There has been a change in the tactics employed by the Ambazonian Separatists in northwest and southwest Cameroon. Whereas the militants previously targeted security forces and state officials, they are increasingly targeting civilians and civil servants. Following the protests denouncing the discrimination of Anglophone Cameroonians in late 2016 (ACLED, 9 October 2017), several armed groups…
While many studies of political gender-based violence (GBV) have focused on the practices of groups during wars, the practices of gendered repression in unstable—but not warring—developing states is under-acknowledged and ought to be scrutinized equally closely. There has been significant research on GBV within developing states, and investigations typically concern the pervasiveness and embeddedness of…
Riots and protests continue to comprise the majority of events in South Africa. Last week saw some of the highest rates of demonstrations reported thus far in 2017 – well above the average number seen in other weeks (see Figure 1). Demonstrations by students concerning funding continue (see also: Conflict Trend Reports from December 2016;…
In February, Guinea witnessed the highest levels of political violence and protest since the presidential elections in October 2015 (see Figure 1). Over the past month, Guinea suffered a nationwide strike which spiralled into violence leaving eight people dead, infrastructure destroyed and left the capital city, Conakry, paralysed. The strike was incited by Guinea’s main…
African states experienced high rates of both political violence and protest in 2016 (see Figure 2). The aggregated totals are remarkably similar to those of 2015, which indicates three important lessons going forward: The crisis points on the continent- Libya, South Sudan, Somalia, and Nigeria- continue to produce significant violence, with substantial harm to civilians…
2016 represents the second most active year in the ACLED dataset for South Africa. Although conflict and protest event levels have decreased overall since 2015, 2016 has borne witness to several crucial events and trends which have had serious ramifications on the fabric of South African society. As Figure 1 demonstrates, protests and riots continued…
The number of conflict and protest events has steadily risen in South Africa due to student demonstrations in universities across South Africa concerning a rise in tuition fees. The recent spike in protest activity represents a repeat of the student demonstrations against rising tuition fees witnessed last year. The demonstrations were successfully pressured the government…
Zimbabwe conflict and protest events rose markedly in June through to August 2016 and reached their highest levels since November 2015 (see Figure 1). In this period, protests and riots accounted for the majority of events with only a small percentage constituting violence against civilians. The rise in protest action is due to increased activism…
Last month witnessed a slight decrease in conflict and protest events in South Africa. Nevertheless both April and March represent the most active months in terms of political unrest since October 2015 and the nationwide student protests against fees (see Figure 1). This high level of unrest is tied to the upcoming municipal elections and…
2015 has so far been the most active year for South Africa in the ACLED dataset, with over 1,400 individual political violence and protest events taking place since the beginning of January. This represents a 33% increase over 2014. In spite of this change in aggregate events, the instability profile for South Africa remained similar…