{On January 1, the Congolese population awoke to the surprising news that political actors in the country had signed a comprehensive political accord that sets elections for 2017 and stipulates explicitly that Congolese President Joseph Kabila cannot stand for another term as president. It is a significant accord, but the simple fact of its signing […]

{In its report released late last month, the UN Independent Investigation on Burundi paints a bleak portrait of a country that has been in political turmoil since May 2015. It describes a regime that is increasingly repressive, intolerant of dissent, and closed to the outside world. The investigators suggest that human rights violations committed by […]

{By general consensus, the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia is about the only thing keeping that country from falling apart. Except that the mission is struggling to keep itself together, with internal tensions threatening to explode ahead of September’s make or break presidential election. } The significance of the African Union Mission in Somalia […]