August 1 – Africa / North America: LIBYA / UNITED STATES
The United States carries out targeted air strikes on the Libyan city of Sirte, the stronghold of the Islamic State (IS) in Libya. The air strikes are coordinated with and in support of the Libyan unity government. Although there has been some progress in rooting out the IS fighters from Libya, the efficiency of the fight is questionable as various rival militia factions in Libya are embroiled in hostilities against each other.
August 2 – Latin America: BOLIVIA / COLOMBIA / PERU
Authorities in Bolivia intercept more than seven tons of cocaine valued at $350 million hidden in cargo trucks. The transports headed to sea ports in Chile and then for the streets in the United States. Bolivia is the world’s third largest producer of cocaine after Peru and Colombia.[1] (August 3): In a large-scale operation, Colombian authorities destroy over 100 cocaine laboratories in the south-east capable of producing 100 tons of the drugs annually. In a new strategy to fight illegal coca production, Colombia focuses on producers and traffickers rather than farmers.
More on Colombia as the world’s top coca producer
August 12 – Africa / International Organizations:
SOUTH SUDAN / UNITED NATIONS
The United Nations Security Council authorizes a 4,000-strong regional protection force under the auspices of the UN mission to provide security for South Sudan’s capital, Juba. The South Sudanese government opposes the decision. Since July 7, violence between rival forces of President Salva Kiir and First Vice-President Reik Machar has escalated in and around Juba, causing humanitarian crisis. According to the UN, since December 2013, over two million people have fled their homes. About 1.6 million people are displaced within South Sudan and more than 900,000 have fled to neighboring countries.[2] The protection force will join 12,000 UN peacekeeping soldiers already in South Sudan, but unlike the peacekeepers, these African troops will be allowed to protect the civilians actively.
August 12 – Africa: NIGERIA
Nigeria records two new cases of polio, a major setback right before it was ready to be declared polio-free in 2017. A country has to have no new cases over a three-year period to be considered free of polio. Both cases take place in north-eastern Borno state, where the Boko Haram militias hinder the country’s health efforts.
August 15 – North America: UNITED STATES
Torrential rains cause catastrophic flooding in the U.S. state of Louisiana, killing five people, displacing tens of thousands, and causing damage estimated at $30 million. In one part of the state, more than 31 inches of rain fell in just 15 hours.
August 21 – Africa: MOROCCO
King Mohammed VI of Morocco condemns the recent terrorist attacks in Europe by Islamist extremists and calls on Moroccan expatriates to defend the tolerant form of Islam and reject terrorism. He also states that those who kill in the name of Islam do it to justify their crimes and are “not Muslims.”
August 22 – East Asia / International Organizations:
PHILIPPINES / UNITED NATIONS
The Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte threatens to pull out of the United Nations after UN human rights experts expressed their concerns about extrajudicial executions and killings as part of the country’s controversial war on drugs. Since President Duterte came to power in May 2016 and launched his new drug policies, the number of drug-related killings jumped to over 1,800.[3]
More about the controversial war on drugs in the Philippines.
August 25 – Latin America: COLOMBIA
After four years of negotiations, the Colombian government and the guerilla movement, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army known as FARC, reach a historic peace agreement signed in Havana, Cuba. The agreement ends the 50-year armed conflict between the government and FARC that has caused more than 220,000 deaths and the displacement of more than 6 million people.[4] The deal formally ends bilateral hostilities and FARC accepts disarmament. The agreement also discusses rural reform, reparations and land restitution to victims, reintegrating FARC fighters into civilian life, and addresses the socio-economic disparities and political exclusion that have been at the root of the conflict. The final agreement has to be ratified by a referendum held on October 2 with at least 13 percent of the votes.
August 26 – Europe: FRANCE
France’s court suspends a ban on wearing a full-body swimsuit called burkini introduced by a mayor of Villeneuve-Loubet town. The court ruled that the ban breached the rights of personal freedoms and thus is illegal. The burkini ban ignited a fierce debate in France and abroad about secularism, cultural expression and Islamophobia.
August 29 – Europe / Africa
In coordinated rescue operations, Italian coastguards, humanitarian organizations, such as Proactiva Open Arms and Doctors Without Borders, as well as the European Union’s border agency Frontex save about 6,500 migrants on overcrowded boats floating to Europe about 13 miles north of the Libyan coast town of Sabratah. Most of these migrants are from Eritrea, Somalia and other West African countries. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), so far in 2016 more than 297,000 migrants have reached Europe by sea and more than 3.200 have died or are missing while making this trip.[5]
More about Mediterranean migrant arrivals in 2016.
August 31 – Latin America: BRAZIL
Brazil’s Senate votes in favor of impeaching the country’s president, Dilma Rousseff, after she was found guilty of breaking budgetary laws during the impeachment trial. Her removal from office ends 13 years of her Workers’ Party in power. However, another motion to keep her out of any public office for eight years does not pass. Rousseff claims that the charges were politically motivated and trumped up by the right-wing political rivals. Michel Temer, Rousseff’s Vice President since 2011 and as Acting President since May 2016, when Rousseff was suspended to face her impeachment trial, will govern as Interim President until the end of Rousseff’s term of January 1, 2019. Temer, who is from the center-right Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), promises to work to improve Brazil’s economy, which is suffering from one of the worst recessions in the country’s history.
August 31 – Middle East: ISRAEL / PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES
According to a non-governmental organization Peace Now, Israel has approved the construction of 463 new homes at Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. Among those, 179 are approved retrospectively.[6] Under the international law, these settlements are illegal. Israel, however, disputes this.