Cuban communists can count. They understand that they have a maximum of three or four years either to become a different kind of politician or to open their own businesses, taking advantage as best they can of the new economic opportunities opened by the rapprochement with the US. Or they can bet on world revolution, Putin-style.
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On June 17, 2014, the Africa Center for Strategic Studies held its 15th Senior Leaders Seminar in Washington D.C. The theme was Regional Responses: Security Sector Reform and Rule of Law. This is a video of a presentation made at the seminar by Ibrahim Wani, the Director of Human Rights, United Nations Mission in South Sudan.
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All eyes would have been on the now cancelled, joint summit between the South African Development Community (SADC) member states and their counterparts from the International Conference on the Great Lakes (ICGLR). It was hoped that the SADC would propose a more holistic approach to disarming the FDLR. Simply extending the disarmament deadline again will only prolong the agony and discredit the organisation.
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The Stimson Center’s report “Will They Protect Us for the Next 10 Years?” Challenges Faced by the UN Peacekeeping Mission in South Sudan, examines the growing challenges faced by the UN mission (UNMISS) and how best to address them. In addition to examining the threats and challenges faced by the UNMISS, the report provides recommendations on how it can best prioritize its scarce resources. These recommendations are summarized here.
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Reports about SSR and DDR in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are nowadays often ignored by analysts and researchers alike for several reasons – the context rarely changes dramatically, and the key actors remain the same, which makes for few new insights and revelations. However, in 2012 and 2013, things changed quite radically and it appeared as if a window of opportunity finally had opened up for some serious change in the Congo.
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Along with removing authoritarian governments, reform of security institutions was a primary goal of the Arab Spring. In the aftermath of regime change, it was evident in all countries that reform of the security sector was not just symbolically important; it was an essential requirement. Yet almost four years later there has been little progress. Why has it been so difficult for regional states to reform their security institutions?
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