Conflict and protest across Africa dropped slightly from the 4th-10th of February, compared to the previous week. This drop-off in activity is largely owing to a downward trend in protest, which declined from the previous week; and fewer attacks by Imbonerakure in Burundi over the last two weeks. Particularly noteworthy is the reduction in anti-austerity…
Across Africa in January 2018, political violence and protest levels rebounded from the lull in December 2017. This regional pattern is predominantly driven by a 38.5% increase in protest levels, where regional coordination between movements is provoking tougher government responses in anti-TPLF protests in Ethiopia, as well as in Tunisia and South Africa. Political violence-related…
A number of recent studies explore the relationship between gender inequality and conflict and generally find that higher gender inequality, or lower rates of inclusion, is associated with higher rates of conflict and violence. However, efforts to increase inclusion ought to be accompanied by institutional and normative changes too if negative violent consequences are to…
Conflict activity in South Sudan reduced by half between May and October, confirming the trends outlined in ACLED’s last update on the conflict (ACLED, June 2017). Violence has resumed to affect all parts of the country and as we approach the end of the rainy season, conflict levels have started to rise again (see Figure 1).…
Which group is the most violent in Africa? A recent report exploring Africa’s active militant Islamic groups aimed to tackle this question. The report, produced by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS), argued that Somalia’s Al Shabaab has eclipsed Nigeria’s Boko Haram, to become “Africa’s deadliest group”. The claim was supported with data drawn…
Somalia continues to be the most conflict-affected country in Africa in 2017 with 1,537 organized violent events. By comparison, South Sudan is the second most violent state, with 686 organized violent events thus far this year. Somalia has also incurred the most reported fatalities thus far this year (3,287 reported fatalities). While battles continue to…
Conflict levels reduced by nearly half between April and May 2017 in South Sudan. This is mainly due to reduced battles between the two main opposing factions, the government and rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army-In Opposition (SPLA-IO), as well as to lower civilian targeting. This is a repeated occurrence at the onset of the rainy…
In April 2017, violence escalated to its highest level in more than three years in South Sudan. 120 conflict events were recorded resulting in 627 fatalities – a 1.7 times increase on their respective monthly average over that period. Battles between the government and rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army-In Opposition (SPLA-IO) mainly drove this trend,…
Sudan witnessed a decrease in violent political conflict in March which marked a continuation of falling levels of political violence in the country. The decrease in political violence seems to be related to the resilience of the ongoing ceasefire which encompasses a large number, but not all, of the active rebel groups. As a result,…
The 2017 Food crisis during 2017 will directly affect 70 million people across 45 countries[1]. Emergency conditions began to appear in 2016, and the crisis appeared to strike East Africa and the Sahel particularly badly. Food stresses often occur in isolated pockets, largely due to changing weather patterns, poor harvests, inconsistent seasons, malfunctioning markets, or…