Tuesday, April 30, 2024
As Security Returns, Central Africans Await the State
In early February, five Central African friends and I hopped in a weathered Toyota pickup and retraced most of Route Nationale 3 (RN3), which runs through the Central African Republic’s (CAR) northwest from Baoro to the capital Bangui. Connecting Cameroon’s Douala and Bangui, the RN3 corridor accounts for 80 percent of internationally traded goods in CAR.
Four Lessons From Desmond Tutu’s Life and Legacy
On December 26, the world lost a “moral compass,” Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, aged 90. Grounded in his Christian faith, his legacy as a peacebuilder through his anti-Apartheid activism and promotion of peace and justice is unparalleled. Tutu’s great influence on the field of peacebuilding, and his mark on peace and reconciliation efforts have rippled worldwide. Here are four attributes that Archbishop Tutu exemplified as a religious peacebuilder, radically inspiring people across the globe to fight injustice and advocate for peace.
To Honor Veterans, Bolster the Real Alternative to ‘Forever Wars’
Months after U.S. troops invaded Iraq in 2003, Army Colonel Paul Hughes quietly slipped out of the fortified U.S. headquarters in Baghdad’s “Green Zone” on a personal mission—to meet Iraqis and analyze the rising danger signs of disasters to come. American forces lacked a viable plan to stabilize this violent, trauma-scarred land, and Hughes’ nighttime conversations with Iraqis—scholars, business owners and former military officers—confirmed to him that the U.S. effort was dangerously isolated from Iraqi realities that would soon ignite an insurgency and eventually breed the Islamic State (ISIS) and a new war.
As Libya Tries Peace, a Saharan City Builds It
Over 200 Ubari residents gathered in September to formally inaugurate the open-air marketplace, which includes a community park for recreation. Local civil society groups helped develop it with support from USIP and funding from the United Nations’ World Food Program. A central marketplace—where many of Ubari’s 35,000 residents buy produce, household goods and other essentials—has always been a core of the city’s life and economy. But the old market was forced to close during a three-year surge in fighting between the area’s ethnic Tebu and Tuareg communities.
Why Is There No Global Effort to Find the Missing Yazidis?
When Pope Francis visited Iraq this year, he met and prayed with religious communities across the country’s spectrum of faiths. Among the wounds he sought to heal, one remains massive and unaddressed: the 2,763 Yazidi women and children kidnapped seven years ago by ISIS whose fates remain unknown.
Women Build Peace in Colombia’s Turbulent Pacific Region
Colombia’s most violent region is its Pacific coast, where smaller rebel forces and criminal groups kill or abduct those who challenge their control. Across this mainly rural zone, young women peacebuilders are reducing violence in their communities and repairing social fabric torn by generations of bloodshed.
Building a Peaceful Africa Through Arts, Culture and Heritage
Across the continent, Africans are increasingly using the arts to reimagine their world and reclaim public space to reflect on what a more peaceful and prosperous Africa could look like. Indeed, the African Union (AU) has prioritized art for only the second time in its history with its 2021 theme, “Arts, Culture and Heritage: Levers for Building the Africa We Want.” Leaders are hopeful that by channeling this surge in artistic expression, they can help create conditions to deliver peace to conflict-prone regions of the continent and implement the goals of the AU’s Agenda 2063 and the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals.
The Latest on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: 4 Key Issues
Recent events, including the turmoil in East Jerusalem and the 11-day war in Gaza, have forced the Israeli-Palestinian conflict back to the forefront of international attention. USIP’s Lucy Kurtzer-Ellenbogen and Ambassador Hesham Youssef discuss big-picture trends they have been following, including shifting support for a two-state solution, the future of the Oslo framework, the role of the United States and the international community, and what might move the needle for peace.
Keeping Peacebuilding Education Alive During A Difficult Year
In April, more than 400 U.S. high school students, representing 85 schools in 26 states, joined a Zoom call for what normally would be an in-person Academic WorldQuest — a quiz competition sponsored in part by USIP that’s dedicated to foreign policy, international issues, global conflict management and peacebuilding. Following the cancellation of the national competition in April 2020, there was uncertainty about what WorldQuest would look like going into 2021. While some deferred participation, others saw it as an exercise in seeing what was possible: In-person competitions were hoped for, but local groups experimented with virtual platforms; teachers figured out how to recruit teams and organize remote study sessions; and students made room for extra learning in shifting schedules.
Amid Pandemic, Virtual Peace Trail Demonstrates U.S. Commitment to Peace
The last year was marked by disruption, with schools shuttered, workplaces closed and so many aspects of daily life altered by the pandemic. While COVID drastically reduced the number of tourists to the capital, too, that did not stop USIP from bringing Washington, D.C. to Americans through virtual options for visiting and experiencing the Peace Trail on the National Mall. The Peace Trail brings a “peace lens” to the experience of visiting the National Mall — elevating stories of key figures, institutions and moments in history that demonstrate America’s commitment to peace.