Overview:
The Global Affairs team share some of the most important weekly headlines that you may otherwise have missed.

The Editor’s Note

Finally, the five-year-long January of 2025 seems to be drawing to a close, and what better way to leave this eternal winter than with a round-up of recent news from the Global Affairs team here at the Oxford Blue?

Well, we’ve got your covered with updates from all corners of the world.

In both Colombia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), conflict is heating up again. In the DRC, the Rwandan-backed M23 militia has seized the key city of Goma, displacing hundreds of thousands of people. Across the Atlantic, tensions have boiled over between rival militias in Colombia’s Catatumbo region, marking a violent start to the new year.

In more positive news, Thailand has become the most populous country in Asia to legalise same-sex marriage, with hundreds of couples participating in a mass wedding ceremony to celebrate the new legislation.

In the Mediterranean, Italy is now on its third attempt to process migrants in Albania despite pushback from national and European courts. To the east, US President Donald Trump has suggested he aims to relocate the approximately 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza to neighbouring Jordan and Egypt, plans which both these nations have outright rejected.

The rising prices of bus tickets in Oxford (£2.50 for a single journey?!) may mean you cannot escape the bubble as easily, so we hope we can show you that a lot goes on Outside OX1 from the comfort of your device…

M23 Captures Key City of Goma in Congo Conflict

Brandon Abordo

Image by MONUSCO Photos, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. Sourced from Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FARDC_and_MONUSCO_reinforce_their_presence_in_and_around_Goma_following_a_second_day_(21_May_2013)of_clashes_between_M23_and_National_troops.(8776386143).jpg

The Rwandan-backed March 23 Movement (M23) rebel group has seized control of Goma, a strategic city in eastern Congo. 

This marks their second occupation of the city since 2012. Goma, the capital city of North Kivu Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), has been at the centre of M23’s renewed offensive in violation of a 2024 ceasefire brokered by the UN. 

M23 was officially formed in 2012 by Congolese Tutsis who split from the Congolese army due to discriminatory practices. UN Chief of Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, has also confirmed the presence of a “significant” number of Rwandan troops in support of M23, despite Rwanda’s consistent denial of their allegiance to the group. 

Rwanda has also accused the DRC of harbouring members of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an armed rebel group involved in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The Rwandan genocide saw the deaths of nearly 1,000,000 Tutsis at the hands of Hutu extremists, and many Hutus that later fled to the Congo in fear of Tutsi retaliation formed the FDLR. Despite Rwanda’s claims, however, they are widely believed to be using the conflict as a pretext.

Foreign Affairs Minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner of the DRC asserts that Rwanda seeks to sabotage and plunder precious Congolese minerals such as gold, tin, coltan, and cobalt. Wagner also stresses that Rwanda’s Defence Forces (RDF) has blocked roads, disrupted humanitarian efforts, and continued attacks on camps for the displaced. As of January 28th, 17 peacekeepers have reportedly been killed, and several hundred civilian casualties have also been reported as a result of the fighting in Goma thus far. The UN has consequently initiated evacuations of all non-essential staff.

French President Emmanuel Macron has condemned the conflict in Goma, stating that “Rwanda must halt its support for M23 and withdraw its forces from Congolese territory.” Likewise, several other countries such as the UK have also condemned M23, and stated that their actions are “…a clear violation of the ceasefire and undermines efforts taken through the Luanda Process to achieve sustainable peace in Eastern DRC.” The Luanda Process was undertaken to ease long-standing tensions between the DRC and Rwanda, which sought neutralisation of the FDLR and Rwandan disengagement from the DRC’s affairs. 

This year alone, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) estimates that the number of displaced Congolese people has surged to an estimated 400,000, bringing the count to approximately 7,000,000 displaced within the Congo due to the intensifying conflict. At the time of writing, M23 has since gained territory in Kiniezire and Mukwidja and has since started moving towards Bukavu, the capital city of South Kivu Province following the capture of Goma. The situation continues to develop.

Trump Proposes Plans to Relocate Palestinians from the Gaza Strip

Katarina Harrison-Gaze

Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead Licensed under the terms of the Public Domain Mark. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:President_Donald_J._Trump_and_King_Abdullah_II_of_Jordan_at_the_United_Nations_General_Assembly_(36747061294).jpg

US President Donald Trump has received criticism after revealing his plans to “clean out” the Gaza Strip, marking a departure from decades of US foreign policy of a two-state solution.

Speaking to journalists aboard Air Force One on Jan. 25, President Trump announced his plans to relocate “a million and a half Palestinians” from the Gaza Strip and “just clean out the whole thing.” He said that he had spoken to King Abdullah II of Jordan and his “friend” Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi about the possibility of relocating Palestinians to neighbouring Jordan and Egypt so they were “living in an area where they can live without disruption and revolution and violence.” When questioned by a journalist, President Trump did not comment on whether the plans would be “temporary or long-term.” 

Israeli journalists from Channel 12 have reported that Trump’s comments were allegedly not just “lip service” but instead a calculated decision with Israeli government officials. President Trump has long been open in his support for Israel – in his first presidential term he recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and recognised the long-disputed Golan Heights as Israeli territory, making the US the first country to do so. Relocating Gazans to neighbouring countries has allegedly long been supported by “hardline right-wing” members of the Israeli government. However, Israeli and US officials have not yet released any statements confirming the matter.

Both Jordan and Egypt have rejected Trump’s suggestion. 

Speaking on Jan. 26, Jordanian Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Ayman Safadi said “Jordan’s position on this matter has been always clear and has not and will not ever change.” He further clarified that the country refuses displacement on the basis that “Jordan is for Jordanians and Palestine is for Palestinians.”. According to the United Nations, Jordan is already home to the largest number of Palestinian refugees with the Kingdom housing over 2.39 million registered Palestinian refugees. Most are descended from the 750,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes in the Nakba of 1948. 

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry issued a statement which said Trump’s plan “risks expanding the conflict in the region”, with the Egyptians fearing that Hamas would infiltrate the Sinai and threaten El-Sisi’s leadership. The Egyptian Ambassador to the United States, Motaz Zahran, wrote in an opinion piece for The Hill that Egypt “cannot be part of any solution that involves the transfer of Palestinians into Sinai,” claiming that “such a move would trigger a second Nakba.” Egyptian state media have denied the claim that there was a phone call between President Trump and President el-Sisi. 

President Trump’s proposal has drawn criticism from other politicians in the USA and abroad. Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders criticised President Trump’s comments, labelling the plan “ethnic cleansing” and “a war crime.” The BBC reported that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas “expressed strong rejection and condemnation” of any plan “aimed at displacing [Palestinians] from the Gaza Strip.” 

Qatari officials, who mediated the ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, stressed “the necessity of the Palestinian people receiving their rights” and reaffirmed that “the two-state solution is the only path forward.”

Even Trump’s allies have criticised the President’s plans. In an interview with CNN Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who previously suggested Israel should drop nuclear bombs on Gaza, stated that he didn’t find “the idea that all Palestinians are going to leave and go somewhere else” to be “overly practical.” Senator Graham instead suggested that President Trump should work alongside other countries in the region, such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia, to find a solution. 

Despite this opposition, President Trump doubled down on his suggestion, calling the Gaza Strip “hell.” President Trump is expected to continue pressuring Jordan and Egypt to cooperate with his relocation plans.

Thailand Legalises Same-Sex Marriage

Isolde Sellin

Image by Per Meistrup. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Sourced from Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Samui_Pride_Parade_2024_IMG_5131.jpg

Same-sex couples in Thailand can now legally marry, marking a historic milestone for the country with the “Marriage Equality Legislation.” Known for its relative tolerance toward the LGBTQ+ community, compared to other nations in the region, Thailand has become the third Asian nation, after Taiwan and Nepal, to legalise same-sex marriage.

Thailand has undergone a profound cultural shift towards greater inclusivity in recent years. The democratic protests of 2020, which called for political reforms and LGBTQ+ rights, were pivotal in advancing the country’s journey toward equality. Moreover, Thailand has gained international recognition for its Boys’ Love (BL) series, which depicts queer relationships and has significantly contributed to fostering societal acceptance of LGBTQ+ individuals.

The progressive Move Forward Party, which won the May 2023 elections, raised hopes for expanded rights for queer individuals, including marriage equality and gender identity recognition laws. Although the party was later excluded from government, with a conservative coalition led by the conservative Pheu Thai Party taking power instead, some progress towards greater equality for the LGBTQ+ community was still achieved.

A mass wedding was held in Bangkok on the first day of the policy’s implementation, where over 200 queer couples tied the knot. In the days since the legalisation, more than 1,800 same-sex couples have married at the time of writing. 

Notably, the new law also grants marriage rights to heterosexual couples legally classified as same-sex due to one partner being transgender. Previously, the inability to update gender markers on official documents had denied these couples the right to marry.

Thailand’s Prime Minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, celebrated the milestone on Instagram, writing: “January 23, 2025, will go down in history as the day we planted the rainbow flag gracefully in Thailand. Everyone’s love is now legally recognised with honour and dignity.”

Still, LGBTQ+ activists are calling for further progress. While the new law takes a major step forward by replacing gender-specific terms like “man” and “woman” in the Thai Civil Code—of which the same-sex marriage law is a part—with inclusive language such as “individual” and “spouse,” significant gaps remain.

Activists emphasise the urgent need for gender marker updates on official documents, a right currently denied to more than 314,000 transgender people living in Thailand, according to the Asia Pacific Transgender Network. Additionally, some call for broader legal reforms, including explicit protections against discrimination in employment, healthcare, residency, and education.

Colombia’s President Declares State of Emergency Amid Escalating Guerrilla Conflict

Matthew Brown

By Fotografía oficial de la Presidencia de Colombia – https://www.flickr.com/photos/197399771@N06/54272573000/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=158590748

Political violence has once again erupted in Colombia with the emergence of a large-scale conflict between rivalling left-wing guerrilla groups. 

Authorities are reporting an uptick in violent incidents between the members of the National Liberation Army (ELN), and dissident groups of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), resulting in a death toll of over 100 and the displacement of almost 50,000 civilians. Much of the violence is concentrated in Catatumbo, a Colombian region notorious for its cocaine production.

Over the past century, Colombia has been plagued with political instability and deadly civil conflict. The most notable of these is the ongoing Colombian conflict, dating back to 1964, the year in which both the ELN and FARC were formed. These prominent left-wing guerrilla groups formed against the backdrop of a ten-year civil war known as La Violencia, which saw the formation of several guerrilla and paramilitary groups of differing political ideologies. Estimates suggest that 220,000 deaths resulted from the Colombian conflict between 1958 and 2013. Prospects of a resolution have been historically complicated by the wide variety of warring factions with differing ideologies, as well as the involvement of drug-trafficking cartels.

Despite this seemingly unresolvable conflict, recent years have offered much hope for Colombia’s future. In 2016, former President Juan Manuel Santos successfully negotiated a peace agreement with the FARC, an achievement for which he was recognised with a Nobel Peace Prize. Additional progress was made towards peace with other guerrilla groups, prompting Gustavo Petro, Colombia’s first-ever left-wing president, to promise the establishment of “total peace” in Colombia following his election into office in 2022. In 2023, Petro and delegates of the ELN, Colombia’s largest remaining rebel group, negotiated a six-month ceasefire deal.

Following this period of reconciliation, the year 2024 saw signs of a return to political turmoil, with several concerning developments involving Colombia’s President Petro. This included an alleged assassination plot devised by a dissident group of the FARC. Not long after, Colombia’s National Electoral Council requested an investigation into Petro’s financing of his 2022 election campaign, to which the President responded on X with a stark message, “the coup has begun.”

The build-up of political tensions over the past year appears to have finally reached its boiling point, with large-scale violence marking the beginning of the new year. The breakdown of relations between ELN and FARC dissidents, believed to be the result of foul play involving cocaine trafficking, is likely to have been the final straw which triggered an upsurge in violence. Both groups are suspected to be involved in the drug trade, with claims being made of a “pact”  to not interfere with each other’s drug trafficking activities. Reports of a large cocaine shipment going missing in late 2024 could be at the root of the hypothesised relationship breakdown between the two groups. The fallout from this has included ELN members travelling from “house to house” to kill those associated with FARC dissident groups.

In response to these violent incidents, Petro has declared a “state of internal unrest”, granting himself emergency powers to crack down on the violence and suspending peace talks with the ELN, who he claims have “no will for peace.”

Italy Resumes Third Attempt to Send Migrants to Albania

Ria Seth

On January 27th, 49 migrants arrived in Albania aboard the Italian naval vessel, the Cassiopea. Italy has resumed its offshoring and outsourcing immigration policy after a two-month pause due to legal challenges. Under this policy, adult male asylum seekers, rescued in international waters, can be sent to Albanian reception centres where they wait for the processing of their asylum claims. 

Under the plan, asylum seekers can have their claims processed in Albania if they are from a “safe country” and are deemed “non-vulnerable.” This is the Italian government’s third attempt to outsource its immigration and asylum processes to Albania. Italian judges blocked the first two attempts due to the above controversy regarding which countries are safe enough for migrants to be repatriated to them. Italy insisted that Bangladesh and Egypt constitute safe countries, while the European Court of Justice (ECJ) later judged the two countries not to be “wholly safe.” Thus, Italian judges decided against allowing the detention of the groups in the first two attempts due to the presence of Bangladeshi and Egyptian asylum seekers. In the next few weeks, the ECJ will review Italy’s plan to see if it complies with EU laws. 

Under this five-year scheme, approximately 3000 people per month would be housed in the two Italian-run centres in Albania. This would lead to up to 36,000 people being transferred to Albania annually costing Italy about €670 million in total over the next five years. Italy will welcome those granted asylum, and the rejected applicants will be deported directly from Albania. Considering Albania is not an EU country, this deal has been of interest to European leaders who want to manage migrants outside EU territory. Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, urged other EU leaders to draw lessons from the deal and described it as “out-of-the-box” thinking.

On the other hand, human rights activists have expressed worries that the deal sets a harmful precedent for migration law in the EU. Their worry comes from the observation of a lack of respect for people’s rights in past offshore asylum schemes. Activists have also called out the fewer protections non-EU countries (like Albania) have to safeguard human rights compared to EU member states. Politicians in Italy have also expressed their concern, with Maria Elena Boschi criticising the deal as “campaigning at the expense of Italians” and Laura Boldrini advocating that the agreement “violates rights.”

The policy will continue to be reviewed by the Italian and European courts.