Dear All,

Dear All,

Sharing a link to my storify-ed livetweets from last night's panel discussion on foreign policy and humanitarian aid efforts in Uganda and the Congo in response to the international media attention garnered by Invisible Children’s KONY 2012 campaign. Panelists included Maurice Carney of Friends of the Congo, Milton Allimadi of …

• A new American initiative to improve the notoriously poor LGBT rights in sub-Saharan Africa is reportedly inspiring a large backlash. Sub-Saharan Africa is marked by widespread homophobia as well as chronic dependence on foreign aid, in particular from the US, and the idea that the two issues might now be linked seems…

• A lawyers group claim that police arrested a carpenter on Wednesday who questioned whether Zimbabwe’s President still had the strength to blow up balloons at his 88^th birthday celebrations, under a law making it an offense to insult the President.
• The top UN envoy to Libya expressed…

• Experts say the increasing trend of illicit financial flows are posing a great threat to Africa’s fragile growth as they pump back more dollars to developed countries than those send to poor African states.
• The Open Society Media Program released background papers earlier this month on Mapping Digital…

• The West African Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) has just launched a new book on election management in West Africa.
• The African Union Chairman announced on Saturday he will visit some of the continent’s conflict areas including Sudan, South Sudan, Mali and Libya for…

• The UN and Interpol discussedtransnational organized crime in West Africa, including illicit drug trafficking and the proliferation of illegal arms, as well maritime piracy in Lyon, France on Monday.
• An anti-homosexuality bill is being once again resurrected by the Parliament in Uganda with…

• The West African Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) will be launching its new book, “Election Dispute Management Practice Guide for West Africa” on February 14^th, 2012 at the Grand Mensvic Hotel, in East Legon, Accra, Ghana at 9am. The keynote speech at the launch will be delivered by Sierra Leone’s Chair of the Electoral…

• The African Union summit in Addis Ababa ended in deadlock after the group failed to chose a new chairman for the executive commission. A new election was then scheduled to be held in June or July, though they managed to elect President Boni Yayi of Benin as the new…

Hello, hope all is well!

This week’s conflict reports will be a little thinner than usual, as I have been feeling a bit under the weather the last couple days and haven’t been reading as extensively as normal. Please be sure to add anything I have missed in the comments below or send via email to apeaceofconflict@gmail.com.

Thanks!

Rebecca

• The New…

• Transparency International’s new report concluded that police forces in eastern Africa are perceived as the most corrupt body among the six institutions surveyed; the police, judiciary, customs, registry and permit services, land services, medical services, tax revenue, utilities and education systems. According to the report, 54% of people surveyed reported to have paid a bribe in the past year.
• The…

Somali jihadists focus on banning women's sports rather than famine

By James M. Dorsey

While Al Qaeda is projecting a kinder, gentler image by

distributing aid to famine victims, its local Somali affiliate, the Al Shabab,

are  ensuring strict adherence to a

five-year old ban on women's sports.

The emphasis on women constitutes an expanded enforcement of

the…

Today marks World Mental Health Day, a day designed to raise public attention about mental health issues whilst also encouraging open and honest discussion about the topic.

This year’s theme is “investing in mental health” which seems highly apt given that the World Health Organisation estimates that the resources allocated for mental health are “inadequate especially in low resource countries”. “Low- and middle-income countries spend less than two per cent of their health budget on…

September 2, 2011

Jan Oberg, dr.hc., peace researcher


Director of TFF, The Transnational Foundation in Sweden


www.transnational.org

Manuscript finished on August 15, i.e. a few days before the Libyan rebels moved into Tripoli

Part II - What Should Have Been Done Before the NATO/US Decision to Bomb? 

The following is…

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=24354

 …

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

By James M. Dorsey

Somalia, racked by civil war and famine, is seeking soccer players and fan support from the country’s large Diaspora to rebuild shattered infrastructure in advance of 2014 World Cup qualifiers.

The recruitment and fundraising campaign follows military setbacks in which the country’s Al Shabab, jihadist insurgents associated with Al Qaeda have lost their control of a majority of the capital Mogadishu to forces of the Transition…