One Person's Prescription for Salvaging Ethiopia's Tigray Region

 Ethiopia Insight published on 9 July 2025 a commentary titled "Daring the Untried: Struggling for a New Path in Ethiopia's Tigray Region" by Getachew Gebrekiros Temare, lawyer and peace activist. 

Tigray is adrift and no longer a unified region following a war with the central government that ended with the Pretoria Agreement in 2022.  The crisis is political, moral, generational, and spiritual.  There is an absence of transformative political vision and external players have become indifferent. 

The author argues for development of a nonviolent civic movement grounded in grassroots legitimacy and detached from party control.  It must promote truth-telling, communal healing, and justice that goes beyond rhetoric.  Tigray's future will not be salvaged by secret deals or new wars.

Solar Power and Environmental Peacebuilding in Somalia

 The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute published in February 2025 a policy brief titled "Solar Power and Environmental Peacebuilding in South-Central Somalia" by Ann-Sophie Bohle and Kheira Tarif.  

The policy brief explores how the International Organization for Migration's approach to solar power and the facilitation of local public-private partnerships can support environmental peacebuilding at three levels: the community level, the local business level, and the district council level.  

Environmental Peacebuilding in Somalia

 The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute published in September 2024 a policy brief titled "From Conflict to Collaboration: Co-funding Environmental Peacebuilding in South-central Somalia" by Kheira Tarif.  

The policy brief explores how the International Organization for Migration uses a co-funding mechanism for facilitating collaboration between groups in conflict on addressing shared local priorities in south-central Somalia.  

Promoting Peace in South Sudan

 The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute published in June 2024 a paper titled "Towards Humanitarian Action that Intentionally Promotes Peace in South Sudan" by Simone Bunse, Caroline Delgado, and Marie Riquier.  

The paper proposes four theories of change for international peacebuilding.  The first relates to livelihood opportunities and keeping children in school.  The second concerns the connectedness between diverse ethnicities and communities through conflict-sensitive volunteerism.  The third consists in helping socialized program volunteers transition into leadership roles for greater transformational impacts.  The fourth involves vertical and horizontal integration with broader development and peacebuilding efforts.  

Climate Change and Conflict in South-central Somalia

 The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute published in May 2024 a report titled "Burning Ground: Tackling Climate Change and Conflict in South-central Somalia" by Kheira Tarif.  

The report explains how climate action can be used as a platform for reducing violent conflict over natural resources, fostering cross-clan collaboration on climate-smart infrastructure and nature-based solutions; and forging or strengthening relationships between formal authorities and rural communities.

China, Russia, Africa, and Peacebuilding

 The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute published on 18 April 2024 an analysis titled "China, Russia and the Future of Peacebuilding" by Jiayi Zhou, Jair van der Lijn, and Jingdong Yuan.

China's approach to peacebuilding emphasizes sovereignty and regime security and tends to downplay the protection of civilians in armed conflict.  China stresses that poverty and underdevelopment are root causes of conflict and insecurity; economic development is hence considered a key element in fostering peace.

Russia's approach shares China's emphasis on state sovereignty and host state consent, although several Russian military operations such as Ukraine have violated those precepts.  Russia's position is in several respects starkly different to China's.  It argues that economic difficulties do not automatically lead to insecurity and that stabilizing the security situation leads to improved developmental and societal outcomes in a given country--not the other way around.

The authors conclude that China has no distinctive, clearly defined approach to peacebuilding.  Likewise, gaps and inconsistencies between rhetoric and action suggest that Russia engages in fragile settings opportunistically rather than offering a principled approach or paradigm to fostering peace.

Comment:  The differences in approach to peacebuilding by China and Russia suggest this is not an area where they are likely to cooperate in Africa.  Based on past Chinese experience, it is almost inconceivable that China would agree to collaborate with a Russian Wagner Group or Africa Corps contingent.    

State Building in a Somali Region: Galmudug

 The Heritage Institute published in March 2024 a study titled "Galmudug: Governance, State Formation, Conflict Dynamics, and Reconciliation" by Yusuf Sheikh Omar and Ahmed Barre.

The study investigates factors shaping the processes of state formation in Galmudug such as clan politics, economic considerations, conflict dynamics, governance, elections, the condition of internally displaced persons, peace, and reconciliation processes.  

Components of Fragility in South Sudan

 The International Organization for Migration published on 22 November 2023 a paper titled "Understanding Multidimensional Fragility in South Sudan: A Baseline Study of Kajo-Keji, Yei, Bor, and Wau Counties."

The study provides a comprehensive assessment of the multiple dimensions of fragility in South Sudan at the subnational level: political and legal, social, economic, security, and environmental.  The research was conducted through a face-to-face household survey involving 1,595 adult respondents (51 per cent female and 49 per cent male), with approximately 400 participants in each of the four counties.  

Women and Politics in Somalia

 The Mogadishu-based Heritage Institute published in July 2022 a study titled "Women and Politics: Overcoming Barriers of Political Representation in Somalia" by Ladan Affi, Zayed University in the UAE, and Zainab M. Hassan, executive director of the Somali Gender Equity Movement.  

Women in Somali government positions remain under the 30 percent goal promised by the government of Somalia.  The study examines the public perception of women's political participation as well as the opportunities and challenges they face in pursuit of political engagement.  

Women and Politics in Somalia

 The Heritage Institute for Policy Studies published in July 2022 a report titled "Women and Politics: Overcoming Barriers of Political Representation in Somalia" by Ladan Affi and Zainab M. Hassan.  

This report examines the public perception of women's political participation as well as the opportunities and challenges they face in Somali politics.  

Climate Security and Peacebuilding in Somalia

 The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute published in June 2022 a study titled "Towards an Integrated Approach to Climate Security and Peacebuilding in Somalia" by Emilie Broek and Christophe M. Hodder.  

The study explores the linkages between climate security and peacebuilding processes in Somalia.  Worsening climatic conditions are challenging livelihoods and altering the physical surroundings and security upon which people depend.  

Sudan: Environmental Governance for Peacebuilding in Darfur

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) published in June 2014 a report titled "Relationships and Resources: Environmental Governance for Peacebuilding and Resilient Livelihoods in Sudan." 

The report argues that achieving peace in Darfur requires an approach that includes both technical work to restore degraded natural resources and one that rebuilds new forms of environmental governance and political work capable of establishing a shared vision, resolving conflicts, and advancing new forms of governance.  The report describes practical experiences undertaken by UNEP and numerous  partners in government and civil society between 2007 and 2014 to support Darfur's own efforts to develop new inclusive and participatory approaches to environmental governance.  It focuses on the process by which governance and peacebuilding may be promoted using natural resources as the basis for rebuilding key relationships and trust. 

Local Peace Processes in Sudan and South Sudan

The US Institute of Peace (USIP) published on 6 May 2014 a report titled "Local Peace Processes in Sudan and South Sudan" by Jacqueline H. Wilson, a senior program officer at USIP's Academy for International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding.

The author notes that local and intercommunal violence continues unabated.  Local conflicts related to cattle raids and grazing rights and persistent national conflicts are inextricably linked in Sudan and South Sudan, complicating efforts to reduce violence and build sustainable peace.  She argues that smaller, more regular meetings focused on a limited number of agenda items are likely to have greater effect than large conferences addressing many topics.