102 million people live in the DRC–Here's what they're facing
Issue 414: Fighting escalates in the DRC, Syria’s gas attack survivors speak out, the world faces an antibiotic crisis, Modi scores a major win, Sudan’s military advances on Khartoum, and more.
This week, I'm looking at the ongoing fighting in the DRC—what’s happening now, what Rwanda has to do with it. A decade after Assad gassed civilians in their sleep, survivors are speaking out, but justice is nowhere in sight, while chemical weapons quietly stick around. Antibiotic resistance is turning small cuts into deadly threats, especially for kids in places like Zimbabwe and Puerto Rico. Plus: Modi made a big power grab in India’s capital, Sudan’s military is closing in on Khartoum (thanks, Iran?), and two political giants—Namibia’s Sam Nujoma and the Dalai Lama’s brother—passed away. Also: Guinea wiped out sleeping sickness, a Kurdish online film fest is here, Afghan girls share their experiences with the ban on education, and a tiny Costa Rican supermarket just took down Nintendo.
In 2013, Syria's Assad gassed civilians in their sleep. Today, survivors can finally speak freely—but justice is nowhere in sight
What happened Shortly after midnight on August 21, 2013, the Syrian regime under Bashar al-Assad launched a chemical attack on Ghouta, near Damascus. The rockets were filled with sarin, a deadly nerve agent. By morning, at least 1,144 people were dead. Another 6,000 were left gasping for air, convulsing, and suffocating, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR).
Why this matters: What happened in Ghouta on August 21, 2013, was the largest single chemical weapons attack since Halabja 1988. Chemical weapons are still a 21st-century problem. Ghouta wasn’t the first attack. It wasn’t the last. And for survivors, justice remains out of reach.
Tell me more This attack wasn’t random. It was coldly calculated. SNHR investigators later found that the Syrian military deliberately launched the attack when the weather conditions ensured maximum lethality—cool, still air meant the sarin gas would linger near the ground instead of dispersing. It was designed to kill as many people as possible in their sleep.
Aren't chemical weapons illegal? Yes, and that didn't stop Assad. After the attack, the Assad regime denied responsibility, blamed militant groups, and later agreed to destroy its chemical arsenal under the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). But Syria never fully disarmed. Between 2013 and 2023, the regime carried out 222 more chemical attacks, killing at least 1,514 people. Even after the OPCW declared Syria’s stockpiles destroyed in 2014, Assad’s forces continued using sarin and chlorine gas in rebel-held areas. "Approximately 98% of all these attacks have been carried out by Syrian regime forces, while approximately 2% were by [the Islamic State group]," the SNHR said.
Why Ghouta? For years, eastern Ghouta was one of the most contentious front lines in the Syrian civil war. The area was under opposition control, and Assad’s forces had been bombing and starving the population under siege for years. But in 2018, the regime finally retook Ghouta. After that, even speaking about the chemical attack was dangerous—Syrian security forces arrested and intimidated survivors into silence. That all changed in late 2024. By December, Assad had fled to Russia, and his regime collapsed.
What do survivors say?
💬 “That night, even the narrow streets were packed with bodies. It was impossible not to step over the dead. It felt like the start of the apocalypse.” – Mohammed Barakat Khalife
💬 “If I’d spoken out before, Bashar al-Assad’s forces would have cut off my tongue.” – Umm Nabil, who lost 22 family members that night.
💬 “There wasn’t a door in Zamalka that we opened without finding entire families dead. Most of them died while they were fast asleep.” – Mohammad Ahmed Suleiman, a paramedic whose father, brother, sister-in-law, and their two children all suffocated in the attack.
💬 “Assad is gone, but we want to see him on trial for what his bloodstained hands have done. Until then, our pain will not go away.” – Suleiman
Dig deeper: Nicole Di Illio's "The Continuing Tragedy of Ghouta’s Chemical Attacks" (New Lines Magazine)
What now? There's consensus that Syria’s chemical arsenal was never fully eliminated. Hundreds of tons of chemical weapons remain unaccounted for, including 360 metric tons of sulfur mustard and nerve agent precursors. Plus, the fall of Assad means these weapons are unsecured—potentially up for grabs by ISIS or other armed groups. The new Syrian government, led by Ahmed al-Sharaa (HTS leader-turned-ruler), says it will cooperate with the OPCW—but trust in his regime is thin. And as for accountability: Assad himself is untouchable in Russia, but his former military officials and scientists could still face prosecution if there's a push for war crimes trials against them.
Zoom out: Chemical weapons haven’t gone away—they’re just harder to track and confirm. Governments and armed groups continue to find ways to use them, despite global bans. For example,
"Sudan’s Military Has Used Chemical Weapons Twice, U.S. Officials Say" by Declan Walsh & Julian E. Barnes for New York Times
"Russia used chemical weapons 434 times in December, Ukraine's General Staff says" by Abbey Fenbert for The Kyiv Independent
What's the fighting in DR Congo all about?
What happened Last week, in just a few days, fighters from the armed group M23 took control of nearly all of Goma, a major city of over a million people. And just as suddenly, on Monday, the M23 fighters and their allies announced a "humanitarian ceasefire", and resumed fighting again, this time in Kavumu. The situation's highly volatile. Take this explainer as a momentary screenshot.
Why this matters: According to the United Nations, at least 2,700 people have reportedly died since. Independent observers say the number could be much higher. Plus, there's a report by The Guardian about a mass jailbreak in Goma, where M23 rebels raped and burned alive hundreds of women. The UN confirmed the attack, but can’t fully investigate because the group is blocking access.
Wait, who’s fighting who?
The M23 rebels—a group of mostly ethnic Tutsi fighters who claim they took up arms to protect their minority rights. They named themselves after a failed 2009 peace deal (March 23, hence M23). According to the UN, DR Congo and France, the M23 are backed by Rwanda. Rwanda denies it, but many reports say Rwandan troops are fighting alongside M23.
On the other side:
The Congolese military, which has been bombing M23 positions with aircraft.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) military force, which recently joined the fight but has struggled to hold back M23.
UN's peacekeeping mission in DR Congo (MONUSCO), which has fired artillery to support Congolese troops.
Why Goma and why now?
Because Goma.....isn’t just any city. It’s right on the border with Rwanda and sits next to Lake Kivu, making it a crucial trade and transport hub. But more importantly, it’s surrounded by mining towns producing gold, tin, and coltan—aka the minerals powering your phone, laptop, and every other gadget you rely on.
Because now... The time might have been "right", say some analysts—new U.S. leadership, new African Union leadership, and a shifting geopolitical landscape.
What's Rwanda got to do with this?
This all goes back to the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The tension that fuels this war isn’t new—it’s been boiling for decades.
1994: Hutu extremists (also called the Interahamwe and Rwandan government forces) massacred 800,000 Tutsis in Rwanda in 100 days.
After the genocide: A Tutsi-led armed force under Paul Kagame (now Rwanda’s president) overthrew the Hutu-led government and defeated the extremists. Hutu fighters fled into eastern DR Congo, setting off years of war. Rwanda invaded DR Congo twice, claiming it was hunting down genocide perpetrators.
Today, Hutu armed groups (like the FDLR) still operate in eastern DR Congo. The FDLR is an armed group who massacred Tutsis during the 1994 Rwandan genocide, and Rwanda sees them as a direct security threat—accusing Congo of sheltering them. DR Congo denies this.
And DR Congo's mineral wealth?
And most likely, this is about money, too. M23 has seized mining areas rich in gold, tin, and coltan. A UN report in December found that 120 tonnes of coltan were being smuggled into Rwanda every four weeks. Rwanda’s mineral exports have mysteriously increased—with most of that believed to be stolen from DR Congo. Rwanda, as expected, denies any involvement.
Dig deeper: The "international community" has been slow to take action, like imposing sanctions against Rwanda. One big reason for this is the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. Countries like the US, UK, and Belgium, didn’t intervene to stop the killings, and some feel guilty about that failure. France is especially criticized for its role in enabling the genocide. Because of this sensitive history, Western countries are hesitant to hold Rwanda accountable for its actions in Congo, despite the growing criticism of Kagame’s government, writes Arne Schütte for Table.Media.
What now? African leaders (8 countries of the East African Community and 16 from the Southern African Development Community) met in Tanzania on Friday (February 8), to address the situation, reports DW. Tanzania’s president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, made it clear: if the leaders don’t act, they’ll be judged harshly by history. The summit called for an immediate ceasefire and peace talks, but getting everyone on the same page is tricky. Rwanda was told to pull out its forces and stop supporting the rebels. Tensions between Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame make talks even harder. While the leaders agree a military solution won’t work, the real challenge is addressing the deeper issues. Whether these talks will lead to anything solid is still up in the air. In the meantime, DR Congo's mineral wealth continues to be exploited illegally and civilians are living in fear for their lives.
We are running out of antibiotics. Here's why that's a global crisis
What happened Antibiotics are losing their power (meaning, we are becoming resistant to them), and the world is running out of new antibiotics, says the World Health Organization (WHO). That means we’re heading toward a future where even a small cut could be deadly again.
Refresher: What are antibiotics? Antibiotics are medicines that kill or stop the growth of bacteria. Before antibiotics, even a small cut or infection could be deadly. Today, they save millions of lives, and are used to treat bacterial infections like pneumonia, urinary tract infections (UTIs), strep throat, and tuberculosis.
Why this matters: The WHO says that antibiotic resistance (AMR) is killing more than one million people a year (some say the number is much higher), and expects that number to surpass cancer as the top cause of death by 2050. For comparison: As of 2022, around ten million people died of cancer. As with everything, not everyone is affected equally—it affects some people much worse than others, specifically children in poorer countries. A study in The Lancet found that nearly all children under 5 who die from AMR-related infections are from low- and middle-income countries, and children living in African countries below the Sahara desert are 58 times more likely to die from antibiotic resistance than children in wealthy countries.
Tell me more There are many factors leading to antibiotic resistance.
We don't use antibiotics right. Many people take antibiotics without prescriptions or for the wrong illnesses (e.g., viruses like the flu). Doctors sometimes overprescribe broad-spectrum antibiotics, which kill too many bacteria—including the good ones—allowing resistant ones to take over. This happens everywhere; in Germany, too.
Not everyone has good healthcare. Many people in low-income countries can’t afford full antibiotic treatments, leading to incomplete doses that make bacteria resistant. Fake or low-quality antibiotics are also a problem.
Farm animals are loaded with antibiotics. Farmers use massive amounts of antibiotics on animals to make them grow faster. These drugs leak into water, soil, and food, creating resistant bacteria.
Dirty water. Dirty water and lack of sanitation help spread resistant bacteria. Handwashing alone could reduce infections dramatically.
How is AMR diagnosed? It looks like a normal infection at first—fever, swelling, or pain—but doesn’t get better with antibiotics. Diagnosing AMR requires lab tests, where bacteria are exposed to different antibiotics to see which ones they survive. Some hospitals use DNA testing to check for resistance genes—but not every country has access to this tech. The earlier AMR is caught, the better the chance of treating it.
Dig deeper: Global Press Journal reporters investigated AMR in seven countries—showing how antibiotic resistance is already a daily nightmare in places like Zimbabwe, Uganda, and Puerto Rico. For example, in Zimbabwe, 93% of the population in the country has no access to health insurance, half of all Ugandans find it difficult to pay for their medical visits, and in Puerto Rico, "there is a belief that any little thing can be solved with antibiotics," one says.
What can be done?
Governments need better laws to control antibiotic sales.
Hospitals & doctors must stop overprescribing antibiotics.
People need to stop demanding antibiotics for colds and flu.
The food industry must cut antibiotic use in animals.
But—and this is important—AMR is much more urgent in poorer countries. Wealthy nations can afford new treatments. Poorer ones face the worst consequences. Without global action, AMR will widen global health inequalities even more.
"Fun" fact: Alexander Fleming—the scientist who discovered penicillin—warned us about this in 1945. He predicted that if we weren’t careful, antibiotics would stop working because of overuse. He was right. Now, we have to decide if we’re actually going to fix it.
what else happened
Bad
Kyrgyzstan: The ban on the Islamic niqāb took effect, with women facing a fine of 20,000 som (US$230) if they wear it in public places. (Khaama Press)
Libya: Libya just found two mass graves in the southeastern desert. They uncovered nearly 50 bodies, likely from migrants who were trying to make their way to Europe. The first grave had 19 bodies, and some of them looked like they were shot before being buried. The second one, found after a raid on a trafficking center, had at least 30 bodies, but survivors said there were around 70 people buried there. The authorities freed 76 migrants from that center and arrested three people who were running it and abusing the migrants. (AP)
Argentina: The Sarandí canal in Buenos Aires, which runs through a suburb of the city, suddenly went red, and residents are concerned. Some local media outlets are suggesting it might be because of textile dye being dumped or some kind of chemical waste from a nearby depot. The canal runs through a district that’s home to leather processing and textile factories, and flows into the Rio de la Plata, which is a major estuary, and it borders an ecological reserve. (BBC News)
Kazakhstan: Temirlan Ensebek, the creator and author of Qaznews24, a satirical news platform, was arrested last week in Almaty. He is expected to be charged with inciting social discord. The court has placed Ensebek in custody for the duration of the preliminary investigation. If convicted, he faces up to seven years in prison. (Novastan)
Puerto Rico / U.S. Virgin Islands: A tsunami warning has been issued for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands after a 7.6-magnitude earthquake happened in the Caribbean Sea on Saturday evening. (The New York Times)
China: There was a huge landslide in Sichuan province on Saturday. It buried 10 houses in a village, and now about 30 people are still missing. Hundreds of people had to be evacuated. The government has allocated US$6.9 million to help rebuild and restore public services. This isn't the first landslide in recent months—another one in early 2024 killed 20 people and left many missing. (CBS News)
Tibet: Gyalo Thondup, the elder brother of the Dalai Lama and a key figure in Tibet’s modern history, passed away at 97 on February 9. He played a crucial role in the Tibetan struggle for autonomy, working behind the scenes to support his brother’s efforts for Tibet’s peaceful liberation. While the Dalai Lama took the public spotlight, traveling the world and advocating for peace, Gyalo Thondup operated in the political and espionage circles, negotiating with global leaders and handling sensitive operations, including CIA-backed efforts to arm Tibetan armed groups in the 1950s. (The Washington Post)
Namibia: Sam Nujoma, the guy who pretty much led Namibia to independence and became its first president, passed away at 95. He was a huge figure in the country, "founding father" kind of status. He took Namibia from being under South African apartheid to becoming its own nation in 1990. Nujoma was the leader of SWAPO, the liberation movement, and he stayed in power for 15 years, helping to steer the country into democracy. But it’s not all sunshine. As much as he was praised for bringing stability, he had some pretty controversial sides too. He was known for his autocratic leadership style, he called homosexuality a "foreign and corrupt ideology" and AIDS disease a "man-made biological weapon". (Al Jazeera)
Interesting...
India: Modi’s BJP just pulled off a big win in the Delhi state elections, taking control of the capital’s regional government for the first time in almost 30 years. This is a huge deal for Modi ahead of his upcoming meeting with Trump. Delhi’s been a tricky spot for him—while the BJP dominates national elections, they’ve never held the legislative assembly in the capital until now. They won big, 48 seats to just 22 for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The Congress Party, which used to run Delhi, didn’t win a single seat again. This victory matters a lot, not just for local politics but also internationally, given Delhi’s significance and the upcoming talks with Trump. Modi's relationship with Trump has been solid, but they’ve also had some tensions around trade issues, so it’ll be interesting to see how that plays out. (Financial Times)
Sudan: Sudan’s military is really close to taking back Khartoum from the RSF after a major push. It’s been a tough couple of years for the army, but they’ve managed to grab a few key areas in the capital, and now they’re zeroing in on the Republican Palace, which is basically the last stronghold of the RSF. The armed group took over most of Khartoum at the start of the war, but the army’s finally getting its footing, thanks to new weapons from Iran and a fresh batch of recruits. (The Wall Street Journal)
Israel / Palestine: The Arab League has once again made it clear: they’re strongly against any U.S. efforts to displace Palestinians, calling it a threat to both their cause and regional stability. Navi Pillay, head of U.N. Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, calls those efforts illegal. Hossam Zaki, the League’s assistant secretary-general, stressed that they’re backing Jordan and Egypt in rejecting these moves. They’re also pushing for more support to establish a Palestinian state and sticking firmly to the two-state solution as the key to peace. Talks are already happening about potentially holding an Arab summit to tackle this issue head-on. (Arab News, Politico)
Kurdistan / Turkey: The Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal on Rojava vs. Turkey kicked off last week in Brussels, putting Turkey’s alleged war crimes in North and East Syria under the spotlight. Hosted at the Free University of Brussels (VUB), the tribunal brought together human rights activists, legal experts, and survivors of Turkey's military operations to present evidence of ethnic cleansing, targeted attacks on civilians, and ecological destruction. Turkey was invited to defend itself. It refused. So, the trial is happening in absentia. You can follow by livestream.
Good
Tajikistan: The Tajik Ministry of Transport has announced plans to begin detailed planning for the capital Dushanbe’s metro system later this year. The city is having more and more of a traffic jam problem. (Novastan)
Guinea: Guinea just made history. The country eliminated human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), also known as sleeping sickness — its first officially eliminated neglected tropical disease. The announcement came right before World NTD Day 2025, bringing the total number of countries that have eliminated at least one NTD to 55. "A beacon of hope," is how WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the milestone. HAT is one of 21 neglected tropical diseases still affecting over 1 billion people in the hardest-to-reach communities, where clean water, sanitation, and basic health care are scarce. (Devex)
Science: Big discovery at Oxford! For the first time in nearly 2,000 years, researchers have managed to "see" inside a scroll from the ancient city of Herculaneum. The scroll, which was buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, had been stuck in this carbonized, unreadable state, but thanks to new imaging tech and AI, they've managed to unroll the text virtually. What’s really cool is that they’ve gotten a glimpse of the actual writing—some Ancient Greek words like "disgust" have already been translated (lol). (University of Oxford)
Science: (Oh man, I can't stop with these sorts of news) For years, historians and archaeologists thought the Amazon was too wild and harsh for large-scale human settlements, but new technology (!)—specifically lidar scans—are showing that the Amazon had a rich network of urban centers, complete with roads, gardens, and engineered forests. Now we know that early Amazonians were not only living off the land, but actually transforming the forest to meet their needs, creating systems that could teach us a thing or two about sustainability today––long before European explorers showed up. (The Guardian)
recommendations
Watch..."GotûbêJin". The Zagros Film Festival 2025 is bringing us 20 films by female filmmakers from across Kurdistan—all online. I watched one for you, and I’m still thinking about it. Director Nimet Gatar had a question that wouldn’t leave her: How can we watch Kurdish films and discuss patriarchy with Kurdish women? So she and her team organized traveling cinema workshops in Dersim, Amed, and Wan—sometimes projecting onto the wall of a house in a village, sometimes in a city square. They watched stories of Basê, Berfê, Nîgar, Helûn, Emîne, Jîyan, and so many others. After the screenings (women-only spaces), they sat down and talked—about life, resistance, and what it means to be a Kurdish woman. That’s why the film is called GotûbêJin—a play on words between the Kurdish verbs gotin/bêjin (to say) and jin (woman). If you liked the movie and want to follow Nimet's work more closely, follow her on Instagram.
Listen to... Afghan girls and women. In every discussion about the ban on girls' and women’s education in Afghanistan, there’s always one thing missing: the voices of those who live it. Afghan human rights organization Rawadari and the non-profit Musawer have launched a campaign called IQRA (Arabic for "read") to change that. The campaign is dedicated to mobilizing support for Afghan girls and women by bringing their stories front and center. Girls from all 34 provinces of Afghanistan shared their experiences for IQRA. To protect their safety, names were changed, and their voices were modified—but the strength of what they have to say is undeniable. Go here to listen.
Read... "10 Conflicts to Watch in 2025". It’s a big-picture look at global conflicts in 2025, written by Comfort Ero and Richard Atwood from the International Crisis Group (ICG) for Foreign Policy. Need a short summary? The world is getting messier, not more stable, Trump's return is making everything uncertain, calls for a U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti are growing, but it’s unclear if it will happen, the military regime in Myanmar is struggling to hold power as ethnic armed groups gain ground, some are pushing for Sudan to be split into separate countries, which could trigger regional instability, and foreign players like the UAE, Egypt, and Iran are backing different sides, making peace harder. Ukraine is in danger of losing U.S. support, and North Korea and China are becoming bolder in testing U.S. power. Disclaimer: The ICG's board and analysts often have close ties to Western governments, leading to analyses that may reflect Western policy preferences. However, the group still remains a prominent player in conflict analysis. If you read its work, consider these potential biases that might influence it.
video of the week
Emilia Pérez vs. Johanne Sacrebleu I No movie this year has sparked as much debate as Emilia Pérez—a trans-centered musical by French director Jacques Audiard that’s sweeping the Oscars with 13 noms but Mexican and trans critics aren't impressed. Why? They say it is shot entirely in France, has barely any Mexican actors, leans into tired trans tropes (transition = deception, death), and treats Mexico’s drug war like a stage musical. One of the most vocal critics is Camila Aurora, a Mexican trans woman who, alongside screenwriter Héctor Guillén, decided to fight back—with film. Their response? A musical parody called Johanne Sacrebleu, a Mexican-made film about a trans heiress to France’s biggest baguette empire falling in love with the rival heir to France’s largest croissant company (who, of course, is also trans). Sounds ridiculous? That’s exactly the point.
on a funny note
A tiny supermarket in Costa Rica last week won a legal fight against Nintendo, reports The Tico Times (an English-language news outlet based in the country).
José Mario Alfaro González, owner of Super Mario supermarket in Costa Rica, tried to officially register his store’s name. After months of legal back-and-forth, Costa Rica’s National Registry ruled in favor of Super Mario supermarket, and Nintendo lost the case.
Alfaro's lawyer: "We proved our case and won," Alfaro’s lawyer said. "Nintendo can keep its video games—we just want to sell groceries."
Nintendo hasn’t commented yet, but it looks like this time, Super Mario the supermarket got the high score.
That’s it. See you next week?