South Sudan — July 2015 Update

Africa, Analysis, Civilians At Risk, Focus On Militias, Peacekeeping, Political Stability, Remote Violence, Rioting And Protests, Violence Against Civilians
Levels of political conflict in South Sudan decreased in June 2015. Though the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which has overseen multiple peace negotiations aimed at ending the 18-month conflict, may be tempted to refer to this drop in conflict as a sign of progress, the decrease is more likely due to the onset of the rainy season in South Sudan (Africa Confidential, 15 May 2015).…

Burundi — July 2015 Update

Africa, Analysis, Civilians At Risk, Conflict Monitoring, Ethnic Militias, Focus On Militias, Local-Level Violence, Political Stability, Pro-Government Militias, Rioting And Protests, Unidentified Armed Groups, Violence Against Civilians
The political crisis in Burundi is entering its 14th week and though aggregate levels of political violence have decreased since May when mass rioting and protests took hold of the capital, the forms of political violence employed by the varying sides of the political divide have become more lethal (see Figure 1).…

Tunisia — July 2015 Update

Africa, Analysis, Civilians At Risk, Conflict Monitoring, Islamic State, Islamist Violence, Local-Level Violence, Political Stability, Remote Violence, Rioting And Protests, Violence Against Civilians
While a new series of violent events targeted civilians and security forces in June, Tunisia witnessed a sustained increase in political violence (see Figure 1). Not only is the number of conflict events rising, reported fatalities were also at their highest since January 2011.…

Sudan — July 2015 Update

Africa, Civilians At Risk, Current Hotspots, Education, Government Repression, Local-Level Violence, Political Stability, Pro-Government Militias, Remote Violence, Rioting And Protests, Violence Against Civilians
A campaign of violence has been escalating in Sudanese universities in recent weeks, and over 200 students from Darfur have been assaulted, beaten, or detained over the last six months. On April 29th, 150 student members of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) attacked members of the Darfur Students Association (DSA) at Sharq El Nil College in Khartoum (Sudan Tribune, May 12, 2015).…

Mali — July 2015 Update

Africa, Analysis, Civilians At Risk, Focus On Militias, Islamic State, Islamist Violence, Political Stability, Remote Violence, Violence Against Civilians
Mali’s current outlook can be termed as cautiously optimistic, although significant challenges remain following the signing of a peace treaty between the Government of Mali and representatives of the Tuareg-led rebels from the Coordination of Movements of Azawad (CMA) on June 20 (Al Jazeera, June 21, 2015).…

Reporting Lags and the Timeliness of Realtime Data

Africa, Boko Haram, Civilians At Risk, Conflict Monitoring, Current Hotspots, Data Management, Local-Level Violence, Political Stability, Remote Violence, Rioting And Protests, Violence Against Civilians
ACLED collects disaggregated data of every event of political violence in Africa, henceforth expanding to Asia (Raleigh et al., 2010). A particularity of ACLED’s work is the publication of data on a real-time, weekly basis.…

State Fragility and Conflict in Africa

Africa, Civilians At Risk, Conflict Monitoring, Current Hotspots, Data Management, Political Stability, Remote Violence, Rioting And Protests, Violence Against Civilians
The Fragile States Index (FSI), produced by The Fund for Peace, highlights pressures faced by states, identifying “when those pressures are pushing a state towards the brink of failure”, with the intent of shaping assessments of political risk by researchers and policymakers (Messner et al.,…

Homosexuality and Discrimination in Africa

Africa, Gender-Based Violence
While many celebrate the US Supreme Court ruling late last week to legalize same-sex marriage across the US as a victory for the gay-rights movement and equality (NYTimes, 26, June 2015), gay and lesbian people across many countries in Africa continue to experience discrimination and attacks as a result of their sexual orientation, a trend which has been increasing in recent years.…