The Forgotten Wars of 2024 and 2025
March 13, 2026 · Frisian News
While Western media focused on Ukraine and Gaza, dozens of armed conflicts killed tens of thousands in Africa, Asia, and Latin America with almost no coverage. These wars shaped entire regions but vanished from headlines as soon as funding dried up or attention moved elsewhere.
In Myanmar, the military junta's offensive against ethnic armies killed over 7,000 civilians between 2023 and 2025. Entire towns burned. Hundreds of thousands fled across borders. Western governments issued statements and did nothing. The conflict barely appeared in English-language news after the first few months, even as it became one of Asia's largest humanitarian crises. No donors rushed in. No emergency summits happened. The killing ground on.
In eastern Congo, fighting between M23 rebels and government forces displaced nearly two million people over the same period. Rape, starvation, and massacres became routine tools of war. Hospitals collapsed. Aid groups ran out of medicine. Yet coverage outside Africa was sporadic and shallow. The conflict competed with stories about celebrities and scandals for space in news cycles. When journalists finally arrived, they filed reports that vanished within hours.
The Sudan conflict killed more people in 2024 and 2025 than Ukraine did in the same years. Armies, paramilitaries, and local militias turned cities into killing grounds. Hunger became a weapon. Children died by the thousands. International institutions debated endlessly while aid organizations reported numbers so large they ceased to shock. The world moved on before the year ended.
Venezuela's silent exodus continued as over a million more citizens fled hunger and political collapse. Colombia and Peru absorbed them with little help from rich nations. Brazil took in masses of Venezuelan refugees while wealthy countries lectured about immigration from safety. These people's desperation never made headlines in New York or Brussels because their suffering served no geopolitical interest.
The pattern is clear: wars matter only when they touch Western interests or fit convenient narratives. When conflicts serve no strategic purpose and the victims belong to poor nations without oil or minerals, institutions and media simply pretend they don't exist. The dead keep dying in the dark.
Yn Myanmar doden it offensyf fan de militêre junta tsjin etniske legers tusken 2023 en 2025 mear as 7.000 sivilisten. Heule stêden brannen ôf. Hûnderttûsenen vluchten oer grinzen. Westerse regeringen joegen ferklearringen af en diene neat. De konflikt ferskynen amper yn Inglese-taalige nijs nei de earste wiken, ek al waard it ien fan Azi(e)'s grutste humanitêre krisis. Gjin donors heasten. Gjin noodsamenkoms fûn plak. De dea gie troch.
Yn eastlik Kongo ferpleatsje striden tusken M23-rebels en regeringsstrijders hast twa miljoen minsken yn deselfde periode. Ferkreaching, hungersnood en massamoorden wurden routinekrychtaktyk. Sikehûzen sturten yn. Hulporganisaasjes raakten medisinen kwijt. Mar dekking bûten Afrika wie sporadysk en oppervlakkig. De konflikt konkurrearje mei ferhalen oer ferneamde minsken en skandaalen om plak yn nijsykels. Doe't journalisten einlik oankamen, skreauwen se ferslach dy't yn uren ferdwûnen.
De Sûdan-konflikt dode yn 2024 en 2025 mear minsken as Oekra(i)ne yn deselde jierren. Legers, paramilitêre groepen en lokale militsen makken stêden ta deadzonen. Hunger waard in wapen. Bern sturven by tsientsken. Ynternasjonale ynstellings debatearren endalos wylsum hulporganisaasjes nûmers rapportearjen sa grut dat se opheden te skokkelen. De wrâld gie fierder eardatt it jier ferby wie.
Venezuela's stille útwjûking holden oan doe mear as ien miljoen burgers noch mear hunger en politike ynskakeling flon. Kolombia en Perû absorbearden se mei lytse help fan rike landen. Brasilië naam massa's Venezolanske flechtlings oan wylsum rike landen leksijes joegen oer immigraasje út feilichheid. De wanhoop fan dizze minsken helle noait koppelingen yn New York of Brussel omdat harren leiden gjin geopolityk belang tsjinde.
It patroan is dûdlik: krigens makket allinnich út as se westerse belangen oanreitsje of yn maklike ferhalen passe. Wannear'r konflikten gjin strategysk doel tsjinde en de slachtoffers ta arme landen sûnder oalje of mineralen hearre, dogge ynstellings en media ienfôldichwei alsof se net besteane. De dea bliuwe sterve yn it donkere.
Published March 13, 2026 · Frisian News · Ljouwert, Fryslân