Peacekeeping & Conflict Management

Sidi Brahim Mohamed Embarek talks to Reuters journalists as he stands beside the wreckage of a Moroccan air force F-5, which was shot down by the Polisario in a 1991 battle in the Western Sahara war, in Tifariti, September 9, 2016. REUTERS/ Zohra Bensemra SEARCH “POLISARIO” FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Africa in Focus

Africa in the news: Fighting in Ethiopia, end of cease-fire in Western Sahara, and debt relief updates

Payce Madden

Saturday, November 21, 2020

A girl walks near her house destroyed in an air strike carried out by the Saudi-led coalition in Faj Attan village, Sanaa, Yemen December 13, 2018. REUTERS/Mohamed al-Sayaghi

Future Development

Yemen’s children: A crisis within a crisis

Omer Karasapan

Thursday, November 19, 2020

A Turkana man walks past several guns at a fishing camp on the shores of Lake Turkana some kilometres from Todonyang near the Kenya-Ethiopia border in northwestern Kenya October 14, 2013. The Turkana are traditionally nomadic pastoralists, but they have seen the pasture that they need to feed their herds suffer from recurring droughts and many have turned to fishing. However, Lake Turkana is overfished, and scarcity of food and pastureland is fuelling long-standing conflict with Ethiopian indigenous Dhaasanac, who have seen grazing grounds squeezed by large-scale government agricultural schemes in southern Ethiopia. The Dhaasanac now venture ever deeper into Kenyan territory in search of fish and grass, clashing with neighbours. Fighting between the communities has a long history, but the conflict has become ever more fatal as automatic weapons from other regional conflicts seep into the area. While the Turkana region is short of basics like grass and ground-water, it contains other resources including oil reserves and massive, newly discovered underground aquifers. Picture taken October 14, 2013. REUTERS/Siegfried Modola (KENYA - Tags: AGRICULTURE CIVIL UNREST SOCIETY POLITICS)ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE 34 OF 38 FOR PACKAGE 'FISHING AND FIREARMS ON LAKE TURKANA' TO FIND ALL IMAGES SEARCH 'TURKANA MODOLA'

Op-Ed

Climate change doesn’t have to stoke conflict: Politics matter more than the environment when it comes to war and peace

Tarek Ghani and Robert Malley

Monday, September 28, 2020

--FILE--Chinese peacekeepers line up during a departure ceremony before flying to South Sudan for UN peacekeeping missions at Jinan Yaoqiang International Airport in Jinan city, east China's Shandong province, 7 April 2015.China will contribute 8,000 troops for a United Nations peacekeeping standby force, China's President Xi Jinping told the United Nations General Assembly on Monday (28 September 2015), a move that could make it one of the largest players in U.N. peacekeeping efforts. Xi's pledge comes as China is trying to show it is a responsible international player amid concern over its growing military might and territorial disputes in the Asia-Pacific region. During a state visit to Washington on Friday, Xi agreed with U.S. President Barack Obama that both countries would increase their "robust" peacekeeping commitments. "China will join the new U.N. peacekeeping capability readiness system, and has thus decided to lead in setting up a permanent peacekeeping police squad and build a peacekeeping standby force of 8,000 troops," Xi said.No Use China. No Use France.

China

China’s pragmatic approach to UN peacekeeping

Richard Gowan

Monday, September 14, 2020

Reports

Syrian children smile after a heavy snowstorm at Al Zaatari refugee camp in the Jordanian city of Mafraq, near the border with Syria, January 8, 2015. Syrian refugees in Jordan's main Zaatari refugee camp appealed for help on Thursday after a regional storm buffeted the Middle East with blizzards, rain and strong winds. The temperatures, which usually average 13 Celsius (55.4 Fahrenheit ) this time of the year have plunged to 2 to zero Celsius (35.6-32 Fahrenheit), Jordan Meteorological Department (JMD) said on Tuesday. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed (JORDAN - Tags: ENVIRONMENT CONFLICT)

Peacekeeping & Conflict Management

Stabilization and human development in a disordered Middle East and North Africa

Tamara Cofman Wittes, Joseph Saba, and Kevin Huggard

June 2020

Jubbaland forces carry their ammunitions during a security patrol against Islamist al Shabaab militants in Bulagaduud town, north of Kismayu, Somalia, August 17, 2015. Ahmed Madobe, a former Islamist warlord won re-election on Saturday as president of Somalia's southern region of Jubbaland, a territory partly controlled by al Shabaab militants and at odds with the central government of the Horn of Africa country. The fate of Kismayu and Jubbaland is seen as a test of the central government's skill in building a federal system and pacifying a nation fought over for more than two decades by warlords and Islamist rebels. REUTERS/Abdiqani Hassan

Somalia

The problem with militias in Somalia: Almost everyone wants them despite their dangers

Vanda Felbab-Brown

Tuesday, April 14, 2020

A member of the local militia, otherwise known as CJTF, Baba Gana, holds a gun as he sits in the back of a truck during a patrol in the city of Maiduguri, northern Nigeria June 9, 2017. Picture taken June 9, 2017. REUTERS/Akintunde Akinleye.

Nigeria

Militias (and militancy) in Nigeria’s north-east: Not going away

Vanda Felbab-Brown

Tuesday, April 14, 2020

REFILE - CORRECTING GRAMMAR Migrants wait for food and clothes at the migrant camp Vucjak, in Bihac area, Bosnia and Herzegovina, June 19, 2019. REUTERS/Antonio Bronic - RC13263A9760

Report

Implementing a fragility strategy

George Ingram and Nancy Lindborg

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Libya

Analysis: Peace and justice in Libya’s transition

Noha Aboueldahab

May 6, 2019

Blog Posts

Officials, including Afghan former President Hamid Karzai (L), Head of Political Office of Taliban Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai (2nd R) and Taliban chief negotiator Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar (3rd R), attend peace talks in Moscow, Russia May 30, 2019. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina

Order from Chaos

Revitalizing American diplomacy: Why mediation support should be part of the foreign policy rebuild

Zach Vertin

Wednesday, August 12, 2020

Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan speaks during an international conference on the future of Afghan refugees living in Pakistan, organized by Pakistan and the UN Refugee Agency in Islamabad, Pakistan February 17, 2020. REUTERS/Saiyna Bashir

Order from Chaos

Will the Afghan peace process be Pakistan’s road to redemption?

Madiha Afzal

Thursday, June 25, 2020

Irregular forces loyal to former army general Khalifa Haftar stand by an armed vehicle during clashes with Islamist militants in the eastern city of Benghazi June 2, 2014. Eight people were killed and 15 wounded when fighting broke out on Monday between the Libyan army and Islamist militants in the eastern city of Benghazi, medical sources said. The Ansar al-Sharia militant group attacked a camp on Monday belonging to army special forces, residents there said. Forces of the renegade general fighting Islamists later joined the battle, using combat helicopters, they added. REUTERS/Stringer (LIBYA - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS)

Order from Chaos

Libya’s proxy sponsors face a dilemma

Ranj Alaaldin and Emadeddin Badi

Monday, June 15, 2020

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Events

2019

Jun

Past Event

The impact of militias on governance and geopolitics in the Middle East and North Africa

10:00 AM - 11:30 AM EDT

The role of revolutionary art in political expression and peace building

9:15 PM - Monday May 27, 2019 12:30 AM AST

The limits of punishment: Transitional justice and violent extremism

10:30 AM - 12:00 PM EDT

Washington, DC

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Experts

Patrick W. Quirk

Nonresident Fellow - Foreign Policy, Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology

patrickwquirk

Jeffrey Feltman

John C. Whitehead Visiting Fellow in International Diplomacy - Foreign Policy, Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology

View All Experts

Multimedia

Somalia

The long war in Somalia

Vanda Felbab-Brown and Adam Day

Hybrid Wars with Adam Day

Sunday, June 14, 2020

Nigeria

Fighting Boko Haram in Nigeria

Vanda Felbab-Brown and Adam Day

Hybrid Wars with Adam Day

Friday, June 12, 2020

Afghanistan

Latest developments in Afghanistan

Vanda Felbab-Brown, Michael Kugelman, Marvin Weinbaum, and Alistair Taylor

Middle East Institute

Friday, March 20, 2020

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