civil war
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Coup in Mali spells risk, instability and violence

Popular protests and military pressure have combined to bring down another longtime African leader, Malian president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. A tumultuous transition period has become somewhat clearer, with the appointment of a civilian president and a government that includes opposing armed factions. But violence and a refugee crisis have worsened due in part to jihadist groups, implicating both neighboring countries and international forces in the region.

GIS Dossier: Algeria’s ‘system’ teeters
Long before Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was forced to step down in April 2019, it was clear that the crony oligarchy he fronted for – known to ordinary Algerians as “the system” – could not last. If the wheelchair-bound leader looked moribund after a series of strokes, so did the country's ...


GIS Dossier: Mozambique’s roller-coaster ride
Mozambique seemed to have it all. Its economy took off after a long and bloody civil war ended in 1992, accelerating further after discoveries of vast natural gas and oil reserves in 2010-2012 prompted the government to liberalize the energy sector. Yet the country’s rags-to-riches scenario has yet to materialize, ...


Khalifa Haftar overreaches in Libya
Khalifa Haftar, the military leader of one of Libya’s two battling governments, tried to short-circuit a UN-sponsored peace process by launching a lightning offensive against the nation’s capital, Tripoli. Instead of a successful blitzkrieg, however, his overstretched forces found themselves stuck on Tripoli’s outskirts – blocked by a militia cartel ...


GIS Dossier: Governance in Africa, the case of three countries
Three sub-Saharan African countries, all with decades-long, devastating civil wars behind them. Two are populous and large, well-endowed in natural riches, while one is a small, landlocked nation with no particular resources. Which one is Africa’s poster child of economic and developmental success today? This GIS Dossier examines why the ...
