Armed Conflicts

Bolivia Charts Its Own Path on Coca

By Samuel Oakford
This week, the U.N. reported that coca cultivation in Bolivia fell nine percent last year, and a massive 26 percent in the past three years.

Tensions between CAR Refugees and Cameroonians Escalate over Depleting Resources 

By Monde Kingsley Nfor
Central African Republic refugees living in Cameroon’s East Region are increasingly becoming frustrated about their deteriorating living conditions and their inability to support themselves as conflict between them and and local villagers has escalated over depleting resources.

Military Offensive Deepens Housing Crisis in Northern Pakistan

By Ashfaq Yusufzai
Shaukat Ali, a shopkeeper originally hailing from Miramshah in the Northern Waziristan Agency of Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), looks exhausted as he sits outside a makeshift shelter with his family of 10.

Neo-Cons, Hawks Can’t Get No Iraq Traction

By Jim Lobe
Despite their ubiquity on television talk shows and newspaper op-ed pages, neo-conservatives and other hawks who propelled the U.S. into war in Iraq 11 years ago are falling short in their efforts to persuade the public and Congress that Washington needs to return.

Conflicts in Syria and Iraq Raising Fears of Contagion in Divided Lebanon

By Mona Alami
With jihadists leading a Sunni uprising against Iraq’s Shiite-dominated government, the conflicts in Syria and Iraq are beginning to reverberate across the region, raising fears of contagion in divided Lebanon where a suicide bombing took place on Friday after a period of calm.

South Sudan’s Wildlife Become Casualties Of War and Are Killed to Feed Soldiers and Rebels

By Charlton Doki
While South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar agreed last week to end the country’s devastating six-month conflict by forming a transitional government within the next two months, it may come too late for this country’s wildlife as conservation officials accuse fighters on both sides of engaging in killing wild animals to feed their forces.  

Turkey’s Kurdish Problem Likely to Worsen After ISIS Gains in Iraq

By Jacques N. Couvas
Eighteen months after a ceasefire between the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and Turkey’s security forces took effect, clouds of trouble are gathering in the country’s south-east.

Mosul Refugees Victims of “Victory of the Revolution”

By Jewan Abdi
“People with long beards and dressed like Afghans broke into our neighbourhood after they had bombed it. We were lucky to escape from that nightmare,” Aum Ahmad, a46-year-old woman from Mosul – 400 km northwest of Baghdad – told IPS from the recently set up Khazar refugee camp, 25 km east of the besieged city.

Survivors of Sexual Violence Deserve More Than Just Talk

By Roger Hamilton-Martin
“States must make concrete commitments to enable and protect women human rights defenders, so that they can safely and securely carry out their work in support of victims of sexual and gender-based violence,” Amnesty International told the Global Summit on Ending Sexual Violence in Conflict that wound up Friday in London.

Search for Nigerian Girls May be Impeded by Government’s Longstanding Lack of Coherent Strategy

By Ini Ekott
The search for the Nigerian schoolgirls abducted by Islamist extremist group, Boko Haram, could be hampered by a series of policy and information flip-flops by the government, the latest one of them being a public disagreement on policy between the president and the military chief.

U.N. Releases Guidelines on Reparations for Victims of Sexual Violence

By Thalif Deen
When sexual violence - whether against men, women or children - takes place in United Nations peacekeeping missions worldwide, the world body has been quick to single out the perpetrators and expel them back to their home countries.

Ghost of the LTTE Flickers in Malaysia

By Kalinga Seneviratne
The recent arrest and deportation from Malaysia of three Sri Lankan Tamils on U.N. refugee status, under suspicion of trying to revive the disbanded Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), has raised questions about regional security and minority politics.

‘Travelling Testimonies’ – Uganda’s First Mobile Exhibition to Document Conflicts Other Than the LRA War

By Amy Fallon
The late Malian writer and ethnologist Amadou Hampâté Bâ said, “In Africa, when an old person dies, it is a library that burns”, so huge is the loss of oral stories and information. It’s a saying that rings true with the Acholi ethnic group, that was left devastated by the war in northern Uganda. “Our culture believes, when someone dies, there is a grave and it documents the loss. Now we need to look beyond the graves,” Acholi chief Rwoth Achoro says.

Future of Peace Talks in Colombian Voters’ Hands

By Constanza Vieira
Colombians will basically decide Sunday whether to continue the five decade counterinsurgency war or persevere in the attempt to negotiate a political solution to the conflict, in order to allow the children being born this year to experience what their parents have never known: a country at peace.

Syria’s Twin Jihads

By Mona Alami
The war in Syria has brought back to the forefront the concept of ‘jihad’, with tens of thousands of fighters currently waging what they believe to be a religious war there.

A Common Vision – The Abolition of Militarism

By Mairead Maguire
On this Friday, June 6, people from all corners of the world gather here in Sarajevo, Bosnia, to explore a plethora of ideas on the road forward to a world in peace.

Russia May Seek to Emphasise Peace Broker Role in Mideast

By Pavol Stracansky
As the Palestinian unity government announced June 2 receives a cautious welcome from many world leaders, Russia’s support for the new body is providing the Kremlin with an opportune platform to pursue its foreign policy ambitions and strengthen its domestic ideology.

Palestinian Unity Causing Political Ripples in Washington

By Mitchell Plitnick
The announcement this week of a new Palestinian unity government was greeted with cautious optimism by most of the world, outside of Israel. In the United States, however, it set off political rumblings that threaten to swell into a storm.

The Train of Palestinian Reconciliation Reaches One More Station

By Khaled Alashqar
The formation of a new Palestinian government between Fatah and Hamas announced on Monday is an important station on the path to reconciliation, “but there still many stations to be reached before achieving real unity based on partnership among all Palestinians.”

Israel in Political Isolation Over New Palestinian Government

By Thalif Deen
The United States' decision to "work with" the new Palestinian government has virtually isolated Israel: the only country so far to have publicly rejected the political alliance between Fatah and Hamas.

Arab Publics Prefer Light U.S. Footprint, Even in Syria

By Jim Lobe
In contrast to some of their leaders, people across the Arab world prefer President Barack Obama’s efforts to reduce Washington’s military footprint in the Middle East to the approach favoured by neo-conservatives and other U.S. hawks, according to the latest in a series of surveys of Arab public opinion released here Tuesday.
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