Tuesday, April 30, 2024
Who Can Inspire the Dalai Lama?
Mahmoud Khalil embodies resilience. In 2011, he was preparing to enter a university in Aleppo, Syria, when war broke out, forcing him to flee to Lebanon. Instead of starting school, he became a refugee day laborer. Five years later, at 22, he is completing university studies while helping to educate more than...
Asia Eyes Trump’s Visit for Signals on North Korea Nukes
As President Trump makes his first official visit to the Asia-Pacific region this week, North Korea will be a top agenda item. Although leaders in Japan, China, and South Korea have different strategies for resolving the crisis, they all will be watching for...
To Curb Corruption and Violence, the 'Sandwich' Effect
In a Ukraine fighting not only a war in its East but also a second battle against corruption, civic leader activist Taras Shevchenko talks of the need for a “sandwich effect.” Only Ukrainians can solve their own problems, he says. But as the country’s civil society pushes for...
In South Sudan, an Artists’ Movement for Peace Catches Fire
Jacob Bul Bior, a 29-year-old South Sudanese peace activist, has never known a day when his country wasn’t torn apart by violence. Civil war between northern and southern Sudan; battles between South
These Young Afghans Are Acting Against Corruption
By every available measure, corruption is crippling Afghanistan’s government and fueling the Taliban insurgency. Repeated surveys of Afghans find bribe-taking by officials among the public’s greatest complaints, and the Taliban win popular support by vowing to end such graft. While weak police and judicial systems seem unable to...
Making Peace Possible in 2017
Despite a tumultuous year, one seemingly defined by violent conflict, extremism, and devastating civil wars, U.S. Institute of Peace President Nancy Lindborg argues that “peace is very possible” in part due to the practical solutions that USIP’s teams work on every day.
Colombia War-Crime Prisoners Face Past, Plan Future
The prisoners would be arriving soon and Adriana Combita, like a young teacher preparing to greet a new class, was nervous. This was not the first time that Combita, 26, had led a peacebuilding training with soldiers convicted of war-related crimes. But these were senior officers, commanders with master’s degrees, military officials who had lived abroad.
South Sudan: Four Steps to a Truce That Works
South Sudan’s conflict is monitored by an international organization called the Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangements Monitoring Mechanism (CTSAMM). This group, including military officers from 14 countries, deploys 16 “monitoring and verification teams” across South Sudan. It receives nearly half of its funding from the United States.
In the Field: Uganda
Senior Fellow Betty Bigombe is world renowned as one of the lead negotiators in the 20-year conflict between the government of Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels in the north of the country. Follow her on her recent trip to northern Uganda in early 2007 as she works to urge the LRA rebels back to the negotiating table.
In the Field: Iraq
As part of the Iraq program, USIP has maintained a small office in the Green Zone in Baghdad since early 2004. USIP's Chief of Party in Baghdad, Rusty Barber, offers weekly dipatches that capture a lively and sobering insider's view of the promise and peril facing U.S. efforts in Iraq.