The Week That Was: Global News in Review
Foreign Policy | By: Ibrahim Castro | August 26, 2024
Featured Photo: Collage by Indy Silva for U.S. Resist News, 2024
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Colorized transmission electron micrograph of mpox virus particles (red) found within an infected cell (blue), cultured in the laboratory. Bsip | Universal Images Group | Getty Images
Mpox Outbreak
The World Health Organization last week declared mpox a global public health emergency following the outbreak of the disease in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and its export to neighboring countries, countries in Europe and Asia. Mpox is a viral infection which spreads through close contact and causes flu-like symptoms and lesions filled with pus. While usually mild, it can be fatal. Ongoing conflicts in parts of Africa — such as the DRC, where a large number of displaced people have relocated to refugee camps — have also worsened sanitation conditions and accelerated the spread. So far this year, more than 15,000 cases and at least 537 deaths have been reported from the outbreak in the DRC, according to the WHO. The WHO’s director for Europe, Dr. Hans Kluge, has said that the Mpox outbreak is “not the new Covid” and that it can be stopped with international cooperation.
Ukrainian servicemen ride military vehicles from a crossing point at the border with Russia, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Sumy region, Ukraine August 13, 2024. REUTERS/Viacheslav Ratynskyi/File Photo
The Ukraine War Enters Russia
Ukrainian troops began an incursion into the Kursk region of Russia in early August, marking the most extensive advance by Kyiv’s forces in the nearly three-year-long war. The Ukrainian army’s incursion into the Kursk region has highlighted the vulnerabilities of the Russian army, dealt a massive blow to the narrative that Russia was safe from reprisal, reinvigorated Ukrainian morale, and left Russian President Vladimir Putin appearing weakened.
As many as 10,000 Ukrainian troops are expected to be involved in the incursion. This is the first time foreign troops have invaded and held Russian territory since Nazi Germany in World War II. Ukrainian officials state that they aim to establish a buffer zone to inhibit shelling of their territory from the Kursk region. The operation is also thought to be aimed at forcing Russian troops to regroup from battles in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, where Moscow has been making slow but steady advances. Analysts suggest that the capture of Russian territory could strengthen Ukraine’s hand in any eventual negotiations to end the war.
A member of the Sudanese Armed forces walks between damaged buildings, almost one year into the war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), in Omdurman, Sudan, April 7, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig/File Photo
Sudan: 500 Days of War
For nearly a year and a half, Sudan has been battered by a brutal civil war between the country’s army and a militia known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The conflict has devastated the country and triggered the world’s largest refugee crisis. Sudan has a population of 50 million people and over 10 million of them have been displaced.The country is also grappling with a cholera outbreak in refugee camps, with over 350 cases of the disease have been recorded in recent weeks.
The conflict in Sudan, has had devastating consequences for millions of people, but is not as geopolitically important as Ukraine or Gaza to the West. As a result it is usually under the radar when it comes to political and media attention. Experts have confirmed that starvation at a massive camp for displaced people in Darfur has grown into famine, and that about 25.6 million people, or more than half of Sudan’s population face acute hunger. Previous peace talks in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain both failed and fighting has continued unabated. However, a new round of peace talks aimed at ending the war have recently started in Geneva, although neither warring side is actually participating in the negotiations.
Migrants waiting for a boat to take them from the Indigenous community of Canaán Mebrillo to Puerto Limón, Panama, after a days-long walk across de Darien Gap, May 2022. © 2022 Human Rights Watch
US-Panama Migrant Deal
This week the first flight of deported migrants left Panama as part of a new strategy to reduce the number of people reaching the US southern border.The US and Panama signed an agreement in July that aims to close the passage of migrants through the Darien Gap. The Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama has become a key corridor for migrants traveling overland from South America through Central America and Mexico to the US. The Darien Gap has become one of the most treacherous migration pathways in the world. Migrants must often be assisted by smugglers known locally as guides who charge the vulnerable people large sums to make the crossing, and are known to threaten, assault and rob migrants.
Passage through the Darien Gap brings migrants from South America, the Caribbean, and many other countries to Panama in the hopes of reaching the United States and Canada. A record 520,000 people are estimated to have crossed the jungle last year. The US has pledged $6 million in funding for migrant deportations from the Central American nation to reduce crossings at its own border. Transit countries such as Panama and Mexico have come under increased pressure from Washington to tackle the highly contentious migration issue during the US election year.
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