Amid the global coronavirus pandemic, Burundi intends to hold local and national elections on 20 May 2020. The reporting of coronavirus cases in the country remains low ahead of the election, but the Burundian Foreign Ministry expelled the top WHO official and three other WHO experts coordinating the coronavirus response (Al Jazeera, 14 May 2020).…
On 23 March, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for a global coronavirus ceasefire (UN News, 23 March 2019). The truce would allow pandemic responses to be carried out in areas that are usually too dangerous for medical personnel to access due to ongoing conflict, and could also create opportunities for negotiations between belligerents. Unfortunately, the…
On the same day the United Nations Secretary-General called for a global ceasefire amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Myanmar military designated the United League of Arakan/Arakan Army (ULA/AA) — an ethnic Rakhine armed group fighting for greater autonomy in Rakhine state — as a “terrorist” group. Authorities then set about detaining journalists and blocking online…
How might the coronavirus influence political violence? Arguably, one of the countries where the coronavirus has altered patterns most severely is in Guinea. Since October 2019, Guinea has experienced large-scale, violent demonstrations against a proposed change of the constitution. The coronavirus outbreak has allowed the regime to silence protests, to push through constitutional changes, to…
The COVID-19 pandemic is disrupting criminal economies across Central America, leading to violent competition between gangs and cartels. In Mexico, government statistics indicate that homicide rates have risen since the start of the country’s lockdown measures – claiming a higher death toll than the coronavirus (AP, 24 April 2020; New York Post, 27 April 2020).…
On 10 December 2019, leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany, and France met in Paris in the ‘Normandy’ format1 to discuss peace plans for the Donbas region of Ukraine, where the conflict between Russia-backed separatist rebels and Ukrainian government forces has now entered its seventh year. Although frontlines have stabilized, fighting continues on a daily basis.…
Over the last six months there have been a number of significant updates to the political situation in Iraq as it grapples with the pressure of the October Revolution protest movement as well as foreign interference from the United States (US) and Iran. While the political context has changed substantially, the movement’s core demands remain…
Five years ago, a coalition led by Saudi Arabia launched a military intervention in Yemen to restore the government of President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi following the Houthi takeover of Sana’a in late 2014. Since then, ACLED estimates that more than 112,000 people have died as a direct result of the violence, including over 12,600 civilians…
On 15 March 2020, Syria entered its 10th year of war. Although ACLED data show an overall decrease in violence over the course of 2019, the war in Syria remains the most active conflict in the world,1 and one of the deadliest for civilians. In the year since 15 March 2019, ACLED records almost 19,000…
At the height of the Arab Spring in February 2011, a mass protest movement took to the streets in Bahrain calling for democratic reforms, human rights protections, and an end to corruption. Nine years ago this month, the Bahraini government, backed by a contingent of Saudi and Emirati security forces, declared a state of emergency…