Nelleke van de Walle Deputy Project Director, Central Africa Please submit all media inquiries to nvandewalle@crisisgroup.org or call +32 (0) 2 536 00 71. Crisis Group Role Nelleke took on the role as Crisis Group's Deputy Director for the Central Africa Project in April 2019, focusing on the Great Lakes Region. Professional Background Prior to joining Crisis Group, Nelleke was a Dutch diplomat in The Hague and Kinshasa and worked for the UN peacekeeping mission MONUSCO in the DRC. She was a lecturer in International Relations at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, and worked for a major consultancy firm in Kenya. She holds master’s degrees in both History and International Relations from the University of Groningen and received a scholarship for a postgraduate course at the Clingendael Institute of International Relations. Languages Dutch English French Swahili (basic) In The News 20 Aug 2019 [In Burundi] the government is pushing back on international pressure, trying to convince international actors that everything is alright. Meanwhile, its population is suffering in silence. The New Humanitarian Nelleke van de Walle Deputy Project Director, Central Africa Latest Updates Op-Ed / Africa 10 July 2019 AU Heads of State Summit needs to whip Nkurunziza back into line African heads of state should press Burundi to open the political space, in particular letting opposition politicians campaign freely and safely and allowing in international observers, in order to prevent a reprise of past violence or worse. Originally published in The East African Q&A / Africa 23 May 2019 Moïse Katumbi’s Return Portends Shifting Alliances in Congolese Politics On 20 May prominent opposition leader and businessman Moïse Katumbi returned to the Democratic Republic of Congo from exile. In this Q&A, Crisis Group’s Deputy Project Director for Central Africa Nelleke van de Walle discusses the possible impact on Congolese politics, five months after Felix Tshisekedi’s controversial election as president.