General News

A group of emerging political leaders from Sri Lanka’s Parliament and civil society have been spending the week here in the UK as part of a programme aimed at fostering reconciliation in that country’s progress toward peaceful development following the end of the three decade civil war there in 2009.

Last week, the Democratic Republic of Congo went to the polls for the country’s second democratic elections, which have been marred by violence and tensions in many provinces since the start of the electoral campaign in October.

Over 120 people packed into a large Committee Room in the House of Commons on Wednesday night to hear the Voices for Reconciliation group of young British Sri Lankan diaspora members describe their vision for peace – at home and in Sri Lanka.

On 1st November 2011, five years after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in Nepal, political parties finally made a breakthrough by signing a historic 7-point agreement in Kathmandu.

The agreement decides on the contentious issues of army integration, constitution drafting and power sharing.

Why is it important?

Two thousand representatives of governments, the UN, other multilateral organisations and NGOs will shortly convene in Busan, South Korea, as the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness to discuss the effectiveness of overseas development aid.

It’s countries affected by armed conflict that face the toughest development challenges. What would success at Busan look like for them?

New thinking on development and conflict

In our 25th anniversary year, International Alert invited a group of influential and highly respected peace advocates to become Patrons. We are greatly honoured to have the support and endorsement of two Nobel laureates Archbishop Dr Desmond Tutu and Wole Soyinka, and of Brian Eno and Mark Stephens CBE.

In September 2011, International Alert invited the famous Ossetian artist and humanist Magrez Kelekhsaev to conduct art master classes for schoolchildren in three districts of South Ossetia, as part of Alert’s post-war psychosocial rehabilitation programme.