Abstract

Introduction

Country Context

Introduction

In late January 2010 the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) suspended a unilateral ceasefire until such time as the Nigerian government agreed to meet with a MEND delegation, as per previous governmental public statements. In doing so the MEND joined a long list of armed groups (understood within this publication to mean non-state armed groups that challenge the authority of the state) 1 that ask for guarantees of political talks before renouncing violence. Governments, meanwhile, usually argue for a ceasefire as a prerequisite to peace talks.

UN study urges greater action in peacekeeping to include women in peace processes

New York, United Nations, 8 February 2011 - Greater action is needed by United Nations peacekeeping missions - working with local women, national authorities and UN Member States - to increase the limited participation of women in peace negotiations, national security institutions and governance in post-conflict situations, says a UN study launched today.

The impact study - conducted a decade

Background

In 2008, the High Commissioner for Refugees (HC) launched a Special Initiative on Protracted Refugee Situations (PRS) to promote durable solutions and improvements in the life of these refugees. The HC's initiative focused on five situations in different parts of the world, four of which have been selected for evaluation: the Croatian refugees in Serbia; the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh; the Eritrean refugees in Eastern Sudan; and the Burundian refugees in Tanzania. The four evaluations aim to assess how effectively UNHCR has exercised its mandate and the catalytic

Strategic Summary

Richard Gowan

Overviews of international engagement in conflict-affected states typically focus on military peacekeeping and the economics of postconflict peacebuilding. This excludes an array of primarily civilian missions deployed by the United Nations (UN) as well as other multilateral institutions in countries and regions that are at risk of, experiencing or emerging from violence. The hallmark of these missions is political engagement with governments, parties and civil society aimed at averting, mitigating or stopping conflict.

Executive summary

This review examines the response of UNHCR and other stakeholders to three distinct but interrelated mixed migratory movements that are currently taking place to and within southern Africa. First, a movement of people from the Horn of Africa to South Africa, generally transiting through Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique and, to some extent, Zimbabwe; second, a movement of people from the Great Lakes region of Africa (Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda) to South Africa, a proportion of whom are also taking up residence in Malawi and Mozambique;

In the context of the implementation of the Priority Plan for Peacebuilding, developed by the Government of Burundi with the support of the United Nations and in collaboration with other partners, a funding package of 35 million American dollars was allocated to the Government of Burundi by the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) to finance 18 projects in four priority domains, which are: (i) peace and democratic governance, (ii) reform of the security sector, (iii) justice and Human Rights and (iv) the land issue and community recovery.

The selection of proposed projects was