Sub-Saharan Africa

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Program(s): Congo Research Group, Prevention and Peacebuilding

Illicit Trafficking and Instability in Mali

In this commentary, Global Initiative Board Member, Camino Kavanagh who is based in Bamako, together with Prof. Stephen Ellis, renowned Africanist at the University of Leiden, raise some additional points to consider, including the extent of the narco-terrorist relationship, and the degree to which we as the international community could have seen the crisis coming.

Publication Date: Apr 09, 2014

Author(s) / Contributor(s): Camino Kavanagh, Stephen Ellis

Region/Country: Sub-Saharan Africa

Topic(s): International Security, Organized Crime

A Mission That Was Set Up to Fail

How Washington turned its back on a foreign-policy triumph and let Darfur descend back into chaos. Part 3 in Foreign Policy's exclusive investigation of the U.N.'s peacekeeping debacle in Sudan.

Read the full Foreign Policy article A Mission That Was Set Up to Fail.

Publication Date: Apr 09, 2014

Author(s) / Contributor(s): Richard Gowan

Region/Country: Horn of Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa

Program(s): Prevention and Peacebuilding

Topic(s): Crises, Fragile States, United Nations

'Now We Will Kill You'

Part 2 in Foreign Policy's exclusive investigation of the U.N.'s peacekeeping debacle in Darfur.

Read the full Foreign Policy article 'Now We Will Kill You'

Publication Date: Apr 08, 2014

Author(s) / Contributor(s): Richard Gowan

Region/Country: Horn of Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa

Program(s): Prevention and Peacebuilding

Topic(s): Crises, Fragile States, Peace Operations

The EU Mission to the Central African Republic: Risking More Than Credibility

Less than a week before its planned deployment, the future of the EU military mission to the Central African Republic (CAR) is increasingly in jeopardy. In four consecutive force generation conferences held in February and early March, EU member states have been unable to muster the required troops and equipment. Subsequently, in an appeal letter to EU governments dated 11 March, EU High Representative Catherine Ashton warned that the lack of necessary capabilities puts the plans to launch the operation by mid-March at risk, adding that a delay would taint the EU’s credibility.

Publication Date: Mar 21, 2014

Author(s) / Contributor(s): Alischa Kugel

Region/Country: Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa

Program(s): Prevention and Peacebuilding

Topic(s): Peace Operations

Peacekeeping in Africa : The evolving security architecture

This new Routledge volume, edited by Marco Wyss and Thierry Tardy provides a comprehensive analysis of the trends and challenges of international peacekeeping in Africa. In their contribution to the volume, former CIC staff member Megan Gleason-Roberts and CIC Senior Program Officer Alischa Kugel analyze the changing dimensions of international peacekeeping in Africa, including how civilian-led political missions, regional deployments and over the horizon security guarantees are increasingly important tools for crisis response.

Publication Date: Feb 25, 2014

Author(s) / Contributor(s): Alischa Kugel , Megan Gleason-Roberts

Region/Country: Sub-Saharan Africa, West Africa

Topic(s): Fragile States, International Security, Peace Operations

Program(s): Prevention and Peacebuilding

Diplomatic Fallout: Crisis in CAR Continues to Divide Western Powers

What do you see when you look at the Central African Republic (CAR)? The crisis in the previously largely unknown former French colony is becoming a Rorschach test for international policymakers. Few would deny that the CAR has endured a hellish breakdown of basic order that has claimed at least 2,000 lives and forced a quarter of the country’s 4 million citizens from their homes.

Publication Date: Feb 03, 2014

Author(s) / Contributor(s): Richard Gowan

Region/Country: Sub-Saharan Africa

Program(s): Prevention and Peacebuilding

Topic(s): Fragile States, United Nations

Why Infrastructure is Key for a Transformative Post-2015 Agenda

Infrastructure,Transformative Post-2015 Agenda,Global Developoment

© Samir Cabbarov

While the specifics of the post-2015 development agenda are still being discussed, there is substantial momentum behind a “transformative” and “universal” agenda. But what does that mean?

Publication Date: Jan 13, 2014

Region/Country: Horn of Africa, South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa

Topic(s): Post 2015 Development

Program(s): Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies

CAR: Bangui airport needs the EU

The European Union, so often accused of lacking strategic purpose, seems to have discovered a new security role: keeping African airports safe.

Read the full ECFR article here.

Publication Date: Jan 13, 2014

Author(s) / Contributor(s): Richard Gowan

Region/Country: Horn of Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa

Program(s): Prevention and Peacebuilding

Topic(s): United Nations

Record number of UN peacekeepers in Africa

The United Nations has eight peacekeeping operations in Africa. As the number of simultaneous missions has increased, one of the challenges facing peacekeeping operations in Africa is how quickly to deploy troops to war zones. CIC's Richard Gowan comments