![Prior to the Tigray conflict between TPLF rebels, (pictured), and government forces and Eritrean allies, Ethiopia hosted around 150,000 Eritrean refugees, fleeing poverty and authoritarian government [File: Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/000_9MF6GL.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Eritrean soldiers and Ethiopian rebel fighters raped and killed refugees in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, rights group says.
Humanitarian Crises
![Displaced Afghans distribute food donations at an internally displaced persons camp in Kabul [Bernat Armangue/AP]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/AP21256600830421.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Daunting problems for the group as it seeks to convert its lightning military victory into a peacetime government.
![The United Nations Development Programme says the crisis demands urgent action [Rahmat Gul/AP Photo]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/AP21225511084732.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
UNDP says drought, COVID-19 pandemic and political upheaval could cause Afghanistan’s poverty rate to reach 97 percent.
![As many as 50,000 Afghan evacuees will arrive in the United States under so-called humanitarian parole, a stopgap initiative that gives them a year to apply for permanent visas [File: Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/afghan-1.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
The money is to be used for housing, food, other necessities and enrolling children in school.
![Afghans line up outside a bank to withdraw their money after the Taliban takeover in Kabul, Afghanistan, where banks are now reopening and where Western Union is offering a two-week, $0 fee for all money transfers into the country from September 3 to 17 [File: Stringer/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/afghan.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
The money-transfer firm suspended services in Afghanistan two weeks ago after the Taliban captured Kabul.
![Support for refugees is a controversial topic for the European Union, with several member states firmly opposed to accepting people fleeing the conflict [File: Stefano S Guidi/Getty Images]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/boy.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
The European Commission added that additional funds could be made available.
![Internally displaced families from northern provinces, who fled from their homes due the fighting between Taliban and Afghan security forces, take shelter in a public park in Kabul, Afghanistan [File: Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/2021-08-10T102155Z_1818015127_RC2A2P9BMC6U_RTRMADP_3_AFGHANISTAN-CONFLICT.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Antonio Guterres says almost half of the Afghan population needs urgent aid to survive after Taliban takeover.
![Afghan men work on a poppy field in Jalalabad province, Afghanistan, which is the world's number one supplier of opium [File: Parwiz/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/opium.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
THE WEEK IN NUMBERS
Fed in Jackson Hole, Olympic debt and helping IDPs in Afghanistan
We gather the numbers to know from the week’s biggest economic news stories so you can impress your friends.
![Foreign donors say they will provide assistance once a government is formed that embarks on reforms to address the root causes of the economic meltdown [File: Anwar Amro/AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/000_9L47EE.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Major-General Abbas Ibrahim says the collapse of state institutions threatens to undermine the stability of the country.
![Afghan entrepreneur Nasrat Khalid (right) turned the e-commerce platform he founded into a way to help distribute aid such as diapers, baby formula, food, clothing and tents to people in need [Courtesy: Kern Hendricks/Aseel]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Nasrat-Khalid.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Aseel, a platform selling Afghan artisans’ goods abroad, has revamped its website to accept humanitarian aid for Kabul.
![As the United States races to evacuate thousands of Americans and vulnerable Afghans after a rushed troop withdrawal that ended 20 years of war, US President Joe Biden has taken steps to isolate the new Taliban-led administration economically [File: First Lt Mark Andries/US Marine Corps via Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/afghan.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Afghanistan, now under control of the Taliban, is sitting on what could be the world’s largest lithium reserves.
![An anti-government protester near Beirut's Parliament Square flashes the victory sign during a protest marking the first anniversary of the massive blast at Beirut's port, August 4, 2021 [File: Bilal Hussein/AP Photo]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/AP21216578761039.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Amid humanitarian crises, Rashida Tlaib and Debbie Dingell are circulating letter urging protection for Lebanese citizen
![An estimated five million people are in need of humanitarian aid and more than 400,000 people are experiencing famine conditions due to the conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray region, the United States said in a statement announcing sanctions on an Eritrean Defense Forces general [File: Giulia Paravicini/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/tigray.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
The Treasury Department blacklisted General Filipos Woldeyohannes, the chief of staff of the Eritrean Defense Forces.
![Doctors from the US organisation Medic Corps transfer an injured man to a helicopter at the Ofatma Hospital in Les Cayes [Ricardo Arduengo/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/2021-08-193_HAITI-QUAKE.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Many hospitals remained saturated in the worst-hit areas of Haiti as helicopters ferry the injured to Port-au-Prince.