Peacekeeping missions, the protection of civilians and the impact on their future

Published: 29 May 2016

After thirteen years in the country the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), deployed at the end of the country’s civil war in 2003, is preparing to leave the country and hand over full responsibility for security back to Liberia’s government by the end of next month. What is remarkable about this is not that…

Republic of Congo: counting the social cost of recent elections and political violence

Published: 18 May 2016

It may not be easy to determine the social cost of the recent presidential elections and ensuing violence in the Republic of Congo (Congo Brazzaville) but it is evident that it was quite high. On 16 April, following his victory in controversial presidential elections held in March, Mr. Denis Sassou-Nguesso, who has held power for…

Why is the cost of hosting refugees falling on the world’s poorest states?

Published: 14 May 2016

The government of Kenya says it plans to close Dadaab, the world’s largest refugee camp, which hosts approximately 330,000 people, as well as shutting the Department of Refugee Affairs (DRA). The announcement, on Friday 6 May, was no doubt a pre-election stunt of Trump-like proportions that plays to an electorate’s fear of generating instability and…

Presidents Museveni, Bashir and the International Criminal Court

Published: 13 May 2016

At his inauguration ceremony yesterday, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni, whilst sharing the stage with Sudan’s President Omar-al Bashir, against whom there is an outstanding International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant, stated the ICC was “a bunch of useless people.” “When they started, we used to take the ICC serious but not anymore. They are a…

Regional and local tensions intertwine in Gambella, as violence claims hundreds of lives

Published: 2 May 2016

On 15 April 2016, a cross-border raid from South Sudan into Ethiopia’s Gambella region left more than 200 dead. According to the Ethiopian government, more than 108 women and children were abducted and some 2,000 head of cattle stolen during the attack that targeted Nuer villages in the districts of Jikawo and Lare. Following the…