International Crisis Group
-
The Libyan Political Agreement: Time for a Reset
Burned cars are piled along a dirt road in Benghazi, 19 July 2016. CRISIS GROUP/Claudia Gazzini
The UN-brokered peace process in Libya has stalled, leaving unresolved pressing issues like worsening living conditions, control of oil facilities, people-smuggling, and the struggle against jihadist groups. New negotiations are needed to engage key actors who have been excluded so far.
SOURCE: Crisis Group
Read full report here
-
Since March 2015, a civil war has been raging in Yemen involving several outside military powers. April Longley Alley, Senior Analyst for the Arabian Peninsula, explains how Yemen reached this destructive impasse.
-
“South Sudan: Without a determined commitment by political leaders to peace, not war, however, such efforts will fail, and low-level conflicts could continue indefinitely.” —Crisis Group’s latest report on South Sudan’s South: Conflict in the Equatorias
-
“…most Equatorians are not rebelling against the government, and where there is fighting, different armed groups have their own casus belli.” —From Crisis Group’s report on South Sudan’s South: Conflict in the Equatorias
-
The Importance of the Myanmar Peace Deal
Thursday’s signing of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement by the government of Myanmar and representatives of eight armed groups is a remarkable achievement, despite outstanding concerns. This is a major step forward at a crucial political moment for Myanmar, coming just weeks before the landmark general election scheduled for 8 November. The deal locks in the progress achieved so far toward ending six decades of civil war.
As Crisis Group has reported, the ceasefire agreement is far from perfect. Military issues such as force separation, demarcation and verification are vague, not included, or require further agreement to come into force. The deal nevertheless paves the way for a more comprehensive political settlement after the election.
FULL BLOG POST (Via Crisis Group)
Photo: Myanmar Peace Centre
Source: Crisis Group
-
Myanmar’s Peace Process: A Nationwide Ceasefire Remains Elusive
After more than six decades of internal armed conflict, the next four weeks could be decisive for Myanmar’s peace process. The process, which was launched in August 2011, enjoyed significant initial success, as bilateral ceasefires were agreed with more than a dozen ethnic armed groups. But signing a nationwide ceasefire and proceeding to the political dialogue phase has been much more difficult. Four years on, with campaigning for the November elections already underway, a deal remains elusive. It is unclear whether a breakthrough can be achieved before the elections. Outside pressure will not be productive, but the progress to date needs to be locked in, and public international commitments to support the integrity of the process and stand with the groups that sign can now be of critical importance.
FULL BRIEFING (Via Crisis Group)
Photo: Reuters
Source: Crisis Group
-
Colombia Peace Process: Lurching Backwards
Colombia’s peace process faces its most serious crisis yet, after the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) suspended a five month old unilateral ceasefire. Instead of more measures to de-escalate the conflict ahead of a final peace agreement, there are now new risks that the confrontation will escalate, causing fresh humanitarian damage, crippling trust between the parties and further weakening public support for the process.
FULL STATEMENT (via Crisis Group)
Photo: Reuters/Efrain Herrera
Source: Crisis Group
-
The Ukraine Crisis: Risks of Renewed Military Conflict after Minsk II
A second agreement in Minsk on 12 February produced a ceasefire that for now is mostly holding and measures to de-escalate the conflict. Many officials locally and in Kyiv, Moscow and the West, nevertheless, believe war could resume in Ukraine’s east within weeks. If it does, much will depend on the quality of top commanders on both sides. Ukraine’s army is enmeshed in a command crisis the country’s leaders seem unwilling to admit or address. For the separatist rebels, the command and control Moscow provides could give them the advantage in any new fighting. Meanwhile, President Petro Poroshenko faces criticism from his Western allies about the slow pace of reform, opposition from the political establishment as he tries to pass legislation required by the Minsk agreement and a steady stream of complaints from Donetsk and Moscow that the measures do not go far enough.
Photo: REUTERS/ VALENTYN OGIRENKO
Source: Crisis Group
-
Demining the Path to Peace in Colombia | Christian Voelkel
On 7 March, negotiators for the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) announced they would embark on a joint demining effort. After two and a half years of negotiations in the Cuban capital of Havana, and outline agreements on three agenda points, this is the first accord that will have a direct impact on the ground, delivering long overdue humanitarian relief and bringing Colombia a big step closer to ending five decades of bloodshed.
Colombia is one of the most landmine-contaminated countries in the world. Since guerrillas began systematically using them in the early 1990s, the devices have killed or injured over 11,000 persons, mostly members of the security forces. Landmines are now a threat in about 700 of Colombia’s 1,100-odd municipalities, and have contributed to displacing over six million Colombians. In the most dangerous regions, such as the southern Lower Putumayo region, landmine contamination blocks communities’ access to schools, health services and local markets.
FULL ARTICLE (via In Pursuit of Peace)
Photo: A Colombian soldier searches for land mines – laid by Guerrillas fighters – as part of the humanitarian demining, in Campo Alegre, Cocorna municipality, East of Antioquia department, Colombia.10 March 2015. AFP.
-
South Sudan’s warring leaders should be barred from caretaker government, says African Union | Mark Anderson & Agencies
Neither leader of South Sudan’s warring factions should serve in a caretaker government because of their responsibility for “organised massacres and large-scale violence”, according to a leaked African Union (AU) report that emerged as the latest round of talks on stopping the country’s 14-month civil war ended without agreement.
The draft report blames South Sudan’s president, Salva Kiir, and his former vice-president, Riek Machar, for much of the bloodshed that split the country along ethnic lines, pitting Kiir’s Dinkas against Machar’s Nuers. It says Nuers in the capital, Juba, were “ethnically cleansed” at the outbreak of the fighting, and recommends that Kiir, Machar and other ministers in power before the cabinet’s dissolution in July 2013 “be barred from participation in the transitional executive”.
FULL ARTICLE (via The Guardian)
Photo: Daniel X. O'Neil/Flickr
Source: The Guardian