Richard Atwood Interim President Brussels Please submit all media inquiries to PresidentsOffice@crisisgroup.org or call +1 212 813 0820 Crisis Group Role Richard Atwood is Crisis Group’s Interim President, based in Brussels. Professional Background For several years, Richard was Crisis Group’s chief of policy, working with regional programs and other colleagues to develop and promote the organisation’s analysis and prescriptions. Prior to that, he was New York director, representing Crisis Group at the United Nations. He helped pioneer the organisation’s cross-regional work, notably on Islamist militancy. Before moving to New York, he spent five years as Crisis Group’s research director in Brussels. Before Crisis Group, Richard worked for some fifteen years across the Middle East, Africa, South Asia and Latin America for the UN and other organisations, with extended periods in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Nigeria, Kenya, Guatemala, Colombia and Peru. He has a Master’s Degree in public policy from Princeton University. In The News 20 Jun 2017 The U.S. is worried that a [French] Security Council resolution [on an African counter-terror force in the Sahel] might open the door to funding at a time when cutting back their UN funding is a priority. Bloomberg Richard Atwood Interim President 8 Mar 2017 The us-and-them mentality [of the new UN counter-terrorism proposal means] the U.N. has been positioned even more forcefully on the government's side when it [is sometimes] already perceived as too close to the government. Foreign Policy Richard Atwood Interim President 2 Feb 2017 The longer the war continues in Yemen, the stronger al-Qaeda is likely to get. PBS Newshour Richard Atwood Interim President Latest Updates Podcast / Asia 22 July 2021 The Taliban’s Advance in Afghanistan This week on Hold Your Fire!, Richard Atwood talks to Crisis Group experts Laurel Miller and Andrew Watkins about the Taliban’s recent gains across Afghanistan as U.S. and NATO forces withdraw, what this means for the war’s trajectory and prospects for peace talks. Podcast / Asia 15 July 2021 #WhatsHappeningInMyanmar This week on Hold Your Fire!, Richard Atwood and guest co-host Comfort Ero talk to Crisis Group’s Richard Horsey about the armed resistance forming against the military regime in Myanmar six months after the coup and the broader crisis provoked by the Tatmadaw’s crackdown. Podcast / Africa 8 July 2021 Ten Years of South Sudanese Statehood This week on Hold Your Fire!, Richard Atwood and Naz Modirzadeh talk to Alan Boswell, senior analyst for South Sudan, for an in-depth look at South Sudanese statehood ten years after independence. President's Take 7 July 2021 Resurgent Tigray and Horn of Africa Politics To accompany this month’s CrisisWatch, Interim President Richard Atwood looks at the dramatic turn of events in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, the danger of new fighting and its implications for Horn of Africa geopolitics. Podcast / Africa 1 July 2021 A Dramatic Turn in Ethiopia’s Tigray War This week on Hold Your Fire!, Richard Atwood and Naz Modirzadeh talk to William Davison, Crisis Group’s Ethiopia expert, about the stunning turn in the war in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, as rebels seized regional capital Mekelle and the government announced a unilateral ceasefire. Load more