In the Field

More people have died in tribal violence in southern Sudan in recent months than in the western Darfur region of Sudan, the United Nations special representative to Sudan, Ashraf Qazi, said this week. Creating a peaceful environment before the national elections in 2010 and a referendum on southern independence set for 2011 should be a top priority for the world and Sudanese authorities, Qazi emphasized. USIP has been actively working on the ground to help create a peaceful setting with its USIP training programs on non-violent conflict resolution and election workshops.

Nina Sughrue and Linda Bishai of the Education and Training Center International conducted a three-day workshop in Islamabad for Pakistani women leaders on negotiation and problem solving, in conjunction with local think tank the Sustainable Development and Policy Institute (SDPI) October 23-25, 2007.

Senior Program Officer Jonathan Morgenstein and former USIP Senior Program Officer Ray Caldwell conducted the first of three workshops in Cucuta, Colombia from February 22-25, 2007. Cucuta is the capital of the Department of Norte de Santander and sits on the river border with Venezuela. It has been a zone of significant conflict and tensions in the past with one of the country's largest per-capita population of demobilized paramilitaries, a large number of internally displaced persons, and significant FARC activity.

Ted Feifer and Nina Sughrue of the Professional Training Program conducted a Workshop on Improving Government and Non-Governmental Organization Understanding in Central Asia and the Caucasus, in partnership with the Business Women's Association of Uzbekistan, in Tashkent, on April 12-14, 2005.