Region Related Event Feeds

Polio in Nigeria

jdunton — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Since 1988, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI)—an international partnership of government and private institutions—has reduced the number of reported polio cases worldwide by more than 99 percent, successfully eliminating polio from much of the globe. Yet Nigeria remains one of the most entrenched reservoirs of poliovirus in the world.

What Does the ICC Decision Mean for Kenya?

ian — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

What does the ruling by the International Criminal Court (ICC) mean for Kenya’s presidential election later this year, now that cases against two top aspirants—First Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and Kalenjin leader William Ruto—are to proceed to trial in The Hague?

Senegal’s Democracy at the Crossroads

ian — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

The pursuit of a third term in office by Senegal’s octogenarian president, Adboulaye Wade, is in clear defiance of a constitutional change he himself enacted. It highlights once again the difficulties of framing effective international responses to nonmilitary, but nonetheless illegitimate, attempts by heads of state to hold onto power.

Strategic Partnerships to Build African Scientific Capacity for Agriculture

kate — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

The world faces an enormous challenge over the next 50 years, to double the amount of food produced globally, but without further depleting the soil, water, and other natural resources. This challenge will require a great deal of ingenuity and effort, and will rely on the capacity of the scientific community to develop new and improved crop varieties, to combat pests and diseases.

Critical Questions for 2012

ian — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

From international security and regional study to global challenges, CSIS experts will address many of the world's most difficult policy concerns and critical questions in 2012. To kick off the new year, we asked 25 of our scholars to identity what worries them most and what are the biggest opportunities in their respective areas of study.

Violence in South Sudan

sherry — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

The world’s newest country, South Sudan, has been convulsed by serious violence between rival ethnic groups. Fighting at the turn of the New Year in Jonglei state left dozens, possibly hundreds, of people dead and caused as many as 50,000 residents to flee their homes.

Somalia Remains the Worst Humanitarian Crisis in the World

sherry — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0500

The drought and famine in the Horn of Africa continues, with the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS Net) recently confirming that the famine in the Middle Shabelle, as well as among internally displaced populations in Afgoye and the Somali capital of Mogadishu, will continue through the end of the year.

Terra Nova

jdunton — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Seven years ago, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) made its first investments in South Africa, the heart of the global HIV/AIDS pandemic. These historic investments quickly grew to become the largest single bilateral health account in the world. The resulting story of U.S.

The Global Health Initiative in Malawi

jdunton — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0500

The Obama administration designated Malawi as a GHI Plus country in June 2010, one of the first eight countries selected to implement the Global Health Initiative’s (GHI) more comprehensive approach to global health and serve as learning labs for other GHI country programs.

China's Emerging Global Health and Foreign Aid Engagement in Africa

jdunton — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0500

This volume is a compilation of papers that were written for the Conference on China’s Emerging Global Health and Foreign Aid Engagement, sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the China Institute of International Studies (CIIS), in Beijing on May 24, 2011, as part of a larger CSIS initiative to examine the global health engagement of the BRIC countries

Middle East Notes and Comment: Politics of Piety

ian — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Many in the United States—and in the Middle East—worry that religious extremists in the Arab world are on the cusp of something big. Across the region, groups that blend religion and politics are injecting more religion into more open politics.

U.S. and Iranian Strategic Competition: Peripheral Competition Involving Latin America and Africa

sherry — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0500

US competition with Iran has become the equivalent of a game of three-dimensional chess, but a game where each side can modify at least some of the rules with each move.

The Focus on the Horn of Africa Should be on the Famine in Somalia

sherry — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Once again famine rages in Somalia. Experts say at least 30,000 children have already died in this crisis and 750,000 more Somalis, mostly women and children, are in acute need and will begin to die between Thanksgiving and Christmas unless they receive assistance. The famine in the early 1990s killed more than 250,000 Somalis, and this one is projected to kill several times more.

Kenya’s Military Operation in Somalia

ecurran — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Kenya is in the third week of a major military offensive inside neighboring Somalia. Called “Operation Protect the Nation,” it is Kenya’s largest military operation since independence in 1963. Around 1,600 troops are sweeping through areas of Southern Somalia controlled by the extremist Islamist group, al Shabaab.

Freeman Report October 2011 - Vol.11, No.10

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Feature Article:

Preparing for Competition, Working for Cooperation: U.S. Eyes on China-Africa Relations

By Zhang Chun

Excerpt:

Improving Women's Health in South Africa

jdunton — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0400

A period of major change is unfolding in health and HIV services in South Africa, carrying opportunities and risks for delivering effective, integrated health services that improve health outcomes and save lives. South Africa is decentralizing HIV services to the primary health care level, paving the way for greater integration to address women’s health and to reduce maternal mortality.

The Lord’s Resistance Army

ian — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0400

President Obama announced on October 14 that he was sending approximately 100 military advisers to central Africa to assist in efforts to neutralize one of the continent’s most notorious rebel groups, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

Confronting an Uncertain Threat

jdunton — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Al Qaeda and associated movements (AQAM) have become an increasingly diffuse security threat. Although the Afghanistan-Pakistan borderlands may have represented the epicenter of global terrorism in the past decade, al Qaeda’s various regional affiliates are growing in prominence.

Leading from the Front: Europe and the New Libya

ian — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Libyan Endgame?

After six months of inconclusive fighting accompanied by both criticism and adulation of Western support, Libyan rebels penetrated the capital city of Tripoli with NATO support on August 21.

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb

jdunton — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) emerged from a decades-long militant Islamist tradition in Algeria. In 1998, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (Groupe Salafiste pour la Prédication et le Combat, or GSPC) broke away from the Armed Islamic Group (Groupe Islamique Armé, or GIA) because of the GIA’s extensive targeting of civilians.

Meeting the Challenge of Drought and Famine in the Horn of Africa

ecurran — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0400

The scale of the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in the Horn of Africa is becoming clearer by the day. The numbers of people affected by drought and famine are mind-boggling: at least 12.4 million people are in need of emergency assistance across five countries.

The Forgotten Conflict in Southern Kordofan

ecurran — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Introduction

Beyond Mugabe

jdunton — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Zimbabwe presents a set of critical, immediate challenges for U.S. policy. Different scenarios, including an unsanctioned snap election, a military coup, and President Robert Mugabe’s early death, could precipitate a sharp, even violent, crisis later this year.

Drought in the Horn of Africa

ian — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0400

The humanitarian emergency in drought-affected regions of the Horn of Africa has taken a turn for the worse. The United Nations has declared that a famine is under way in the two hardest-hit areas of Somalia, the southern Bakool and Lower Shabelle regions. The strict benchmarks that must be surpassed in order for famine status to be reached give a hint to the scale of the crisis.

Al Shabaab

jdunton — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Al Shabaab is an al Qaeda-affiliated organization that has risen rapidly to prominence in the midst of Somalia’s decades-long anarchy. The group has experienced two dramatic transformations in its short history.

Assessing Risks to Stability in Sub-Saharan Africa

jdunton — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0400

The report Assessing Risks to Stability in Sub-Saharan Africa provides an overview of the CSIS study series Stress Testing African States that examines the risks of instability in 10 African countries over the next decade: read more

Ethiopia