Daily News Brief

June 14, 2024

Top of the Agenda

The Council called for the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to halt their offensive on al-Fashir, the last major city in the Darfur region held by Sudan’s army. Fourteen countries supported the resolution, while Russia abstained. The United Kingdom (UK) tabled the resolution for a local cease-fire “to create the wider conditions to support de-escalation across the country,” UK Ambassador to the United Nations Barbara Woodward said. As the civil war grinds on in its second year, UN agencies issued a preliminary projection that 756,000 people in Sudan could face catastrophic food shortages by September, Reuters reported, while nearly 18 million are battling food insecurity.

Several attempts at peace talks have so far failed to end the war, which broke out last April. More than 130,000 people fled al-Fashir between April and May as the RSF assault on the city moved forward, the United Nations said. Woodward told the UN Security Council that an estimated 1.5 million people are still sheltering in al-Fashir. UN experts warn that the region is approaching genocide; the RSF denies involvement in what it calls Darfur’s “tribal conflict.” (UN News, Reuters, BBC)

Analysis

“Sudan’s suffering is simply more proof that the international mechanisms designed to address threats to peace and security are dysfunctional, that basic norms around humanitarian access and civilian protection have eroded to near oblivion, and that the shame and notoriety that should accompany support for senseless destruction elude far too many decision-makers. It makes plain that none of the world’s major powers have an appetite for stopping state collapse or genocide—and some, like Russia with its pursuit of a Red Sea port, seek to gain from it,” CFR expert Michelle Gavin writes for the Africa in Transition blog.

“The prospects of controlling illegal flow of drugs, weapons, migrants, fighters across unstable regions in Africa, you can kiss all of that goodbye if Sudan collapses,” the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Cameron Hudson tells Foreign Policy. “There are huge consequences to us ignoring Sudan or getting it wrong, which many people aren’t fully attuned to.”

Europe

Delegations from dozens of countries will attend this weekend’s summit supporting Ukraine’s ten-point peace plan to end the war. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will represent Washington. Russia and its ally China will not attend the event. The summit comes after the United States and Japan each announced new ten-year security pacts with Ukraine yesterday. (AP, NYT, Japan Times)

Russia: Detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich will be tried for espionage in the city of Yekaterinburg, Russian prosecutors said yesterday. Prosecutors produced no evidence for claims that Gershkovich collected secret information under “instructions from the CIA.” The newspaper’s publisher and editor in chief said the “false and baseless charge” was “an assault on free press.” (NPR)

On this special episode of the Why It Matters podcast, Foreign Affairs Editor Dan Kurtz-Phelan discusses the challenges to global press freedom and journalism in a polarized world. 

Pacific Rim

A new provision set to take effect on Saturday directs the Chinese Coast Guard to detain foreign nationals who cross sea borders set by Beijing. The Philippines’ president and foreign ministry condemned the plans, with the foreign ministry saying China “would be in direct violation of international law” if it detains people from inside the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone. (Nikkei)

China/Europe: The European automaker Stellantis said it will shift the production of some components of Chinese-brand electric vehicles (EVs) from China to Europe following the announcement of new European Union (EU) tariffs on Chinese EV imports. (FT)

South and Central Asia

Tajikistan’s prosecutor general accused Saidjafar Usmonzoda today of collaborating with an overseas opposition group to overthrow the government. Usmonzoda has served in parliament since 2015 and was one of the few lawmakers who spoke to the media. He has not yet commented on his detainment and is not yet confirmed to have a lawyer. (RFE/RL)

India: New Delhi's army is considering changing a military recruitment scheme it introduced in 2022 after a survey revealed discontent with it, the Indian Express reported. The regime reduced how many years recruits were guaranteed military jobs and cut their benefits. Political parties that are now governing in a coalition with the ruling party have called for changes to the program. (Indian Express, SCMP)

Middle East and North Africa

Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said the strikes were a tit-for-tat response to Israeli strikes in Lebanon. After French President Emmanuel Macron proposed a trilateral group with France, Israel, and the United States to defuse tensions on the Israel-Lebanon border, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said today that Israel would not join. (Haaretz, Reuters, Times of Israel)

Yemen: Directors of six UN agencies and three international humanitarian groups jointly called for the Iran-backed Houthi rebels to release seventeen of their staff members who were recently detained. Several dozen countries and the EU issued another joint statement echoing the appeal. U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power called the detentions “an affront both to diplomatic norms and to the dedication the individuals have shown to supporting the people of Yemen.” (AP)

This In Brief by CFR’s Kali Robinson and Will Merrow disentangles the web of Iran’s regional armed network. 

Sub-Saharan Africa

The Democratic Alliance (DA), South Africa’s largest opposition party, will form a coalition government with the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party and Zulu nationalist Inkatha Freedom Party, DA leader John Steenhuisen said today. The deal was confirmed as new lawmakers were being sworn in today. Former President Jacob Zuma’s opposition uMkhonto weSizwe party boycotted today’s opening of parliament, despite winning the third-most seats. (AFP, NYT)

Americas

The International Monetary Fund board approved the transfer yesterday, saying the pro-market reforms it had agreed upon with Argentina were “firmly on track.” The announcement followed news that Argentina’s inflation rate last month was 4.2 percent, its lowest level in two-and-a-half years. (AFP)

This Backgrounder by CFR’s Diana Roy explains Argentina’s long struggle for stability. 

Mexico: President-Elect Claudia Sheinbaum said yesterday that Mexicans should directly elect judges, signaling support for a controversial constitutional reform proposal touted by outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. (Reuters)

United States

The court rejected a lawsuit yesterday that sought to limit access to the pill mifepristone, reversing a decision by a lower court. The ruling will continue to allow the drug to be mailed to people without an in-person medical visit. The court found that the anti-abortion challengers did not have legal grounds to sue on the matter. (CNN)  

For Think Global Health, CFR’s Chloe Searchinger explores the potential global repercussions of the mifepristone challenge. 

Friday Editor’s Pick

Grist looks at how recycling became a cultural phenomenon, and how companies seized on the world’s affinity for the iconic three arrows symbol to muddle its meaning. 

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