- A war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) under Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) under Hemedti, rival factions of the military government of Sudan, began on 15 April 2023 during Ramadan. Fighting has been concentrated around the capital city of Khartoum and the Darfur region. As of October 2023, between 9,000 and 10,000 people had been killed and 6,000 to 12,000 others injured. As of 23 December 2023, over 5 million were internally displaced and more than 1.5 million others had fled the country as refugees, and many civilians in Darfur have been reported dead as part of the 2023 Masalit massacres.
- 2021 Suez Canal obstruction (Wikipedia)
In March 2021, the Suez Canal was blocked for six days by the Ever Given, a container ship that had run aground in the canal. The 400-metre-long (1,300 ft), 224,000-ton, 20,000 TEU vessel was buffeted by strong winds on the morning of 23 March, and ended up wedged across the waterway with its bow and stern stuck on opposite canal banks, blocking all traffic until it could be freed. Egyptian authorities said that “technical or human errors” may have also been involved. The obstruction occurred south of the two-channel section of the canal, so there was no way around it for other ships. The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) engaged Boskalis through its subsidiary Smit International to manage marine salvage operations. The blockage of one of the world’s busiest trade routes significantly slowed trade between Europe, Asia and the Middle East.