The 25th anniversary of the Security Council’s first consideration of the ‘Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict’ and adoption of its first thematic resolution on the issue coincided with the 75th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions. Rather than standing as a moment to herald the achievements associated with these milestones, these anniversaries coincided with a “resoundingly grim” state of protection of civilians.
Reading of the Week: Protection of Civilians in the Context of Peace Operations
Stimson
The sudden collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s government in December 2024 has led many to focus on Russia, and its inability or unwillingness to prioritize Syria due to the conflict in Ukraine. But focusing too much on Russia understates the role that Iran, and more specifically Tehran’s proxies, played in propping up Assad.
Tehrans proxies are on the back foot. An Iran-Russia defense pact could revive them
Breaking Defense
Sudan’s civil war disrupted the political transition and work of the UN’s former special political mission UNITAMS, forcing it to depart the country. Taking a step back from the current conflict, this report reflects on the Security Council’s attempt to support the protection of civilians in country in the few years preceding the war.
Civilian Protection in Sudan: Emerging Lessons from UNITAMS
Stimson
In the post-Cold War era, the Middle East and Africa were defined largely by their geopolitical significance. The West, especially the United States and Europe, engaged with these regions through a lens focused on security, energy supply, and strategic alliances. However, this dynamic has shifted significantly over the last two decades.
Africa and the Middle East: The Shift from Geopolitics to Geoeconomics
Policy Center for the New South
We are witnessing a moment of transition in international governance. Everyone unanimously concludes that we are facing a multipolar world. This process of reconfiguration of international architecture leads us to consider the future of the Euro-Mediterranean area today.
A New Centrality for the Euro-Mediterranean Space
European Institute of the Mediterranean
Established in 2013 by the UN Security Council, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) aimed to stabilize the situation in northern Mali, support the political transition, protect civilians, and promote human rights amidst ongoing conflict and instability. The mission’s mandate evolved over its ten-year tenure to address the changing political and security landscape, leading to its withdrawal at the request of the Malian government in 2023.
Emerging Lessons from MINUSMAs Experience in Mali
International Peace Institute
The prospect of Maghreb states’ unity in transforming the oil-rich North Africa, once the breadbasket of the Mediterranean, into a more integrated region of stability and growth was buried at the Carthage summit in April 2024 with the launch of a tripartite initiative bringing together Tunisia, Algeria and Libya, nicknamed the G3.
Reading Of The Week: Will the G3 of Maghreb states reshape the balance of power in North Africa?
Manara
On June 25, Haitians in Port-au-Prince watched closely as several hundred Kenyan police officers, clad in uniform, filed to the tarmac from a Kenya Airways plane. The officers’ arrival had been in the works for more than a year and a half, since the former Haitian prime minister, Ariel Henry, requested international support for the Haitian police in the face of a then-unprecedented uprising by gangs in the fall of 2022.
Why Kenyas deployment wont solve all of Haitis problems
Brookings
The present report, submitted pursuant to paragraph 47 of Security Council resolution 2717 (2023), covers developments in the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 20 March to 19 June 2024. It describes the progress and challenges in the implementation of the mandate of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO).
United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
United Nations (UN)
Nigeria has relied on the United States (US) for support in its efforts to combat a variety of armed opposition groups (AOGs), and the US considers Nigeria a key partner in West Africa. Nigeria faces formidable security challenges as AOGs across the country harm civilians and threaten livelihoods.
US Security Assistance to Nigeria: Civilian Protection Gaps and Opportunities
Center for Civilians in Conflict
UNSCR 2719 provides a framework for peace operations led by the African Union (AU) to access UN funding through assessed contributions. This has the potential to make peace operations more effective and sustainable while enhancing African leadership in managing them. It was necessitated in part by a decline of UN peacekeeping and a shift to African-led missions
African Union and United Nations Partnership Key to the Future of Peace Operations in Africa
Africa Center for Strategic Studies
The Biden administration has responded positively to Saudi Arabia’s interest in civil nuclear cooperation with the United States—both because such cooperation is a Saudi condition for the normalization of Saudi-Israeli relations, which the administration strongly supports, and because it believes a bilateral civil nuclear partnership can bring important benefits to both countries.
A way forward on a US-Saudi civil nuclear agreement
Brookings
This week, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meets to renew the mandate of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) for another year. It has been renewed over 13 times since the mission’s inception in 2011, but this time will be vital.
UNMISS is crucial to free and fair elections in South Sudan
Institute for Security Studies
On February 28, 2004, during the second extraordinary session of the African Union in Sirte, Libya, the continental body adopted the Common African Defence and Security Policy (CADSP), which set out to consolidate a continental architecture capable of advancing peace and security by addressing domestic and foreign threats.
Can the AUs Common African Defence and Security Policy Provide a Pan-African Solution to the Continents Security Challenges?
IPI Global Observatory
The operation is a sign of Europe’s willingness to take action against the current instability, though significant work is needed to coordinate with existing initiatives and convince regional officials of the mission’s usefulness.
The EUs New Red Sea Naval Mission: Implications and Challenges
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
For the first time in four decades, a core U.S. interest in the region on which successive American presidents have based U.S. Middle East policy - freedom of navigation and the free flow of commerce - is increasingly at risk. By enabling the Houthis in Yemen to attack international vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden with armed drones and sophisticated anti-ship missiles, Iran, as it did in the Gulf in the late 1980s, is causing tremendous harm to commercial activity in one of the world’s most crucial waterways.
Reading of the Week: A Strategy for Countering the Houthi Threat at Sea
Middle East Institute
On November 21, 2023, the International Peace Institute (IPI), the Stimson Center, and Security Council Report organized a workshop to discuss the mandate and political strategy of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO). This discussion was part of a series of workshops that examine how the activities included in peace operations’ mandates can be better prioritized, sequenced, and grounded in a political strategy.
Prioritizing and Sequencing Security Council Mandates in 2023: The Case of MONUSCO
International Peace Institute
The Strategic Foresight Analysis 2023 (SFA23) provides a shared understanding of the Evolving Security Environment to 2043, thus establishing the context for Allied futures thinking. Based on this context, the Future Operating Environment 2024 (FOE24) will address the military problem sets for Allied Warfare Development.
Unveiling the Future: The Release of Allied Command Transformations Strategic Foresight Analysis 2023
NATO Allied Command Transformation
Historically, sanctions have been used against countries whose activities were interpreted as threats to peace and security, or individuals who had breached international laws or norms. However, over the last three decades, targeted sanctions have become an increasingly important tool to address organized crime.
Convergence Zone, The evolution of targeted sanctions usage against organized crime
Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime
From 21 August to 1 September 2023, delegates debated a zero draft of the United Nations Treaty on Countering the Use of Information and Communications Technologies for Criminal Purposes, or more succinctly referred to as the ‘cybercrime treaty’, at a UN session in New York.
Cybercrime Treaty Summary of the GI-TOC's key positions
Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime
In the year 2000, United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on women and peace and security stressed the link between gender equality and international peace and security. The resolution underscored the importance of the full and equal participation of women in all efforts towards the maintenance and promotion of peace and security, including UN peace operations.
Women in multilateral peace operations 2023: what is the state of play?
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
A lack of strong security sector oversight institutions in Africa has hampered efforts to improve military professionalism, enabled corrupt officials, and hobbled defense and security forces on the continent. Nine military coups d’état in seven countries since 2020 underscore the continued politicization and lack of professionalism plaguing certain defense forces.
Oversight and Accountability to Improve Security Sector Governance in Africa
Africa Center for Strategic Studies
In an official government statement submitted to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) General Conference on September 25, Saudi energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman wrote, “The Kingdom has decided recently to rescind the Small Quantities Protocol and implement the full Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement. The Kingdom is working, within the framework of its national ecosystem, to establish the necessary mechanisms for this full implementation, following best international practices and experiences"
Saudi Arabia Signals It Will Accept Stricter Nuclear Inspections
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
During the summer of 2023, al-Shabaab’s operations along the Kenya-Somalia border have significantly increased, raising concerns over a possible flare-up of cross-border activity. Between June and early August, ACLED records over 90 political violence events involving al-Shabaab militants in the border area, over half of which occurred in the Lower Juba region of Somalia (see map below). Increased al-Shabaab activity in the border area has resulted in a marked surge in attacks targeting security forces and civilians in northeastern Kenya and coastal Lamu county since June 2023, and a parallel surge in al-Shabaab activity recorded in neighboring Jubaland state in Somalia in July.
Kenya-Somalia Border: Rising al-Shabaab Threat in the Wake of ATMIS Drawdown
Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project
Peacekeeping is getting more dangerous. Illicit arms, ammunition, and explosives are key factors in this increasingly hostile environment. The United Nations needs to adapt to ensure the safety of peacekeepers and their ability to implement mandated tasks. The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) illustrates both the possible dangers to current missions as well as lessons learned in efforts to mitigate the impact of illicit arms. This brief reviews MINUSMA’s experiences in these regards.
Peacekeeping in hostile environments: The Impact of illicit arms on MINUSMA
UN Institute for Disarmament Research
This study explores the complex relationships between urbanisation and transnational organised crime, focusing on how illicit arms shape urban violence and are leveraged by criminal groups. It maps the nexus between arms trafficking actors and criminal groups operating in other organised markets in urban contexts and proposes interventions that engage with diverse layers of urban governance and stakeholders in the cities. The study focuses on Bamako and Lagos as urban centres in which arms trafficking and urbanisation intersect.
Reading of the Week: Silencing the guns in Bamako and Lagos
ENACT Africa
As part of MONUSCO’s mandate renewal in December 2022, the UN Security Council called for the secretary-general to outline pathways for the mission’s transition and withdrawal from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), along with possible options for the future reconfiguration of the UN’s presence in the country, by July 2023. This past year, the rise of the M23 and other non-state armed groups in eastern DRC has led to the deployment of regional and bilateral forces, while rising anti-MONUSCO sentiment has further restricted the UN’s operating space. Following widespread and lethal civilian demonstrations against the mission’s perceived ineffectiveness throughout 2022, the government of the DRC notified the UN Security Council of its intention to reassess the agreed timetable for the mission’s departure, citing the deep displeasure of the Congolese people.
Reading of the Week: Options for Reconfiguring the UN Presence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
International Peace Institute
In June, to the surprise of most UN Security Council members, Mali’s government called on the Council to pull UN peacekeepers out of the country “without delay”. Some diplomats briefly considered options for keeping the UN Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) in place, but most greeted the news with a resignation verging on fatalism. Although the precise timing of Bamako’s demand was unexpected, the Malian government had been frank about its loss of trust in the UN.
What Future for UN Peacekeeping in Africa after Mali Shutters Its Mission?
International Crisis Group
While security concerns and military-technical capabilities continue to play a significant role in the complex nuclear decision-making processes undertaken by governments, the interplay between these factors and select normative components found within a country’s domestic political and foreign policy environment can, in certain situations, modify the direction of a state’s nuclear program. As such, while a state’s final nuclear-related decisions may or may not diverge from security predictions in the end, it nevertheless remains useful for scholars and policymakers to consider how other factors might impact how states arrive at their decisions.
Reading of the Week: Nuclear About-Face
The Belfer Center
Traditionally, financial assistance emerged as a key driver for aid politicisation as indicated by the Gulf engagement in countries such as Egypt or Tunisia that faced political turmoil after the “Arab Uprisings” more than a decade ago. In both cases, the growing rivalry between pro-Islamist Qatar on the one hand and the status quo powers Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) played out also in the aid dimension.
Shifting Gulf Foreign Aid: Prospects And Obstacles In EU Collaboration
Brussels International Center
The JOINT Effectiveness Checklist provides a comparatively simple framework for policy-makers and researchers to analyse the effectiveness of the EU’s response to conflicts and crises. It adds value to existing evaluation tools by a) assessing effectiveness relative to the level of difficulty of the policy environment, and b) adapting and further developing existing standard policy assessment criteria/indicators specifically to the requirements of the multi-actor/multi-layered/multi-sector nature of the EU foreign and security policy.
JOINT Effectiveness Checklist for EU Foreign and Security Policy in Conflict and Crisis Situations
Istituto Affari Internazionali
A convergence of entrenched insecurity and climate change is having serious socio-economic implications in South Sudan where humanitarian conditions, including food insecurity, continue to deteriorate. In 2022, 8.9 million people were in need of humanitarian assistance, out of a population of 11 million.
Improving the Prospects for Peace in South Sudan: Spotlight on Measurement
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
In recent years, initiatives to improve NATO burden sharing that is, the extent to which allies are sufficiently contributing to the common defense have resulted in marginal defense spending increases. Yet publics and parliaments remain concerned that most allies are not spending 2 percent of their gross domestic products on defense.
From Burden Sharing to Responsibility Sharing
Center for Strategic & International Studies
On 18 May 2022, the European External Action Service (EEAS) released a joint communication to the European Parliament and the Council on a strategic partnership with the Gulf. The document lays out a strategy to strengthen the European Union’s (EU’s) position in the wider Gulf space by deepening relations with the region’s rising geopolitical players, i.e. the six monarchies of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC): Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman.
The EUs Strategic Partnership with the Gulf: One Year On
Brussels International Center
Overall, the Arab League summit could be an opportunity for leaders to take steps to turn the League from a symbolic regional bloc to a more influential one. This could involve increasing collaboration and coordination between Arab states in more concrete terms, as well as strengthening and expanding the League's institutional capabilities.
What Critical Opportunities and Challenges Await the Arab League Summit?
Brussels International Center
The resurgence in late 2021 of the M23 rebel movement has plunged the volatile eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) into even more turmoil, displacing an additional 600 000 people in 18 months. Tensions between the DRC and Rwanda, which is supporting the M23, are at an all-time high. Regional efforts by Luanda to reconcile the two countries have so far failed. The East African Community has taken the bold step of sending in a regional military force, but its composition is problematic and it is already coming up against domestic opposition.
Reading of the Week: The M23 Crisis. An Opportunity to Bring Sustainable Peace to the Great Lakes Region?
The South African Institute of International Affair
The present report is the thirty-seventh semi-annual report of the SecretaryGeneral on the implementation of Security Council resolution 1559 (2004). It provides a review and assessment of the implementation of the resolution since the issuance of the previous report on the subject (S/2022/749), on 11 October 2022, and covers developments until 24 March 2023.
Implementation of Security Council resolution 1559 (2004)
UN Security Council
Increasing strategic competition among major powers has had a negative effect on the efficacy of formal multilateral cooperation. This has also been reflected in informal forums such as the G7, G20 and BRICS. Yet some new dynamics have emerged.Since Russia was excluded from the G8 in 2014, the G7 has become a key forum for Western cooperation. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has further geared the group towards a stronghold of Western economies and democracies.The BRICS group has continued to meet at leaders’ level, and has consolidated its position. Despite variation in its members’ interests, the group aims to balance the G7, and its importance for China and Russia has been elevated.
The changing dynamics of the G7, G20 and BRICS: Informal multilateral cooperation is increasingly important in an era of strategic competition
Finnish Institute of International Affairs
In the global narrative on organized crime, a key sticking point has often been the question of definitions and measurement. How should we define organized crime? What components should be included in its definition? And what are the best ways of measuring it? In the analysis and programming on organized crime, these questions have been a source of some debate. To date, there is no consensus.
Sahel: Why stabilization efforts should address internal displacement
Clingendael
Since 1948, more than 1,000 UN personnel have been killed in malicious acts while serving in UN peacekeeping operations. Since 2013, the vast majority of fatalities have taken place in the Central African Republic (CAR), Mali, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). To address this trend, the UN Secretariat and member states have increasingly focused on strengthening the policy framework on accountability to peacekeepers.
Accountability for Crimes against Peacekeepers
International Peace Institute
Since the British withdrawal from the Persian Gulf in the early 1970s, Oman has relied on the United States as a key defense partner, and successive U.S. presidential administrations have considered Oman important to the promotion of regional stability and peace in the Middle East. Over the past decade, Oman has played the role of discreet mediator having served an intermediary in seeking to resolve the ongoing civil conflict in Yemen.
Oman: Politics, Security, and U.S. Policy
Congressional Research Service
The important and precedent-setting agreement between the Ministry of Defense and the Treasury is analyzed here from three perspectives: the power of Minister Smotrich in the Defense Ministry; the change in policy on human resources; and the approval of the multiyear security budget for a multiyear plan. The main message is that notwithstanding the plan’s stability and innovation and its positive potential in terms of security establishment buildup and improved conditions of service in the IDF, the prospects are overshadowed by the complexity of the change in power structure, reflected in the agreement with respect to the Palestinian arena. There is also a lack of clarity over the actual implementation of the agreement, and in particular, the concern that if the government’s other commitments are implemented, and above all the legislation undermining conscription, the positive and bold understandings in the agreement on the human resources model for the army will undermine the stability of the “people’s army” model. Moreover, defining a multiyear budget outline without an approved multiyear plan for buildup and without the necessary decisions, mainly over the function of the ground forces and the required achievements of the campaign, could mean that the heavy costs will not be translated into actual readiness for a complex multi-theater scenario.
The Agreement between the Ministry of Defense and the Treasury- Prospects and Risks
The Institute for National Security Studies
The Russian army and Russian private military contractors linked to the Kremlin have expanded their global military footprint in Africa, seeking basing rights in a half dozen countries and inking military cooperation agreements with 28 African governments, according to an analysis by the Institute for the Study of War. U.S. officials estimate that around 400 Russian mercenaries operating in the Central African Republic (CAR), and Moscow recently delivered military equipment to support counterinsurgency operations in northern Mozambique.
Russias Footprint in Africa
Center for Security Studies ETH Zurich
Although U.S.-Saudi bilateral ties are on the mend, ambiguities and the transactional nature of the 1945 oil-for-security covenant contribute to mistrust and mutual tensions. But the burden of fixing or stabilizing the relationship is a shared responsibility. For its part, Saudi Arabia should make a determined and demonstrable effort to address legitimate U.S. concerns, including human rights, oil production policy, security overtures to Beijing, and the war in Yemen.
After Oil-For-Security: A Blueprint for Resetting US-Saudi Security Relations
Middle East Institute
This was a meeting on Iraq. Special Representative and head of UNAMI Ms. Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert briefed on recent developments in Iraq and the Secretary-General’s reports on UNAMI (S/2023/58) and the issue of missing Kuwaiti and third-party nationals and missing Kuwaiti property (S/2023/51).
Resolution 9253 The situation concerning Iraq
UN Security Council
Yemen is becoming an ever more fragmented country – to such an extent that it may soon be impossible ever to piece it back together again. A combination of internal dynamics exacerbated by the actions of neighbouring states has brought Yemen to this pass. For the international community, and the European Union and European states, addressing this will be difficult – but they can do so by providing long-term help, rather than lurching between short-term fixes.
Fragmentation Nation: How Europeans Can Help End The Conflict In Yemen
European Council on Foreign Relations
The present report covers the period from 23 June 2022 to 30 December 2022 and contains an overview of developments and trends in West Africa and the Sahel, and the activities of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS). It also highlights progress made in the implementation of the United Nations integrated strategy for the Sahel, and includes an update on the situation in the Lake Chad basin, pursuant to Security Council resolution 2349 (2017).
Activities of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel
UN Security Council
The UN Security Council is expected to renew the mandate of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) in December 2022. The upcoming negotiations among council members will unfold against the backdrop of renewed fighting between the Armed Forces of the DRC (FARDC) and the M23 rebel group. And while several regional diplomatic initiatives are underway, the security and humanitarian conditions continue to worsen in the eastern provinces of the DRC, with persistent threats to human rights and the protection of civilians.
Reading of the Week: Prioritizing and Sequencing Security Council Mandates in 2022: The Case of MONUSCO
International Peace Institute
In the period from 1991 to 2004 there were three challenges to the international nuclear non-proliferation community and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Three countries—South Africa, Iraq and Libya—had taken their ambitions to build nuclear weapons to a high threshold of implementation. This report provides an account and analysis of the inspection campaigns to disarm and denuclearize these three states from the perspective of a direct participant.
Verifying Nuclear Disarmament - Lessons Learned in South Africa
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
The present review is submitted pursuant to Security Council resolution 2642 (2022), in which the Council requested that the Secretary-General provide a special report on the humanitarian needs in the Syrian Arab Republic by no later than 10 December 2022. Also in the resolution, the Council called upon humanitarian agencies to step up further initiatives to broaden the humanitarian activities in the Syrian Arab Republic, including water, sanitation, health, education, electricity where essential to restore access to basic services, and shelter early recovery projects.
Report of the Secretary-General: Humanitarian needs in the Syrian Arab Republic
UN Security Council
Taken together, some recent events represent a watershed in the global geopolitical landscape. The strategic repositioning of the US towards the Indo-Pacific, NATO’s withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Russian invasion of Ukraine highlights the need for EU member states to invest more and better in the defence sector. Industrial cooperation between national champions is pivotal to reduce unnecessary duplications and foster interoperability.
Reading of the week; Naval Defence Cooperation in the EU - Potential and Hurdles
Istituto Affari Internazionali
In its conclusions of 16 April 2021, the Council defined the European Union’s Integrated Strategy in the Sahel. The Council in particular expressed its concern that the gradual expansion of insecurity and its impact, of which civilian populations are the first victims, has exacerbated a situation of multiple crises, with unprecedented humanitarian consequences in the region, including an increase in the number of internally displaced persons and refugees and forced displacements.
Council Decision - European Union military partnership mission in Niger
Official Journal of the European Union
La plus grande mission onusienne jamais déployée, la Mission de l’Organisation des Nations unies pour la stabilisation en République démocratique du Congo (MONUSCO) est actuellement dans un processus de retrait. Les détails des modalités de ce retrait, son calendrier précis et la nature exacte de ce qui prendra place ensuite font encore l’objet de nombreux échanges dont la teneur est bien entendu influencée en temps réel par la situation sur le terrain, dans l’Est de la RDC, autant que par l’évolution de la situation politique à Kinshasa à l’approche des élections prévues en 2023.
Défis et enjeux du plan de retrait de la MONUSCO
Observatoire Boutros-Ghali
The present report is submitted pursuant to Security Council resolution 2636 (2022), by which the Council decided to extend the mandate of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in the Sudan (UNITAMS) until 3 June 2023 and requested the Secretary-General to report every 90 days on its implementation. The report covers developments in the Sudan from 6 May to 20 August 2022 and contains an update on the implementation of the Mission’s mandate, with gender
considerations integrated throughout as a cross-cutting issue.
Situation in the Sudan and the activities of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in the Sudan
United Nations
The present report is submitted pursuant to General Assembly resolution 76/11. In that resolution, which deals with the Syrian Golan, the Assembly demanded once more that Israel withdraw from all of the occupied Syrian Golan to the line of 4 June 1967 in implementation of the relevant Security Council resolution.
Report of the Secretary-General: The Situation in Middle East
United Nations
The negotiations between the United States and Iran on renewing the nuclear agreement have run into serious difficulties following the opposition by the United States and the European partners to Iran's demand that the IAEA close the open files on the Iranian nuclear program before the implementation of the agreement (120 days after signing). At the same time, Iran continues to accelerate the program, including the enrichment of uranium using cascades of advanced centrifuges.
Difficulties in the Negotiations with Iran: Implications for Israel
Institute for National Security studies
The seven member states of the East African Community (EAC) have agreed to deploy a regional force to the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). On 15 August, a Burundian contingent was the first to enter the DRC under EAC auspices. There is no firm timetable for the force’s full deployment. The DRC joined the EAC, a regional economic bloc, in late March. Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi used the occasion of the DRC’s accession to ask his counterparts for help in tackling the dozens of armed groups that have fought each other and the authorities in the eastern DRC for years.
East Africas DR Congo Force: The Case for Caution
International Crisis Group
Two years ago, South Sudanese President Salva Kiir, his long-time rival Riek Machar, and other opposition leaders formed a transitional unity government. The formation of the unity government marked a significant step forward in the implementation of the 2018 revitalized peace agreement (R-ARCSS), which sought to end a brutal five-year civil war that has resulted in hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths. Despite this progress, the situation in South Sudan remains dire and unstable: civilians continue to face high levels of violence in some parts of the country; a projected 60 percent of people in South Sudan will face acute food insecurity in 2022
Implementation of Do No Harm by UN Peacekeepers in South Sudan
Center For Civilians In Conflict
Over the past three decades, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has undergone a geopolitical transformation, punctuated by a series of critical junctures: the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990-1991, the American and NATO operations in Afghanistan the following decade, the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the Arab uprisings of 2011. These regional geopolitical shifts – often dictated by domestic drivers – have been accompanied by global geostrategic changes. As a result, the Gulf sub-region, encompassing Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, Iraq, Yemen, and Iran, has emerged as the new center of gravity in the MENA region.
The unrealized potential of cooperative security in the Arab Gulf
NATO Defense College Policy Brief
There is no doubt that Arabs and Israel are hoping for very different things from President Biden’s trip to the Mideast. Israel’s wishes for the Biden visit are straightforward. It wants Biden’s life-long commitment to Israel put on display, to serve as a reminder to countries in the region and to doubters in the U.S. not to question the vibrancy of the U.S.-Israel relationship.
From Arabs and Israelis, Biden Hears Very Different New Middle Easts
The Washington Institute
International sanctions to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine have overlooked a key component in the Kremlin’s toolbox for international terror and coercion: the private military company (PMC) Wagner Group, which is owned by Vladimir Putin confidant Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Reading of the Week: It s Time to Designate Wagner Group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization
LAWFARE - Hard National Security Choices
The results of the parliamentary elections in Lebanon reflect changes in the political map, in particular the weakening of the Hezbollah camp and the growing strength of its opponents. However, the opposition camp is still weak and divided, and thus the results do not enable it to form the stable and functioning government that Lebanon so desperately needs.
Hezbollah s Political Challenges following the Elections in Lebanon
The Institute for National Security Studies (INSS)
The question of border demarcation has been one of the most contentious issues in the historical relationship between Yemen and Saudi Arabia. Border disputes have been at the heart of many of the tensions between the two countries over the past century. They fought over the border in 1934, resulting in the Treaty of Taif, a non-permanent agreement that reflected the will of Saudi Arabia. But the border was to remain a source of conflict into the 1990s, which saw a number of military skirmishes.
Resolving the Yemen Saudi Border Problem Time to Revive the Joint Committees
Center for Strategic Studies (SANAA)
This report offers an independent review of the extent to which the impressive development of Security Sector Reform (SSR) policy at the United Nations over the past 15 years has shaped SSR interventions supported by peacekeeping operations. The review identifies serious deficiencies in mandates, strategy, organization, implementation and learning in United Nations mission practices regarding SSR. It suggests that the transmission of policy into practice requires substantial improvement.
Review of UN Peace Operations Support to Security Sector Refor
Clingendael
The rapprochement between the Gulf states and Iraq is of economic and geostrategic importance. It allows Iraq to attract necessary investments and balance the influence of Iran, and through their involvement in Iraq, the Gulf states seek to improve their security and influence in the region. However, Iraq's political impasse following the 2021 elections, along with the foreign involvement in its affairs, makes it difficult for it to move closer to the Arab world and function as a bridge between the Persian Gulf and Arabian Gulf. Moreover, the recent rapprochement between Israel and some Gulf states could be detrimental to Iraq, which, due to its internal divisions, is not ripe for joining the normalization trend.
Iraq-Gulf Relations: An Anchor for Stability and Restraining Iranian Involvement in the Region?
Institute National Security Studies (INSS)
Recognizing that the current situation in Abyei and along the border between Sudan and South Sudan continues to constitute a threat to international peace and security, decides to extend until 15 November 2022 the mandate of UNISFA.
Resolution 2630 (2022)
United Nations Security Council