African Overview 2015
In 2015, ACLED recorded 14,640 conflict events on the African continent. Armed conflict decreased by 14.0% compared to the previous year, marking the first negative trend since 2009. In a number of high-activity countries, including Central African Republic, Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia, conflict levels declined by more than 20% over one year.…
South Sudan and Sudan — 2015 Update
In 2015, both Sudan and South Sudan experimented with peace talks and peace agreements with their respective opposition groups, with varying effects on conflict events in each country. Despite stalled talks and ceasefires in Sudan, the number of conflict events in the country decreased in the second half of 2015 (see Figure 1).…
Nigeria — 2015 Update
Nigeria was the second most active country in the ACLED dataset in 2015. The first few months of 2015 witnessed a front-loading of violence, with both a climax in conflict with Boko Haram and the Nigerian general elections.…
Sources of Income and Political Conflict
Strong state capacity is difficult to attain in low-income countries where the state lacks access to resources to aid in effectively implementing policies. As a result, incomes are often used as a proxy measurement to determine the strength of state capacity, and states with lower incomes experience some of the highest levels of conflict (see: Dixon, 2009).…
Republic of Congo — November 2015 Update
Over the past year, a number of African leaders have held referendums in an attempt to extend their term limits. Most notably, leaders in Burkina Faso, Burundi, Rwanda, and now the Republic of Congo have set their sights on constitutional amendments that would prolong their powers through presidential office.…
The Conflict Patterns and Role of Pro-Government Militias
Pro-government militias (hereafter PGMs) are a growing risk to the safety of civilians and stability of developing states. Of all active militias operating on behalf of political elites (e.g. rebel leaders, politicians, political parties, warlords, military, government officials, etc.),…
Libya — October 2015 Update
Episodes of political confrontation continued to fall throughout September, yet cause for celebration is a far cry for most Libyans (see Figure 1). The intensity of attacks to the West and South of Tripoli have scaled down over the last few months, however this should not mask the polemical nature of Libya’s conflict and potential for escalation.…
Select Publicly Available Political Violence Datasets — Regional-Level
ACLED has compiled a list of select publicly available political violence datasets offering data at the regional-level. This table — found below — can also be downloaded here. For a list of select publicly available political violence datasets offering data at the national-level, see the blog post on this topic.…