On July 1, the offensive for the port city of Hodeidah was officially put on hold (for the various phases leading up to the battle, see ACLED pieces on Operation Golden Spear, Operation Red Thunder, and Operation Golden Victory). While UAE foreign minister Anwar Gargash has pledged that the pause was aimed at giving UN…
The Great Return March demonstrations (see here for more on this topic) officially began on 30 March 2018 (Land Day) and ended on 15 May 2018 (Nakba Day). These events were meant to reaffirm the right of return of Palestinians in the face of the US decision to move their embassy to Jerusalem, which is…
Over the past weeks, Socotra has been the site of an unprecedented wave of demonstrations denouncing the militarisation of the island and the encroaching presence of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Protests have intensified in early May, after hundreds of troops belonging to the UAE arrived on the island taking de facto control over the…
From November 2015, Ethiopia has experienced an unprecedented wave of popular mobilisation. The protests took place mainly in the Oromia region, spanning nearly 300 locations. They are generally seen as part of a movement that began in April-May 2014, when students across several locations in the region protested a plan to expand the boundary of…
The growing conflict with the Kamwina Nsapu (KN) militia in DR-Congo’s Kasai region has come to dominate international headlines, despite continued insecurity in DR-Congo’s Eastern provinces, and the threat of serious political instability following the collapse of the transition deal negotiated between Kabila’s government and the political opposition. Following the release of a video appearing…
Conflict and political violence events in January 2017 dropped to their lowest recorded levels since September 2013 (see Figure 1). Conflict-related fatalities were subject to an artificial spike in December 2016 after UN-backed Government of National Accord forces in Sirte reported the discovery of over 250 militant bodies during clean-up operations following the announcement that…
Over the course of 2016, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR-Congo) saw a rise in intensity of political violence, and the emergence of new trends. First, violence involving the ADF, FDLR and Mayi Mayi militias clustered in the Kivus and Orientale province and ethnic conflict between Bantus and Batwas, as well as Hutus and Nandes,…
A new update of the recent unrest in Burundi, covering events from 26 April 2015 to 7 August 2016 has been released by ACLED. This update can be found here. ACLED has covered the Burundi crisis with regular data updates and blog posts since June 2015, relying on a combination of news sources and local crowd-sourced…
Over the past few months, Mozambique has witnessed escalating tensions between the Mozambican National Resistance movement (RENAMO) and government forces. Following a series of army operations aimed at disarming RENAMO’s militias in late 2015, violence has resurfaced in the first three months of 2016. With twelve distinct incidents of political violence, the month of February…
Progress was made in the South Sudan peace process. Riek Machar, leader of the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army – In Opposition (SPLA-IO), returned to government as the First Vice-President on 11 February (Africa Confidential, 19 February 2016). This marks Machar’s first return to government since he was fired by President Salva Kiir in 2013…