IPI in the News - December 15, 2011

IPI's Arthur Boutellis on Gbagbo and Cote d’Ivoire [Institute for War & Peace Reporting]

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.  

Meeting Notes - November 17, 2011

New IPI Meeting Note: Elections and Stability in West Africa

This meeting note summarizes the discussions at a conference organized by the United Nations Office for West Africa (UNOWA) in Praia, Cape Verde on May 18-20, 2011. The conference addressed the need for a sustained effort to strengthen electoral processes in West Africa as a means to consolidate peace and democracy in the region.  

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. 

Policy Papers - October 12, 2011

Termites at Work: Transnational Organized Crime and State Erosion in Kenya

The threat posed by organized crime is not confined to serious crimes such as racketeering, the global drug trade, or human trafficking. For many developing countries and fragile states, powerful transnational criminal networks constitute a direct threat to the state itself, not through open confrontation but by penetrating state institutions through bribery and corruption and by subverting or undermining them from within. This paper examines whether Kenya faces such a threat.  

General Announcements - October 04, 2011

IPI Launches Report on Transnational Organized Crime in Kenya

Transnational criminal networks are corrupting and undermining state institutions in some countries to such an extent that they pose a threat to the state itself, according to two new reports from IPI made public on October 4th in Nairobi at a policy forum addressed by Kenyan Prime Minister Raila A. Odinga.  

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.