Panel Discussions - April 27, 2012

Preventing Conflicts in Africa: The Role of Early Warning and Response Systems

An April 27th roundtable discussion at IPI titled “Preventing Conflicts in Africa: The Role of Early Warning and Response Systems” examined the progress, prospects and challenges of regional and international early warning and response mechanisms to monitor, anticipate, and mitigate potential conflict situations in Africa. 

Speaker Events - March 13, 2012

Løj Recounts Eventful End to Liberia SRSG Role

During an IPI event on March 13, Ellen Margrethe Løj, former Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) for the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), recounted the challenges the country faced in 2011 during her last year as SRSG when violence in the Cote d’Ivoire sent Ivorians flooding into Liberia during a fragile election season.  

Panel Discussions - December 12, 2011

After the Elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The International Peace Institute on December 12th held a policy forum focusing on the just-completed balloting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that brought a crowd of 120 people to IPI’s Trygve Lie Center.  

Panel Discussions - November 18, 2011

Prevent Piracy At All Costs Says Freed Ship Master

“We have to prevent hijacking of ships at all costs,” Mahadeo Makane, himself a victim of such an attack, told an IPI audience on November 18th.

Mr. Makane, the former Master of the ship Marida Marguerite, spoke on the treatment by pirates of hostages, recounting his own horrific experience, when his ship was captured and he was kept chained and in isolation for twenty-one days.  

Panel Discussions - November 14, 2011

Okoth-Obbo: IDPs “Very Poor Cousins of Refugees”

“IDPs really remain very poor cousins of refugees,” remarked George Okoth-Obbo, Director, Regional Bureau for Africa, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), at a lunchtime IPI Policy Forum on November 14, 2011 entitled, "The Kampala Convention and Internal Displacement."  

Speaker Events - November 10, 2011

UN Peacekeeping in Africa: A New Book by Adekeye Adebajo

IPI hosted a book launch event on November 10th for UN Peacekeeping in Africa: From the Suez Crisis to the Sudan Conflicts, with author Dr. Adekeye Adebajo, Executive Director, Centre for Conflict Resolution, Cape Town, and Atul Khare, Assistant Secretary-General, UN Change Management Team. 

Panel Discussions - September 26, 2011

Elections and Stability in West Africa: The Way Forward

There is no single recipe for providing electoral assistance—this was a critical takeaway from a September 26th roundtable discussion at IPI on “Elections and Stability in West Africa: The Way Forward.”  

Speaker Events - September 22, 2011

President Ouattara: Main Issue for Côte d’Ivoire Is Reconciliation

“The main issue that we’re addressing—reconciliation,” Alassane Ouattara, the President of Côte d’Ivoire, told an overflow audience at IPI on September 22nd. The President, who took office in May, outlined steps that he was taking to bring people together in his country, which was convulsed by violence in the six months following the November election when the loser, former President Laurent Gbagbo, refused to step down.  

Speaker Events - September 20, 2011

Mahiga: Somali Famine a Tragedy, But Also an Opportunity

Speaking on September 20th in the latest in the series of SRSG meetings at IPI, Augustine Mahiga, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) for Somalia, noted that the country had been without a government and in a state of continuing conflict for nearly 20 years, but said there were three recent developments there that made him optimistic about the future.  

Speaker Events - June 10, 2011

SRSG Meece Rejects Negative Analysis of DRC

Speaking at an IPI event, Roger Meece, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, rejected the notion that the long and ongoing conflict in the DRC that has killed over five million people has created problems too complex to solve.