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The humanitarian crisis in Yemen is set to get much worse in 2026 as food insecurity increases and international aid evaporates, the United Nations warned on Monday.Julien Harneis, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, said he feared the calamitous situation would go under the radar until the death toll mounts.The picture in Yemen is “very, very concerning”, he told reporters in Geneva.Last year, 19.5 million people in the country needed humanitarian aid — and the UN’s response plan for the country was only 28-percent financed, at $688 million.”We are expecting things to be much worse in 2026,” said Harneis, pointing out that 21 million Yemenis were now in need, and aid was drying up.He said food insecurity was increasing, particularly on the Red Sea coast, while the health system, assisted by the United Nations and the World Bank for the last 10 years, was “not going to be supported in the way it has been in the past”.He said Yemenis would be “very vulnerable to epidemics” this year.”My fear is that we won’t hear about it until the mortality and the morbidity significantly increases this next year,” he added.Under President Donald Trump, the United States has heavily slashed foreign aid and other key donor countries have been tightening their belts.Harneis said that for many years, the United States was the biggest donor to Yemen, but “that’s no longer the case”.”I am hoping that at least in parts of Yemen, the US government will come back to fund,” he said, and also that Gulf countries would step up support.”A humanitarian crisis in Yemen is a risk to the Arabian peninsula. Cholera, measles and polio cross borders,” he warned.Harneis said the UN was trying to work with NGOs to see if they could plug any of the gaps.”Children are dying — and it’s going to get worse,” he said.”For 10 years, the UN and humanitarian organisations were able to improve mortality and morbidity,” he pointed out.”With the conjunction we’re seeing this year, that’s not going to be the case. That is the simple story that everybody needs to understand.”- UN response ‘hobbled’ -Yemen’s internationally recognised government is a patchwork of groups held together by their opposition to the Iran-backed Houthis, who ousted them from the capital Sanaa in 2014 and now rule much of the country’s north.The Houthis have been at war with the government, backed by a Saudi-led coalition since 2015, in a conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis and triggered a major humanitarian crisis.Harneis said the lack of a solution to the conflict was driving needs.”It’s not active fighting, it’s not massive displacement, it’s not bombing,” he said.”It is the collapse of the economy,” the damage to the ports and airports and the disruption of essential services.”We can take the edge off it, we can save lives but we cannot stop the underlying dynamic which is creating all these needs,” he said.Meanwhile 73 UN staff members are being held in detention in Yemen, some since 2021.”With these detentions and the seizure of our offices, the UN does not have the conditions to be able to work,” Harneis lamented.”To see our humanitarian response so hobbled is terrifying.” 

US President Donald Trump’s government has asked countries to pay $1 billion for a permanent spot on his “Board of Peace” aimed at resolving conflicts, according to its charter seen by AFP.The board was originally conceived to oversee the rebuilding of war-torn Gaza, but the charter does not appear to limit its role to the occupied Palestinian territory.What exactly will it do? And who has been invited?- To what end? -The Board of Peace will be chaired by Trump, according to its founding charter.It is “an international organization that seeks to promote stability, restore dependable and lawful governance, and secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict”, reads the preamble of the charter sent to countries invited to participate. It will “undertake such peace-building functions in accordance with international law”, it adds.- Who’s boss? -Trump will be chairman but also “separately serve as inaugural representative of the United States of America”.”The Chairman shall have exclusive authority to create, modify, or dissolve subsidiary entities as necessary or appropriate to fulfill the Board of Peace’s mission,” the document states.He will pick members of an Executive Board to be “leaders of global stature” to “serve two-year terms, subject to removal by the Chairman”.He may also, “acting on behalf of the Board of Peace”, “adopt resolutions or other directives”.The chairman can be replaced only in case of “voluntary resignation or as a result of incapacity”.- Who can be a member? -Member states have to be invited by the US president, and will be represented by their head of state or government.Each member “shall serve a term of no more than three years”, the charter says.But “the three-year membership term shall not apply to Member States that contribute more than USD $1,000,000,000 in cash funds to the Board of Peace within the first year of the Charter’s entry into force”, it adds.The board will “convene voting meetings at least annually”, and “each member State shall have one vote”.But while all decisions require “a majority of Member States present and voting”, they will also be “subject to the approval of the Chairman, who may also cast a vote in his capacity as Chairman in the event of a tie”.- Who’s already in? -The White House has said its members will include:US President Donald Trump, chairUS Secretary of State Marco RubioSteve Witkoff, Trump’s special negotiatorJared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-lawTony Blair, former UK prime ministerMarc Rowan, billionaire US financierAjay Banga, World Bank president Robert Gabriel, loyal Trump aide on the National Security Council – Who’s been invited? -The list of countries and leaders who say they have been invited include, but are not limited to:Russia’s President Vladimir PutinCanada’s Prime Minister Mark CarneyEgypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-SisiArgentina’s President Javier MileiJordanBrazilParaguayIndiaPakistanGermanyFranceItalyHungaryRomaniaUzbekistanBelarus- When does it start? -The charter says it enters into force “upon expression of consent to be bound by three States”.

Syria’s army deployed in formerly Kurdish-led areas in the country’s east and north on Monday after a ceasefire announced a day earlier, as Syria’s president and the Kurds’ leader were set to hold talks.The leader of the Syrian Kurdish forces said Sunday he agreed to the deal with Damascus to avoid broader war, integrating the Kurds’ administration and his fighters into the state after months of stalled negotiations.Despite the deal, the government and the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) traded blame on Monday for fresh attacks that the military said killed three soldiers.Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa announced the accord with SDF chief Mazloum Abdi following two days of rapid gains in Kurdish-controlled territory after the army pushed the SDF out of Aleppo city earlier this month.Analysts said the deal marked a blow for the minority’s long-held ambitions of preserving the de facto autonomy they had exercised in swathes of north and northeast Syria for over a decade.In Deir Ezzor province in the country’s east, an AFP correspondent saw dozens of military vehicles heading to the east of the Euphrates River, while trucks, cars and pedestrians lined up at a small bridge leading to the eastern bank.Mohammed Khalil, a 50-year-old driver told AFP that he was overjoyed by the arrival of Syrian government forces.”We hope things will be better than before. There was… no freedom” under the SDF, he said.Teacher Safia Keddo, 49, said “we want children to return to school without fear, and for electricity, water, and bread to be restored. We’re not asking for a miracle, we just want stability and a normal life.”- ‘Protecting civilian lives’ -The army said it “started the deployment” into Syria’s north and east “to secure it under the agreement”, adding that forces had reached the outskirts of Hasakeh city, whose province is the Kurds’ stronghold.The military did not say where its soldiers were killed but accused “terrorist groups” of seeking to disrupt the deal’s implementation.The SDF instead accused the government of launching attacks and reported “violent clashes” near a prison in Raqa that holds detainees from the Islamic State group.The agreement includes the Kurdish administration’s immediate handover of Arab-majority Deir Ezzor and Raqa provinces to the government, which will also take responsibility for IS prisoners and their families held in Kurdish-run jails and camps. The SDF had seized swathes of the provinces as they expelled the jihadists during Syria’s civil war with the support of an international coalition led by the United States.An AFP correspondent in Raqa said security forces deployed in the main square, while a military convoy passed through the city as sporadic gunfire rang out.Dozens of residents crossed the Euphrates in boats after two bridges were destroyed, while residents toppled a statue of a woman erected by Kurdish forces.Raqa resident Khaled al-Afnan, 34, said “we support Kurdish civil rights… but we don’t support them having a military role.””This deal is important for protecting civilian lives,” he told AFP.- ‘Serious doubts’ -The SDF on Sunday withdrew from areas under its control in the eastern Deir Ezzor countryside, including the Al-Omar oil field, the country’s largest, and the Tanak field.Local fighters from tribes in the Arab-majority province sided with Damascus and seized the areas before the arrival of government forces.Some Arab tribes were previously allied with the SDF, which included a significant Arab component. An energy ministry official told state television on Monday that technical teams were heading to recently taken oil facilities to assess their condition.The SDF’s Abdi said Sunday he agreed to the deal to avoid civil war and end a conflict “imposed” on the Kurds.Mutlu Civiroglu, a Washington-based analyst and expert on the Kurds, said the government’s advance “raises serious doubts about the durability” of the ceasefire and a stalled March agreement between the government and the Kurds.”Sharaa’s confrontations with Kurdish forces, following earlier pressure on Alawite and Druze areas, reinforce doubts about the interim government’s legitimacy and its ability to represent Syria’s diverse population,” he added.Last year saw sectarian violence in the country’s coastal Alawite heartland and in southern Syria’s Druze-majority Sweida province.Sharaa had on Friday issued a decree granting the Kurds official recognition, but the Kurds said it fell short of their expectations.In Qamishli, the main Kurdish city in the country’s northeast, activist Hevi Ahmed, 40, said Sunday’s deal was “a disappointment after years of hope that the Syrian constitution might contain a better future for the Kurds.” 

US President Donald Trump’s government has asked countries to pay $1.0 billion for a permanent spot on his “Board of Peace” aimed at resolving conflicts, according to its charter, seen Monday by AFP. The White House has asked various world leaders to sit on the board, chaired by Trump himself, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Hungarian premier Viktor Orban and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.Member countries — represented on the board by their head of state — would be allowed to join for three years — or longer if they paid more than $1.0 billion within the first year, the charter says.”Each Member State shall serve a term of no more than three years from this Charter’s entry into force, subject to renewal by the Chairman,” the board’s draft charter says.”The three-year membership term shall not apply to Member States that contribute more than USD $1,000,000,000 in cash funds to the Board of Peace within the first year of the Charter’s entry into force.”The board was originally conceived to oversee the rebuilding of Gaza, but its charter does not appear to limit its role to the occupied Palestinian territory.The White House said there would be a main board, a Palestinian committee of technocrats meant to govern devastated Gaza, and a second “executive board” that appears designed to have a more advisory role.”The Board of Peace is an international organization that seeks to promote stability, restore dependable and lawful governance, and secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict,” the charter says.- ‘Failed institutions’ -It appears to take a swipe at international institutions such as the United Nations, saying that the board should have “the courage to depart from approaches and institutions that have too often failed.”Trump has regularly criticized the United Nations and announced this month that his country will withdraw from 66 global organizations and treaties — roughly half affiliated with the UN.Membership of the board would be “limited to States invited to participate by the Chairman,” according to the draft charter.Trump would have the power to remove member states from the board, subject to a veto by two-third of members, and choose his replacement should he leave his role as chairman.The “Board of Peace” began to take shape on Saturday when the leaders of Egypt, Turkey, Argentina and Canada were asked to join.Trump also named as members Secretary of State Marco Rubio, former British prime minister Tony Blair, senior negotiator Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner.Israel has objected to the line-up of a “Gaza executive board” to operate under the body, which includes Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Qatari diplomat Ali Al-Thawadi.

The hustle and bustle of buyers and sellers has returned to Khartoum’s central market, but “it’s nothing like before”, fruit vendor Hashim Mohamed told AFP, streets away from where war first broke out nearly three years ago.On April 15, 2023, central Khartoum awoke to battles between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who had been allies since 2021, when they ousted civilians from a short-lived transitional government.Their war has since killed tens of thousands and displaced millions.In greater Khartoum alone, nearly four million people — around half the population — fled the city when the RSF took over.Hashim Mohamed did not.”I had to work discreetly, because there were regular attacks” on businesses, said the fruit seller, who has worked in the sprawling market for 50 years.Like him, those who stayed in the city reported having lived in constant fear of assaults and robberies from militiamen roaming the streets.Last March, army forces led an offensive through the capital, pushing paramilitary fighters out and revealing the vast looting and destruction left behind.”The market’s not what it used to be, but it’s much better than when the RSF was here,” said market vendor Adam Haddad, resting in the shade of an awning.In the market’s narrow, dusty alleyways, fruits and vegetables are piled high on makeshift stalls or tarps spread on the ground.- Two jobs to survive -Khartoum, where entire neighbourhoods have been damaged by the fighting, is no longer threatened by the mass starvation that stalks battlefield cities and displacement camps elsewhere in Sudan.But with the economy a shambles, a good living is still hard to provide.”People complain about prices, they say it’s too expensive. You can find everything, but the costs keep going up: supplies, labour, transportation,” said Mohamed.Sudan has known only triple-digit annual inflation for years. Figures for 2024 stood at 151 percent — down from a 2021 peak of 358 percent.The currency has also collapsed, going from trading at 570 Sudanese pounds to the US dollar before the war to 3,500 in 2026, according to the black market rate.One Sudanese teacher, who only a few years ago could provide comfortably for his two children, told AFP he could no longer pay his rent with a monthly salary of 250,000 Sudanese pounds ($71).To feed his family, pay for school and cover healthcare, he “works in the market or anywhere” on his days off.”You have to have another job to pay for the bare minimum of basic needs,” he said, asking for anonymity to protect his privacy and to avoid “problems with security services”.Beyond Khartoum, the war still rages, with the RSF in control of much of western and southern Sudan and pushing into the central Kordofan region.For Adam Haddad, the road to recovery will be a long one.”We don’t have enough resources or workers or liquidity going through the market,” he said, adding that reliable electricity was still a problem.”The government is striving to restore everything, and God willing, in the near future, the power will return and Khartoum will become what it once was.”