BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — The impact of armed conflict on civilians in Colombia over the past year has been the worst in a decade as the country's security situation deteriorates, the International Committee of the Red Cross said Tuesday in an annual report.
The humanitarian group said the number of people displaced as criminal gangs and rebels fight the Colombian state and each other doubled in 2025, reaching 235,000 people. Meanwhile, the number of people who had to endure lockdowns imposed by rebel groups in small towns and villages increased by 99% last year.
For decades rebel groups and drug traffickers have been fighting the Colombian government for control of rural areas, including corridors linked to the cocaine trade.
A 2016 peace deal between the Colombian government and the nation’s largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, helped to reduce rural violence. But the security situation has since deteriorated in many parts of the country, as smaller groups try to control areas that were once dominated by the FARC rebels, where they tax local business and intimidate civilians who stand in their way.
“The humanitarian situation in 2025, is the result of a progressive deterioration that the ICRC has warned about since 2018,” said Olivier Dubois, the ICRC’s chief of mission in Colombia.
For the past four years, the administration of President Gustavo Petro has tried to reduce violence in rural Colombia by staging peace talks with the nation’s remaining rebel groups and agreeing to ceasefires with some of them.
But critics say that the rebel groups have used these ceasefires to regroup, rearm and strengthen their grip over communities, where children are being increasingly recruited into the ranks of criminal groups.
Political violence has also worsened in Colombia, where a presidential candidate was shot in the head last year during a rally in the capital, Bogota, and later died from his injuries. Authorities have blamed one of the nation’s rebel groups for the attack.
In February, the United Nations Human Rights office in Colombia said that the security situation in the country was “backsliding” with murders of human rights defenders increasing by 9% last year.
The Red Cross also noted Tuesday that in 2025 there were 965 people killed or injured by explosive devices, including landmines and drones, 33% more cases than the previous year.
The Red Cross urged the parties in Colombia’s armed conflict to respect the rights of civilians, and protect those who no longer wish to take parts in hostilities.
“Respect for international humanitarian law is not optional,” the humanitarian group said.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
FILE - Relatives of victims embrace in front of a bus hit by an explosive device on the Pan-American Highway in Cajibio, Colombia, April 25, 2026, after an attack blamed by authorities on dissident groups of the former FARC rebels killed at least a dozen people. (AP Photo/Santiago Saldarriaga, File)
LONDON (AP) — U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer insisted Tuesday that he has no intention of resigning as calls grew louder within his Labour Party for him to step down and some junior members of his government quit in protest.
Starmer tried to shore up support within his Cabinet following a febrile few days in the wake of hefty losses for the Labour Party in local elections last week, which if repeated in a national election that has to be held by 2029 would see it overwhelmingly ejected from power.
Though no one in his Cabinet has quit or publicly stated that the prime minister should set out a timetable for a change in leader, several junior ministers stepped down. The resignations stoked speculation that Starmer could suffer the fate of Boris Johnson in 2022 when dozens of ministers quit en masse and forced his departure.
Around 90 Labour lawmakers, or more than a fifth of the parliamentary party, have now said Starmer should stand down or at least set out a timetable for his departure.
That's not enough to trigger a leadership contest, though, as no candidate has issued a challenge to the prime minister. Under Labour party rules, a fifth of its lawmakers in the House of Commons, or 81 members, must publicly give their backing to a single candidate, for a leadership contest to take place.
On Tuesday, several junior ministers, some of whom were only elected for the first time in Labour's landslide election victory of July 2024, resigned and urged Starmer to do the same for the good of the country as well as the party.
Miatta Fahnbulleh, minister of housing, communities and local government, became the first member of his government to step down, urging Starmer “to do the right thing for the country” and set a timetable for his departure.
She was followed by Jess Phillips, the safeguarding minister and a prominent member of the Labour Party. In her resignation letter, she described Starmer as a “good man fundamentally” but unable to make bold changes.
“I know you care deeply, but deeds, not words are what matter,” Phillips said. “I’m not sure we are grasping this rare opportunity with the gusto that’s needed and I cannot keep waiting around for a crisis to push for faster progress.”
Despite winning a landslide election victory in July 2024, Labour’s popularity has sunk and Starmer is getting much of the blame.
The reasons are varied, including a series of policy missteps, a perceived lack of vision on the prime minister's part, a struggling British economy and questions over his judgment — especially over his appointment of Peter Mandelson as U.K. ambassador to Washington despite the envoy’s ties to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
At the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Starmer said he took responsibility for the losses in last week’s elections but that he would fight on.
Labour was squeezed from the right and the left, losing votes to both anti-immigrant Reform UK and the Green Party, as well as nationalist parties in Scotland and Wales. The result reflects the increasing fragmentation of U.K. politics, long dominated by Labour and the Conservatives.
Starmer told his Cabinet that there’s a process to oust a leader and that it hadn't been triggered.
“The country expects us to get on with governing,” Starmer said. “The past 48 hours have been destabilizing for government and that has a real economic cost for our country and for families.”
That cost was evident in financial markets on Tuesday, with the interest rate charged on British government bonds up by more than those of comparable nations. That shows that investors think it's increasingly risky to hold British government debt.
As Cabinet members left 10 Downing Street, some voiced their support for the embattled prime minister.
Works and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said nobody publicly challenged Starmer at the meeting, while Business Secretary Peter Kyle said the prime minister was showing “really steadfast leadership.”
Later, Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy warned Labour lawmakers that the only beneficiary of the party's “navel-gazing” over Starmer's position is the populist right.
“He has my full support, and what I say to colleagues is, look, let’s just step back," he said. “Take a breath.”
Health Secretary Wes Streeting, long believed to be preparing for a leadership challenge against Starmer, was among senior ministers who dodged a barrage of shouted questions from a gaggle of reporters outside.
“Wes Streeting, do you want the job, or not?” a man yelled from across the street. “Are you measuring the curtains?”
The other two names often touted as possible successors are Angela Rayner, the former deputy prime minister who had to quit last year over an unpaid tax bill. She has long set herself apart as a different kind of politician with a compelling personal story, brought up in social housing and leaving school at 16 as a teen mother.
Andy Burnham, the popular mayor of Greater Manchester, is widely perceived to be one of the strongest candidates. but is not eligible to stand at present, because he’s not in Parliament. So to get in the race, he'll have to find a seat where he can be elected. That may involve a close ally of his in the northwest of England vacating his or her seat for him to stand. However, he may be blocked as was the case earlier this year or even if sanctioned, could lose, if last week's results are any guide.
Danica Kirka and Sylvia Hui in London contributed to this report.
A bookmaker takes bets for a possible next British Prime Minister on his betting board near Downing Street in London, Tuesday, May 12, 2026.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Larry the cat, Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office leaves 10 Downing Street during a cabinet meeting in London, Tuesday, May 12, 2026 as Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing the biggest threat yet to his authority after a growing number of disaffected lawmakers called for him to step down.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Larry the cat, Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office leaves 10 Downing Street during a cabinet meeting in London, Tuesday, May 12, 2026 as Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing the biggest threat yet to his authority after a growing number of disaffected lawmakers called for him to step down.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Secretary of State for Wales Jo Stevens arrives for a cabinet meeting in Downing Street, London, Tuesday, May 12, 2026 as Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing the biggest threat yet to his authority after a growing number of disaffected lawmakers called for him to step down.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Wes Streeting arrives for a cabinet meeting in Downing Street, London, Tuesday, May 12, 2026 as Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing the biggest threat yet to his authority after a growing number of disaffected lawmakers called for him to step down.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero Ed Miliband arrives for a cabinet meeting in Downing Street, London, Tuesday, May 12, 2026 as Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing the biggest threat yet to his authority after a growing number of disaffected lawmakers called for him to step down.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer speaking to the media after meeting Labour Party members during a visit to AFC Wimbledon in south London, Saturday May 9, 2026. (Maja Smiejkowska/PA via AP)
Britain's Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer pauses as he delivers a speech, at the Coin Street Neighbourhood Centre in Waterloo, London, Monday May 11, 2026. (James Manning/PA via AP)
