Archive: May, 2011

Sudan Briefing: 2011-05-31

Following South Sudan’s referendum on independence, Insight on Conflict will be producing a weekly round-up of the news. To subscribe to receive the updates via email, please contact [email protected] or complete the form below. Email Address: News Round-up The UN reported widespread looting and burning of Abyei town after Northern forces entered the region early last [...] Read more >>>

Commentary Zimbabwe: a light in the darkness

People need signposts that help them see the possibilities in themselves, to encourage them to build, to create again. This requires people willing to stand in the darkness with them. I believe this is the best of what local organisations can do and are doing in Zimbabwe. Read more >>>

From the field Ivory Coast in crisis

We woke up to the steady rat-a-tat-tat of the AKs at barely daybreak. We had been warned the day before that the rebels were moving towards the city, but the violence that accompanied their arrival still surprised us. Looking out our back window, we saw them moving up the street; first the foot soldiers shooting forward with their guns, followed by a large group of excited civilians, including women with their small children, who cheered then ducked behind cars and debris on the side of the road when fire returned in their direction. The fighting quickly grew in intensity, as bodies began to line the street, and jeeps and heavy artillery trucks packed with fighters passed, one after another after another. Read more >>>

Commentary A play for peace in New York

Monday night, the night of the performance of my play The Peacebuilder, which is about Henri Ladyi from DRC…. A damp, drizzly New York evening, more like London than New York. One difference – plenty of yellow taxi cabs to take us to the Yale Club, just around the corner from Grand Central Station. Read more >>>

Interview Pakistan: Youth promoting peace

For an in-depth case study on the work of Peace Education and Development (PEAD) Foundation, Insight on Conflict’s local correspondent in Pakistan, interviewed the executive director of PEAD Foundation, Ms Sameena Imtiaz. Read more >>>

Sudan Briefing: 2011-05-23

Following South Sudan’s referendum on independence, Insight on Conflict will be producing a weekly round-up of the news. To subscribe to receive the updates via email, please contact [email protected] or complete the form below. Email Address: News Round-up In Abyei tension between the North and South rose throughout the week, culminating in the seizure of Abyei [...] Read more >>>

From the field South Sudan: Enhancing grassroots peacebuilding

Peacebuilder Hope Chichaya assesses the many challenges that will face the new nation of South Sudan, and finds that local peacebuilders must be strengthened to addresses the different issues. He identifies the holding security forces accountable, engaging with the role of religious leaders, and the possibilities for ‘quiet diplomacy’ to be priorities areas for peacebuilders. Read more >>>

Commentary Peacebuilding in an interconnected world

While other fields of study, such as biology, computer science, physics and engineering, have used systems theory as a conceptual lens for decades, this type of holistic framework is now increasingly being used by NGOs, academia and policymakers to analyze conflict around the world. Historically, a separatist worldview has dominated U.S. foreign policy (take for instance the “us-versus-them” thinking advocated by past U.S. administrations). In contrast, a worldview based upon systems theory accepts the premise that we are living in a truly interconnected system. (This type of thinking is supported in part by the current administration’s efforts towards multilateral diplomacy. Read more >>>

From the field Bosnia and Herzegovina today – the view from Tuzla

Fifteen years on from the end of violent conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the consequences of war still exert a heavy influence over society. In the absence of a civic conception of state, the ethnicisation of society continues apace; leading many to describe today’s divisions as being as wide as at any point since 1995. Tuzla is home to some 180,000 citizens, including many displaced by the conflict of the early-nineties. In spite of the demographic turbulence that BiH has endured, Tuzla has remained largely multi-ethnic in composition, with Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims), Croats and Serbs residing side-by-side. Read more >>>

Sudan Briefing: 2011-05-16

Following South Sudan’s referendum on independence, Insight on Conflict will be producing a weekly round-up of the news. To subscribe to receive the updates via email, please contact [email protected] or complete the form below. Email Address: News round-up: Around 80 people were killed in South Sudan following an attack on a cattle camp by rebels led [...] Read more >>>