Latest news with #warlords
Wall Street Journal
10-08-2025
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
How Humanitarian Aid Feeds War Machines
The pictures are heartbreaking: convoys of United Nations-marked trucks inching toward bomb-scarred cities, desperate children clamoring for supplies. These images seem to prove that the international system is, at the very least, trying to help. Yet in every conflict I have studied—Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Ethiopia and Gaza—the same trucks double as cash machines for warlords, militias and authoritarian regimes. Aid diversion is a widespread problem in humanitarian operations. Unless the U.S. and other donors rewrite the rules so that aid can't be separated from accountability, they will keep subsidizing the conflicts they abhor. Somalia shows how thoroughly diversion can be built into routine. Three clan cartels win most World Food Program transport contracts, skim 30% to 50% of the cargo, and then split the spoils with those who transport the food and those who control the displacement camps. Based on U.N. reports and monitors, my coauthor and I estimate in our study that barely one-eighth of donated food reaches intended households.
Mail & Guardian
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Mail & Guardian
The heavens weep as humanity watches Sudan starve
Sudan is a nation ravaged by internal strife, a battleground where the spoils are power and the currency is human suffering. Photo:The skies over Sudan are pregnant with the promise of rain, but for Let us not mince words — this is not a natural disaster; it is a crime against humanity, unfolding in slow motion, a damning indictment of our collective moral bankruptcy. Sudan is a nation ravaged by internal strife, a battleground where the spoils are power and the currency is human suffering. Decades of misrule, the cynical exploitation of ethnic divisions and the insatiable greed of warlords have brought The current conflict, a brutal dance of death between rival factions, is merely the latest act in a long-running tragedy, a tragedy fueled by the same forces that have historically bled Africa dry: the lust for control and callous disregard for human life. To ignore this history is to misunderstand the present, to treat the symptoms while ignoring the festering wound. The The rains, which should bring relief, will instead transform the land into an impassable quagmire, turning refugee camps into death traps and sealing the fate of those already clinging to the precipice of survival. This is not a natural disaster; it is a calculated atrocity, a crime for which there must be accountability. The world's response has been a shameful whisper where a deafening roar of outrage is required. Pledges of aid remain unfulfilled and diplomatic efforts are as feeble as they are ineffectual. We must abandon the language of polite diplomacy and speak the blunt truth — those who perpetuate this conflict, those who obstruct aid, those who turn a blind eye to the suffering of the Sudanese people are complicit in this impending famine. Therefore, we demand immediate and decisive action: An immediate and rigorously monitored ceasefire: The warring factions, Generals Burhan and Hemedti, must be compelled to lay down their arms unconditionally and prioritise the survival of the Sudanese people above their personal ambitions. This must be done through the imposition of targeted international sanctions freezing their assets and restricting their movements, coupled with the credible threat of prosecution by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and obstruction of aid. The urgent establishment of fully protected and internationally guaranteed humanitarian corridors: These corridors, secured by UN peacekeepers if necessary, must ensure the safe and unimpeded passage of life-saving aid — food, water, medicine — to all affected populations, without the consent or interference of the warring parties. Any obstruction must be met with swift and decisive international repercussions. A massive and immediate mobilisation of financial and logistical resources, spearheaded by the AU and the UN: Wealthy nations and international financial institutions must immediately release earmarked and readily disbursable funds, bypassing bureaucratic delays, to bolster the efforts of the World Food Programme, the International Committee of the Red Cross and other frontline humanitarian organisations. This must be accompanied by the urgent deployment of logistical support — military transport aircraft, trucks and experienced personnel — to pre-position supplies before the rainy season isolates entire regions. African nations with logistical capabilities must take a leading role in this effort, demonstrating continental solidarity. A unified and forceful diplomatic offensive, led by the AU, with the full backing of the UN Security Council: The AU must convene an emergency summit to forge a cohesive African strategy, leveraging the influence of regional leaders to pressure the warring factions. The Security Council must move beyond mere statements and adopt binding resolutions that impose concrete consequences for the perpetuation of violence and the obstruction of aid, including targeted sanctions and arms embargoes. External actors who are seen to be fueling the conflict must be unequivocally condemned and held accountable. A long-term commitment to inclusive governance and development: While addressing the immediate crisis is paramount, the international community, particularly African nations, must commit to a sustained effort to support a genuinely inclusive political transition in Sudan, one that addresses the root causes of marginalisation and inequality. This includes investing in sustainable development, strengthening civil society and ensuring accountability for past and present human rights abuses. The Sudanese people deserve the right to self-determination, the right to live free from violence and hunger. The approaching rains are not just a meteorological event; they are a deadline for action, a test of our collective conscience. Will we stand idly by as Sudan is consumed by famine or will we rise up with the fierce and unwavering determination that this moment demands? The world is watching. History is judging. Let us not fail this test of our shared humanity. Lindani Zungu is a Mandela Rhodes scholar pursuing a master's in political studies while serving as the editor-in-chief of the youth-oriented publication, Voices of Mzansi .
