New types of UN peacekeeping brigades could compromise the United Nations' basic principle of impartiality and put UN personnel, their families, and other organizations at risk, said Major Genera…

The situation in the Central African Republic continues to teeter on the edge of catastrophe following the UN-backed French intervention that began last week. But a small victory won in early Nov…

In a December 1998 report to the United Nations Security Council, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan happily reflected on a crisis in Africa where the world body had done well. A UN peace…

At the start of every month, the Global Observatory posts a list of key upcoming meetings and events that have implications for global affairs.   Peace & Security December 2-8: Afri…

Religious tensions have crept further into the increasingly brutal incidents of violence in the Central African Republic, where villager testimonials in this sub-Saharan country relate horrific…

Enthusiasm for the Arab Spring is waning. It was embraced by the US when it was perceived as being responsive to Western pluralistic and liberal democratic ideals. Egypt is tottering on the preci…

The curfew is a good indicator of the delicate situation that Egypt is going through at the moment. The most remarkable thing about it is the extent to which the population is respecting it, pa…

Over the last week, armed skirmishes around the small city of Bossangoa in the northwest of the Central African Republic (CAR) led to the death of up to 100 people and the destruction of a number …

An hour after arriving in Brazil last month to celebrate the Vatican’s World Youth Day, Pope Francis found himself in the midst of one of Rio de Janeiro’s notorious traffic jams when his driver took…

The Mali crisis has put Chad and its president Idriss Déby Itno back on the map, front and center. Only five years ago, in February 2008, President Déby—who has ruled the country since taking p…