“Her body was frail, but her spirit and passion for her work was alive and well,” said Andrew Wilder, vice president of Asia programs at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, who visited her at Kabul’s Amiri hospital Friday. He said she spent much of their conversation insisting that he tour the university center while in Kabul. “It is a very fitting legacy to her and her husband,” Wilder said. “It was her pride and joy.”

We’ll also have the latest on the refugee crisis in Myanmar as more than 140,000 Rohingya Muslims flee the country under treacherous conditions. Ambassador Derek Mitchell, Senior adviser to the Asia Program at the U.S. Institute of Peace; served as U.S. ambassador to the Republic of the Union of Myanmar from 2012 – 2016.

Shannon, speaking on the sidelines of a U.S-African Partnerships event at the U.S. Institute of Peace, said Washington had grown “intolerant” of South Sudan’s leaders and the challenge was to work with African countries which are interested in seeing an end to the conflict.

"I'm sure they would like to continue to keep the OSCE and international monitors limited," says Bill Taylor, a former Army officer and ambassador to Ukraine from 2006 to 2009, now executive vice president at the United States Institute of Peace. "But there's no reason for the Ukrainians or the Europeans or the Americans or the U.N. to agree to that proposal."

In understanding further the nature of violent extremism Nancy Lindborg, United States Institute of Peace (USIP) president, said, "Violent extremism in today’s globalized and technology-driven world is not confined by borders. While the dynamics around groups such as ISIS, Boko Haram, al-Shabab and the Taliban are interrelated and certainly influenced by geopolitics, the reasons these groups emerged and the reasons individuals join their campaigns are complex, distinct, and locally unique. Recently, the tragedies in Brussels, Paris and Turkey demonstrate the global reach of violent extremists." (April 12, 2016)

“Across the continent, we have shared interests in African stability. We see many areas where we can cooperate with the Chinese military. For example, we both support U.N. peacekeeping missions and training with African defense forces,” said Waldhauser, in a speech at the United States Institute of Peace.

The diplomatic potential for ad­dressing the tensions and compet­ing interests was limited, however, said Princeton Lyman, a former US special envoy for Sudan and South Sudan and now a senior adviser at the US Institute of Peace. “The AU [African Union] and the Arab League have very little interaction and no history of close cooperation around overlapping is­sues. Indeed, the AU is struggling to deal with such crises as South Sudan and Somalia. Outsiders are similarly limited in their structures to address this cross-regional set of developments,” he said. “For example, the US State De­partment divides this area into two different bureaus. Coordination of policy across them is hampered by the lack of appointees at senior lev­els where such coordination would take place. Unfortunately, the pros­pect of greater instability in the Horn is tragic but real.”

Matsunaga attended Eleele School and Kauai High School, was a proponent of peaceful resolution of disputes and is the founder of the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C.