Latest Updates

This week on War & Peace, Olga Oliker interviews co-host Hugh Pope about the updated edition of his book, Dining with Al Qaeda, and how he thinks it helps make sense of the Middle East today. They also reflect on the highs and lows of the year of the pandemic.

As the coronavirus rages in Mexico and the northerly Central American countries, criminal outfits have adapted, often enlarging their turf. To fight organised crime more effectively, governments should combine policing with programs to aid the vulnerable and create attractive alternatives to illegal economic activity.

In this episode of War & Peace, Oleg Shakirov, Senior Expert at the Center for Advanced Governance, joins Olga Oliker and Hugh Pope as they explore the transformation of Russian foreign policy and diplomacy in the digital age.

Murders of Colombian grassroots activists are increasing at an alarming rate. The killers seek to sabotage the country’s 2016 peace agreement and the rural economic reform it promised. Bogotá should step up prosecution of these crimes while pushing to improve social conditions in the countryside.

Every year Crisis Group publishes two additional Watch List updates that complement its annual Watch List for the EU, most recently published in January and May 2020. These publications identify major crises and conflict situations where the European Union and its member states can generate stronger prospects for peace. The Autumn Update of the Watch List 2020 includes entries on Afghanistan, Colombia, Kosovo-Serbia, Lebanon and Somalia.

Watch our video summarising the 2020 EU Watch List Autumn Update’s main recommendations on how the EU can act for peace.

Watch our video summarising the 2020 EU Watch List Autumn Update’s main recommendations on how the EU can act for peace.

The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare shortcomings in the implementation of the FARC peace agreement. In this excerpt from our Watch List 2020 – Autumn Update, Crisis Group urges the EU and its member states to continue pushing for full implementation of the 2016 accord and encouraging the government to pursue a humanitarian ceasefire with the National Liberation Army (ELN).

In early September, demonstrations against police brutality erupted in Colombia’s capital and other cities. In this Q&A, Crisis Group expert Elizabeth Dickinson explains that reactions to the unrest have exposed the country’s political polarisation amid anxieties about the coronavirus and the 2016 FARC peace agreement.