Latest Updates

This week on Hold Your Fire, Richard Atwood and Naz Modirzadeh talk to Beth Dickinson, Crisis Group’s Colombia expert, about the violence in Colombia’s countryside over coca production and why the government’s forced eradication of coca is making things worse. 

Five interactive slides show just how far the U.S. campaign to pressure Iran into expanding the 2015 nuclear deal has escalated risks in the Middle East, underlining the need for both sides to urgently resume compliance with their obligations under the accord.

Coca gives Colombian small farmers a stable livelihood but also endangers their lives, as criminals battle over the drug trade and authorities try to shut it down. Bogotá and Washington should abandon their heavy-handed elimination efforts and help growers find alternatives to the hardy plant.

Speech by Comfort Ero, Program Director for Africa, to the 975th session of the African Union Peace and Security Council.

Developing countries may have suffered more from the pandemic economically and politically than they have in the realm of public health. For some, what comes next could be worse. 

This week on Hold Your Fire!, Naz Modirzadeh and Richard Atwood discuss the “maximum pressure” sanctions that the U.S. has imposed upon Iran and Venezuela. Their guests are Crisis Group’s experts on these two countries, Ali Vaez and Phil Gunson.

New financial structures will soon allow the EU to fund African military operations – including the supply of lethal weaponry – directly, instead of through the African Union. To avoid aggravating conflicts, Brussels should undertake robust risk assessments, constantly monitor its assistance, insist that recipient countries subordinate military efforts to political strategies and preserve African Union oversight.

This week on The Horn, Alan Boswell is joined by Crisis Group’s Project Director for the Horn of Africa Murithi Mutiga to discuss what he’s watching for across the region in 2021.

This Briefing Note provides up-to-the-minute analysis of attempts to end Libya’s almost decade-long civil war through talks focused on reunifying the country’s government, oil-based economy and security forces. It is the second in a series of twice-monthly updates.

For years, South Africa trusted in behind-the-scenes contacts to alleviate Zimbabwe’s political and economic problems. But those troubles have continued to mount. By stepping up pressure, and by working with Washington on reform guidelines, Pretoria can help Harare find a way out of its crisis.