Monday, March 25, 2024
Myanmar Election Season Makes Dramatic Start
Myanmar’s 2015 election season is off to a dramatic start. Massive flooding and complaints about inaccurate voter lists have caused delays in early procedural deadlines. In a midnight raid on the headquarters of the governing Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) party, ministers from the president’s office, accompanied by soldiers and police, deposed the speaker of parliament, Thura U Shwe Mann, as head of the party. Meantime, when the list of candidates was released for the National...
Myanmar’s Vital Election Faces Ferment and Flood
The past week’s turmoil within Myanmar’s ruling party has underscored the power of the country’s armed forces less than 12 weeks before parliamentary elections that civil society activists and others say are vital to consolidating a democracy following a half century of military rule. Security forces surrounded the headquarters of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party last week to enforce an order by President Thein Sein dismissing the party’s leader, Shwe Mann.
Afghanistan’s Better History, With Lessons for Today
He could be known as “the Johnny Appleseed” of Afghanistan. Dr. Abdul Wakil, an agronomist and agriculture minister, led projects in the Helmand River Valley in the 1950s and 60s. He moved Afghan farming into the 20th Century with mechanization and seed types that remain a mainstay. A new book co-authored by USIP Afghanistan Country Representative Shahmahmood Miakhel tells the story of Wakil and 26 other Afghans who worked peacefully for the country’s benefit over two centuries.
Colombia: Religious Women Prepare for Reconciliation After War
As Colombia’s rebels and the government negotiate in Havana to end 50 years of war, a group of women around the country from different religions is laying the groundwork for what they hope will come next: the reconciliation needed to forge a true, lasting peace.
Boko Haram Drives Nigerian Activist to … Generation Change
The road to leadership for Imrana, a Nigerian activist, began on a bus in the country’s north, when Boko Haram militants came aboard and picked out passengers to haul into the bush. That was when the 23-year-old resolved he had to do something about his country’s bloodshed. Today, an organization he founded seeks to curb the violence that often surrounds Nigerian elections.
In the Shadow of a Massacre, a Peaceful Return in Iraq, Part II
(cont’d from Part I) It was December 2014. USIP and its partner organizations in Iraq had recognized a June 2014 massacre at a military base near the northern city of Tikrit as a flashpoint of tension that could accelerate into a cycle of revenge killing. Predominantly Shia tribes from Iraq’s south, where many of the victims were from, had accused Sunni tribes around the base, known as Camp Speicher, of supporting, even joining in the massacre. But careful conflict resolution might prevent a...
In the Shadow of a Massacre, a Peaceful Return in Iraq, Part I
In a plain-as-beige conference room at Baghdad’s Babylon Hotel, the anger flared among the 16 robed Iraqi tribal leaders. The men, after all, carried into the room the outrage and fear from one of the country’s deadliest atrocities in recent years – the execution-style slaying in June 2014 of an estimated 1,700 young Iraqi air force cadets and soldiers at a base known as Camp Speicher. The accusations flew across the conference table – that tribes in the area supported the rampage by the self...
'Justice' During Conflict: A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing?
Governments and rebels alike are readily using – and often abusing – standard justice mechanisms like trials or amnesties during conflicts, even as part of their military strategy. And because they’re using the terminology of Western-style rule of law, the international community generally has failed to carefully examine these practices for their longer-term impact. New research, supported in part by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Peace, documents the trend and explores its potentially de...
Colombia’s Peace Talks Win Reprieve as FARC Declares Ceasefire
Colombia’s government won a reprieve from growing public pressure to call off peace talks with the FARC rebel group when the guerrillas declared a unilateral ceasefire this week amid a surge in violence around the country.
In Kabul, Political Gridlock Is 'Worse' Than Violence
Afghanistan desperately needs new investment—and a reversal of its current capital flight—to improve governance, build the economy and provide hope for a population exhausted by decades of war. While conventional wisdom holds that the best stimulus for the economy would be an end to the violence, Afghan business leaders suggest that the most urgent remedy would be to reduce administrative and political obstacles, including corruption.