Refugees – Matthew Brunwasser

An executive order by United States President Donald Trump has halted foreign aid programmes around the world, sowing chaos among the humanitarian community and its beneficiaries in Myanmar and Thailand.

By MATTHEW BRUNWASSER | FRONTIER MYANMAR

More than a week has passed since United States President Donald Trump issued an executive order immediately freezing all international aid pending a 90-day review. Since then, humanitarian organisations working on Myanmar have been scrambling to grasp the repercussions of the sudden edict.

“It’s pandemonium,” said an aid worker who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.

BELGRADE, Serbia — The tens of thousands of migrants who have flooded into the Balkans in recent weeks need food, water and shelter, just like the millions displaced by war the world over. But there is also one other thing they swear they cannot live without: a smartphone charging station.

“Every time I go to a new country, I buy a SIM card and activate the Internet and download the map to locate myself,” Osama Aljasem, a 32-year-old music teacher from Deir al-Zour, Syria, explained as he sat on a broken park bench in Belgrade, staring at his smartphone and plotting his next move into northern Europe.

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America first: aid freeze erodes an already anemic response to Myanmar crisis

An executive order by United States President Donald Trump has halted foreign aid programmes around the world, sowing chaos among the humanitarian community and its beneficiaries in Myanmar and Thailand.

A 21st-Century Migrant’s Essentials: Food, Shelter, Smartphone