• Research Briefing

    The New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition

    US President Obama launched the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition at the May 2012 G8 summit at Camp David. It aims to address years of underinvestment in agriculture, and to meet the financing gap for global food security, in order to help pull 50 million people out of chronic poverty over 10 years. Critics of the New Alliance question whether it will help poor farmers. and charge that the New Alliance represents a “new form of colonialism”. The UK Department for International Development (DFID) supports the scheme and has committed £600 million to it.

  • Research Briefing

    South Africa’s elections: no change?

    On 7 May 2014, South Africa held its fifth national and provincial elections since the end of Apartheid. The African National Congress (ANC) triumphed once again, winning 62.15% of the vote - down 3.75% on its tally in 2009. The Democratic Alliance came second with 22.13%. - up 7.57% on 2009. But while there was no big opposition breakthrough, the ruling party cannot rest on its laurels - not least in Gauteng Province, the country's economic power-house, where its vote fell by over 10% to 53.59%. Debate also continues about creating a labour party to the left of the ANC.

  • Research Briefing

    South Sudan: can the peace deal hold?

    Following five months of fierce fighting that has created a major humanitarian crisis in South Sudan, President Salva Kiir Mayardit of South Sudan and his former Vice-President, Riek Machar, signed a peace deal on 9 May in Addis Ababa at talks brokered by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). The deal involves an immediate ceasefire

  • Research Briefing

    Combating Boko Haram in Nigeria: is the UK doing enough?

    Boko Haram (which means ‘Western education is forbidden’) has forced its way onto the UK news agenda over the last month – first through its bomb attack on a bus station in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, which claimed at least 71 lives, and then by abducting about 190 teenage girls from a school in Borno State

  • Research Briefing

    Libya

    New interim government chosen after Prime Minister Ali Zeidan was ousted from office. New elections promised for July 2014. The country is plagued by violence and fighting. Fighting is often over the country’s huge oil wealth. Distinction between official security forces and unlawful militias is blurred.

  • Research Briefing

    Democratic Republic of Congo: a gathering momentum towards peace?

    The Special Representative of UN Secretary-General on Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Martin Kohler – who is also the head of the UN mission, MONUSCO – has claimed that there is a “new momentum” behind efforts to stabilise the country. This note briefly surveys the DRC's current trajectory.

  • Research Briefing

    The Central African Republic: a primer on the current crisis

    President Francois Bozize was overthrown in March 2013 by a rebel coalition called Seleka, which then installed its leader, Michael Djotodia, as the new president. However, the country remained in turmoil and ‘self-defence groups’ opposed to Seleka, called Anti-Balaka, took up arms. By late 2013, senior UN officials were warning the conflict had turned into one between the Muslim minority and the Christian majority. They said there was a real danger of genocide. While not disputing the seriousness of the crisis, many experts caution against over-simplified narratives of ‘Christian versus Muslim’ and question claims of possible genocide. Despite the arrival of French and African peacekeepers and the resignation of Michael Djotodia - recently replaced by an interim president, Catherine Samba-Panza, who heads an transitional government - violence continues in many parts of the country, with some now fearing de facto partition.

  • Research Briefing

    The “MINT” emerging economies

    Ever since the success of the acronym “BRICs” – coined at the beginning of the 2000s to describe the large fast-growing economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China – economists and investment managers have been attempting to come up with another collection of large emerging economies with bright prospects that can be combined to form

  • Research Briefing

    Nigeria: MINT-ed?

    Jim O’Neill, the economist who first coined the term ‘BRICS’ in 2001, has announced that Nigeria (along with Mexico, Indonesia and Turkey [acronym: MINT) could become one of the next emerging ‘economic giants’. Yet there remain grounds for wondering whether Mr O’Neill’s view is overly rose-tinted. In sharp contrast to him, some recent observers have been talking instead of possible ‘revolution’ or the ‘disintegration’ of Nigeria. Perhaps, like pre-1914 Russia, it is precariously teetering between all three options.

  • Research Briefing

    The African Union, Kenya and the International Criminal Court

    At an extraordinary summit of the African Union on 11-12 October 2013, heads of state and government agreed that Kenya should send a letter to the UN Security Council requesting the deferral of the ICC’s ongoing proceedings against the President and Deputy President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto, both of whom have been charged with crimes against humanity in the context of the post-election violence during 2007-08. Western governments face an acute dilemma. Until now, they have been strong supporters of the ICC’s work in Kenya. However, in recent years, Kenya has become an active regional player in combating Islamist terrorism and recently suffered a major attack by al-Shabaab on a shopping mall in Nairobi. If the UN Security Council were to defer the proceedings, this would be the first time that this has happened since the Court’s inception.

  • Research Briefing

    In brief: Mali – Ibrahim Boubacar Keita wins the presidential election

    On 11 August Mali held the second round of its presidential election. The overwhelming winner with 77.6% of the vote was Ibrahim Boubacar Keita (IBK). He beat Soumaila Cisse, who won 22.4% of the vote. IBK has a credible mandate and has pledged to push ahead with national reconciliation, tackle corruption and rebuild the country’s collapsed economy. But many challenges lie ahead.

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