Africa

Our new paper, Crisis in Mali, looks at what a peacebuilding approach to the conflict in the country could look like.

While there are several narratives about Mali, the one currently dominating the agenda concerns the capture of Mali’s north by radicals and the perceived ungovernability of that region as a result of the lack of governance, and state complicity with criminal groups which in turn was exploited by well-armed, equipped and trained international terrorist groups.

Full report

Article published on 28th February 2013, The Huffington Post

The latest agreement for peace in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) offers a fresh and much needed glimmer of hope for ordinary Congolese citizens suffering from two decades of violence.

The civil war in Burundi led to the death of 300,000 people and the displacement of 1 million more. Now with an influx of people returning, the road to recovery truly begins. Moving on from conflict means the rebuilding of lives after the trauma of violence, dealing with the death of loved ones and returning home to find land and homes repossessed.

For years the international community has attempted to help stabilize Eastern DRC, at the expense of billions of dollars, yet sustainable peace remains elusive. Elections in November 2011 were widely seen as lacking credibility¹ and provincial and local elections have been delayed indefinitely. There has been scant progress on critical reforms in justice, security, land and governance. Successive military campaigns have failed to remove foreign and domestic armed groups and have increased the population’s suffering causing large scale displacement.

Depuis plusieurs années la communauté internationale a essaye de stabiliser l'Est de la RDC, a un cout des milliards de dollars, mais cette paix durable continue de faire défaut. Les élections présidentielles et législatives de novembre 2011 étaient perçues comme étant peu crédibles¹ et en ce qui concerne les élections provinciales et locales, elles ont été reportées indéfiniment. Peu de progrès ont été constatés quant aux réformes cruciales dans les secteurs de la justice, la sécurité, les affaires foncières et de la gouvernance.

Accompanying African Union Liaison Offices 

Working with the Peace and Security Department (PSD) of the African Union Commission (AUC), International Alert has recently taken up a three year project aimed at supporting African Union Liaison Offices (AULOs) to enhance the Commission’s work in conflict and post conflict environments.

On 25th November staff in our Uganda office took part in the 10km run of the MTN Kampala International Marathon, one of the country’s largest annual sports events.

This declaration was prepared for the Conference of Burundi Development Partners in Geneva on 29th-30th October 2012. It puts forth concrete policy recommendations on development, gender equality, economic empowerment and peacebuilding priorities for Burundi. Burundi’s second Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper outlines the Government’s commitments for the country’s economic growth and development from 2012 to 2016 and was prepared in consultation with development partners and other stakeholders.

Declaration