Sudan, Gaza, Bangladesh
Today's three stories you should know.
Sudan
As mentioned in Proximities last week, Sudan is in the grip of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis and famine has been declared in 10 areas. Now, the UN food agency has warned that residents in the besieged city of el-Fasher are in danger of starvation. The city - the last holdout of the army in the Western Darfur region - has been surrounded by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group for the past 16 months. The World Food Programme cited reports that people are eating animal fodder and food waste. Sudan’s civil conflict erupted in 2023 after relations between the country’s army chief and the leader of the RSF broke down.
More from BBC here.
[NB: Proximities last Saturday published a detailed explainer on Sudan for paid subscribers. This Saturday we’ll publish a similar piece on Ethiopia.]
Gaza
According to the Gaza health ministry, 175 people have now died of starvation and malnutrition in the Palestinian enclave, including 93 children. Al Jazeera today published a piece detailing exactly how much aid has made it into Gaza. It also outlines what starvation does to the body and uses satellite imagery to highlight the risks Palestinians must endure to make it to one of four food distribution sites where people are shot dead by Israeli troops on a near-daily basis. With so much disinformation out there, it’s a useful piece of work.
More from Al Jazeera here.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh today marks a year since longtime leader Sheikh Hasina fled to India just before student protesters stormed her official residence. The demonstrations, on which her government violently cracked down, began over a quota system for civil service jobs before widening into calls for her resignation. The country’s interim leader, Nobel peace laureate Muhammad Yunus, today pledged that promised democratic elections will be held in February 2026. While analysts say space for freedom of expression has grown since Hasina’s toppling and that disappearances of political opponents have stopped, rights groups have also criticised the new administration for showing autocratic tendencies.
More from the Dhaka Tribune here.