Today the news media (that I follow anyway) are headlining the unprecedented, surprise visit of Secretary Kerry to Somalia, following meetings in Kenya to discuss the fight against Al Shabaab, regional security (with a focus on Burundi and Sudan) and refugees in Kenya. Besides meeting with current politicians, opposition leaders, the UN High Commission for Refugees and…
From Dadaab to Nairobi My handsome, soft-spoken, well-dressed companion for morning coffee at the Java House in downtown Nairobi this Saturday morning began his journey to this spot in 1992, fleeing the civil war in Somalia as a toddler with his parents. He grew up in one of the Dadaab refugee camps of Northeastern Kenya. This complex of UN refugee camps was…
After decades of civil war, Burundi is exporting peace. In the process, a fragile peace has come to Burundi. But will it last through the next elections in 2015? Seven years ago, just one year after its own fighting ended, Burundi joined Uganda to support the African Union’s (AU) new peace keeping mission in Somalia,…
Impressions on Market Day Eighty-two percent of Ethiopia population is rural – 68 million. On the outskirts of the urban centers of Bahir Dar and Gondar on a busy Saturday in the rainy season, most of these are headed to market on muddy dirt roads. Some are lucky enough to have wheels of some sort (carts, bicycles)…
I found myself crying again today. Not at the top of a mountain peak, but standing in the Great Hall of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, where vaulted ceilings soar over stained glass and murals and mosaics that for centuries have invited visitors to contemplate on the great themes of freedom, justice, and truth that inspire the art…
Steinbruner presents an alternative framework for considering the antagonistic stand-off between US and Iran – one that relies on mutually accepted principles deeply embedded in both cultures. The problem is translating those common principles into political action, with both parties having to answer to divergent stakeholders who rely on rhetoric of black and white accusations,…
Some problems are so complex that you have to be highly intelligent and well-informed just to be undecided about them. Laurent J. Peters A Systems View A system is an internally organized whole, where elements are so intimately connected that they operate as one in relation to external conditions and other systems. A set…
Figure 1. Embedded combatant and civilian subsystems in civil conflict drive dynamics for co-evolution of resiliency and violence in civil conflict. Resiliency in conflict can be seen through the perspective of civilians and different parties to the conflict. The interdependent feedback loops are made evident through the amount of services provided to civilians, the perceived…
These reflections on democracy, human rights, and security in Morocco were written in the spring of 2009, preceding the events of the so-called Arab Spring across North Africa 2011. They provide a unique window into a world on the brink of change. A return trip in January 2014 finds much the same, but much different…
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