The UK city of Glasgow will host the 26th UN Climate Change Conference this November. The two-week-long event, beginning on 31 October, will attract large numbers of VIPs, including 120 heads of state. A further 30,000 delegates from 200 countries are expected to join to discuss changes to the climate and make commitments towards stalling […]

Lauren Snelling, Risk Analyst at Northcott Global Solutions, discusses risk mitigation solutions for companies and charities operating in one of the world’s most unstable regions.       Risks to NGOs in East Africa   The work of NGOs in East Africa has garnered considerable attention in recent months, most notably the result of the […]

Since the seizure of Kabul by the Taliban in mid-August, the most pressing question for Western governments has been whether the group will once more allow terrorists within its borders to conduct international attacks. The threat to the West will be shaped by a complex pattern of internal Taliban alliances and interlocking regional interests, with […]

Current situation   Twenty years after the Taliban were removed from power following the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, roles have been reversed with Westerns now fleeing the country and the Taliban expected to form the next government. The past two months saw the extremist Sunni militant group rapidly advance towards Kabul, taking successive provincial capitals […]

UNREST   On Wednesday 07 July, Jacob Zuma handed himself over to police. The following Friday, his appeal against prison on grounds of poor health was rejected, and violent protests broke out across KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces, particularly in parts of Durban and Johannesburg. The violence rapidly developed into deliberate property damage, arson and looting […]

News of a unilateral truce offered by the Ethiopian Federal Government to the Tigray Defence Forces (TDF) has raised hopes that the eight-month conflict between the two may be coming to an end. The war has further diminished the prospect of stability and democratisation of Ethiopia, which had begun to show signs of development. Amid […]

Overview   According to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), 2020 was the deadliest year in the Malian conflict so far, with 2,825 civilian and combatant deaths. This high death toll was driven by the growth of the rival jihadist groups Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) and the Islamic State in the […]

Context   The second round of the Peruvian presidential election will take place on 06 June, following a first round on 11 April that saw a record 18 candidates compete in an atmosphere characterised by political disillusionment. The two candidates with the highest vote share and now in the second round, the far-left Pedro Castillo […]

Latest Incident   Two Spanish journalists and an Irish national were killed on Monday by gunmen in Burkina Faso’s Pama national park, a large nature reserve adjacent to the Benin border. Not much detail is available on the incident, but it appears that the journalists were filming a documentary about poaching activities with the help […]

Latest Incident   President Idriss Déby Itno, who has governed Chad since 1990, was killed in northern Chad on Tuesday. The exact circumstances are currently unknown, but the army has stated that he died from injuries sustained in combat with the Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT), a Libya-based rebel group that entered […]

Overview   Former police officer Derek Chauvin is currently standing trial in the United States on charges of manslaughter and second- and third-degree murder following the death of George Floyd last summer. The death of Floyd, an African American, while in the custody of Chauvin, a white police officer, sparked outrage and reignited racial tensions […]

Since the military coup, hundreds of refugees have moved towards the Indian and Thai borders, fleeing persecution and political instability. Almost a thousand people have used people-smuggling networks to travel from Myanmar’s north-western Chin state into India’s Mizoram state. Hundreds more are currently sheltering in remote areas along the Thai border, reportedly under the protection […]