UN Warns Sudan War Tipping Toward ‘World’s Largest Hunger Crisis’ |
The nearly one-year-old civil war in Sudan has already created the world’s largest displacement crisis and now risks “triggering the world’s largest hunger crisis,” UN World Food Program (WFP) Executive Director Cindy McCain said yesterday in South Sudan. She called for a stop to fighting and for improved humanitarian access in the country, where eighteen million people are acutely food insecure. While the hunger crisis in Sudan’s Darfur region twenty years ago rallied a global response, McCain added (CNN) that today, the people of Sudan have been “forgotten.”
Authorities in Sudan have revoked permission for aid trucks to cross its borders, even as the hunger crisis spills into neighboring Chad and South Sudan. Some twenty-five million people in the three countries face hunger, the WFP said. McCain’s warning came as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said yesterday that the United Nations found evidence that “elements” of the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces had raped girls as young as fourteen and indiscriminately targeted civilians. The United Nations has previously called these crimes against humanity and warned that more than four million women and girls were at risk of sexual violence.
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“The United States doesn’t just need to state plainly what is happening in Sudan and call atrocities by their names. It needs to articulate its long-term priorities and a vision of U.S. relations with the Horn of the future, and pursue a diplomatic strategy aimed at nudging actors in that direction,” CFR expert Michelle Gavin writes for the Africa in Transition blog.
“Most international players in Sudan are seeking to profit from the country’s crisis. The United States is the country in the best position to drive peace instead of war—but only if it applies financial and diplomatic pressure on Egypt, Iran, Russia, and the [United Arab Emirates], the places where it matters the most,” the Sentry’s John Prendergast writes for Foreign Affairs.
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China Adds Six European Countries to Visa-Free Travel List |
Citizens of Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, and Switzerland will be able (Politico) to visit China for up to fifteen days for business and tourism without a visa on a trial basis starting March 14, China’s foreign minister said today. Other European countries have been granted visa-free travel in the last few months as Beijing hopes to boost tourism.
U.S./China: The United States is urging allies such as Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, and South Korea to further restrict the flow of semiconductor technology to China, Bloomberg reported. Japan and the Netherlands have reportedly pushed back against the U.S. request, saying they need more time to evaluate such a step.
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India’s Modi Visits Kashmir for the First Time Since Its Special Status Changed |
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced (Nikkei) new agriculture and tourism investments in the Muslim-majority region today when he appeared at an election rally. The government’s move to revoke the special administrative status that gave Kashmir a degree of autonomy in 2019 prompted criticism (The Guardian) that Modi’s Hindu nationalist administration was increasingly repressing Muslims and freedom of expression activists.
This Backgrounder by Lindsay Maizland looks at how India’s Muslims are an increasingly marginalized population.
China/India: India plans to deploy ten thousand additional troops to guard its border with China, unnamed senior Indian officials told Bloomberg. The Indian government did not comment publicly on the matter. Beijing and New Delhi have both upgraded military-related infrastructure on their shared border since a series of clashes in 2020; bilateral ties have been strained since then.
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Middle East and North Africa |
Houthi Attack in Red Sea Kills Three on Merchant Vessel |
The deaths yesterday are the first (WaPo) known fatalities of shipping personnel in the Red Sea since the Iran-backed Houthi rebels began their campaign targeting commercial ships in the waterway last year. The U.S. military reported the deaths, saying they occurred on a Barbados-flagged and Liberian-owned ship. This In Brief by CFR’s Kali Robinson unpacks the relationship between Iran and the Houthis.
Egypt: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will double (Bloomberg) the size of its loan to Egypt to $8 billion as part of financial stabilization efforts. Egypt floated its currency and hiked interest rates by a record 6 percent yesterday in an effort to meet economic reforms demanded by the IMF.
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Senegal Announces New Election Date |
President Macky Sall dismissed (NYT) his cabinet and prime minister yesterday and announced a March 24 election date after weeks of protests and unrest. The vote had been originally scheduled for February 25 before he unexpectedly postponed it without setting a new date. |
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EU to Pay Mauritania for Restricting Migration to the Bloc |
Brussels is expected to sign (FT) a commitment today to pay Mauritania more than $228 million to block undocumented migration to the European Union (EU). Rights activists have criticized the proposal, which is modeled after a deal made with Tunisia last year. The EU has increasingly looked to partner with African countries to help curb migration into Europe.
Brussels: The EU’s largest party, the European People’s Party, endorsed (Reuters) European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for another five years in the position. Her endorsement now faces EU parliamentary elections that will take place in June.
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Washington Urges Haitian Prime Minister to Speed Up Political Transition |
A State Department spokesperson said yesterday that Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry should “expedite” (Reuters) a transition of political power in the country amid a security crisis there. Henry is Haiti’s unelected interim leader and has delayed promised elections. While plans for the deployment of a Kenya-led multinational stabilization mission to the country moves forward, Caribbean diplomats have argued (WaPo) that Henry does not have the legitimacy to represent Haiti.
This Backgrounder by Rocio Cara Labrador and CFR’s Diana Roy explains Haiti’s struggle for stability.
Argentina: The country’s unofficial peso reached (Reuters) its strongest level against the U.S. dollar yesterday since the end of December, a shift that comes as President Javier Milei has rolled out pro-market reforms in the country. The gap between Argentina’s black market exchange rate and the official rate has fallen from as high as 200 percent over the last year to less than 18 percent.
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Haley Drops Out of Republican Presidential Nomination Race |
Former South Carolina Governor and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley suspended (Reuters) her presidential campaign yesterday, leaving no major rivals to former President Donald Trump in the race. She congratulated Trump for being the probable nominee but did not endorse him, saying that he would have to “earn” the votes of Republicans. |
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Council on Foreign Relations |
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