now, we are suffering deeply, and everyone around us is facing the same hardship," one man said."There is no bread, no food, and no work to be found. Even if you have money, there's nothing available in the markets to buy. "When someone gets sick, we can't find any medicine or treatment."There are no medicines in hospitals. The situation here is truly terrible."Another man said until recently, residents had been relying on something called "ombaz", a food waste left over after pressing oil from peanut shells."We are in a very critical situation," he said."Even ombaz is no longer available, as the peanut factories have stopped working. "We are calling out for help - please, we urgently need assistance."Ms Vu bemoaned the international community's apathy when it came to engaging with the warring parties and their backers."The funding is completely decreasing and the consequence is that you can see it on the ground," she said. "People [in el-Fasher] just rely on the solidarity of others. "If they have a little bit of food, they will be sharing it among themselves."Last week, the International Criminal Court (ICC) said there were "reasonable grounds" to believe war crimes and crimes against humanity are being committed in of war crimes have persisted throughout the past two years, and in January 2025 the US determined that the RSF and allied militias had committed a genocide against the region's non-Arab population. You may also be interested in: 'I lost a baby and then rescued a child dodging air strikes in Sudan's civil war'Last surgeons standing in el-FasherA photographer's 11-day trek to flee war-torn Sudan Go to for more news from the African us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica
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First Post
04-07-2025
- Politics
- First Post
From America's revolutionary war to resource wars: Climate change and global security
While colonialism was the biggest threat in the 18th century when the United States achieved independence, many now believe climate change to be the biggest threat — even in the domain of national security. But US President Donald Trump is a climate change denier and calls it a hoax. read more As the United States marks the 249th Independence Day, US President Donald Trump is undoing the US leadership of the world. For decades, from terrorism to climate change, the United States served as the world's leader. But, under Trump, the United States is not just retreating from its leadership roles but ditching some causes altogether. Nowhere it is more visible than climate change. Trump is a climate change denier and calls it a hoax. Even as more and more countries are factoring in climate change in their national security strategies, Trump is going all-in on fossil fuels under his 'drill baby, drill' approach. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD On his first day in the second term, Trump signed an executive order to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement. He has also reversed the previous Joe Biden's policies for the promotion of green energy and has promoted unrestrained extraction and usage of fossil fuels. The reality is such that there are currently around 9.8 million people were internally displaced by climate disasters, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council. Separately, the United Nations (UN) has estimated that there could be more than 200 million climate refugees by 2050. How climate change poses security threats Climate change does not just create security problems of its own but also acts as a 'threat multiplier' to worsen existing problems. For example, the flow of refugees from West Asia and Africa has destabilised Europe for more than a decade. It has led to national security concerns as several extremists are understood to have reached Europe with refugees. The management of these people has also strained host countries' resources and led to internal tensions and political crises, such as in Germany where far-right, neo-Nazi party AfD has capitalised on the problem. While the refugee problem has traditionally been driven by armed conflicts like wars or ethnic cleansing, climate change has now started to create waves of refugees. In the Sahel region, tens of thousands of people have been displaced from clashes over competition for scarce water resources. In several island nations and communities, people have been forced to migrate because of rising sea levels, such as in the case of Kiribati in the Pacific where more than half of the population has been forced to move to the capital. People are also increasingly moving to New Zealand or Fiji to escape rising sea levels that are making several areas uninhabitable. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'Mass migration leads to a lot of political and social tensions as well as border issues. That could affect national security, because it could destabilize an entire region,' Karen Seto, a professor of geography and urbanisation at the Yale School of the Environment, told Time. Separately, Scott Moore, a professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania, told the magazine that climate change 'takes things that we were already worried about, like extremism or terrorism, and exacerbates the scale or nature of those threats'. Moore further said, 'If you have these intensified climate change impacts, they place stress on things like food systems, and worsen already existing tensions within countries…If you have, for example, a really extreme and intensified drought in a country in which extremist ideologies are percolating, these climate change impacts may make it more likely that people are going to stop farming, or might migrate to cities where they may face difficult employment prospects, be socially dislocated and may be more vulnerable to extremism or engaging in some type of violence.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Trump seeks profits from climate change Melting icesheets in polar regions from climate change is allowing adversarial states like Russia and China, and possibly non-state actors like smugglers, to find new ways to reach the United States and threaten national security. Instead of keeping these natural barriers alive by countering climate change, Trump is looking forward to exploiting natural resources that melting ice is revealing, such as oil and rare earths. Profiting from potential rare earths and oil reserves in and around Denmark's Greenland island is considered to be the main reason behind Trump's stated objective of annexing the island — forcefully if needed. The melting ice and rising sea levels also potentially threaten military bases as they might come under the risk of being submerged, but Trump does not recognise such concerns.
UAE Moments
04-07-2025
- General
- UAE Moments
Gaza Runs out of Fuel, Endangering Over 2M Palestinians
Gaza has run out of fuel, endangering the lives of 2.1 million Palestinians in the enclave, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council. The council's secretary general, Jan Egeland, said on X, "Gaza has run out of fuel. Reserves are gone. The last drops are being rationed to keep bare-minimum services alive. No fuel means no water, no food distribution, no health care, no telecoms – 2.1 million lives on the brink." NRC water deliveries have been reduced to 33 sites, reaching 85,000 people with only 4.5 litres per person per day, which is far below the the 15-litre survival standard. Egeland also explained how half of these sites depend on the municipal water utility, which has fuel for only 10 days, after which the water supply will be halted completely. To keep the basic services running in Gaza, at least eight million litres of diesel and 400,000 litres of benzene per month are needed. Egeland pressed donor states and diplomats to pressure Israel into allowing fuel to Gaza. The death toll in Gaza has risen to at least 57,130 Palestinians, and the number of injured people has reached 135,173, the enclave's Health Ministry reported on Thursday, July 3. This article was previously published on omanmoments. To see the original article, click here
