International


Sierra Leone: Sierra Leone Reviews Mining Licenses

Aug 9, 2019 | African Review

The government of Sierra Leone is reviewing mining licences and contracts, aimed at ensuring investments into extractives are in line with development needs. Despite having significant…


South Sudan: New South Sudan Strategy Maps Way Forward for Communities Returning Home After Displacement

Aug 9, 2019 | International Organization for Migration

The conflict in South Sudan has caused immeasurable suffering. In the past six years, international observers have estimated 400,000 people have died. Today, at least 4.1…


Uganda: How Karamoja First Policewoman's Land Was Grabbed

Aug 8, 2019 | Joseph Olanyo, Observer

After serving the Uganda Police Force diligently for the last 44 years, Rtd Sergeant Mariam Sunday Lokisa knew she would retire happily to her matrimonial…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Kurdistan’s Massive Gas Reserves No One Knows about

Aug 7, 2019 | Simon Watkins, OilPrice

Barely a month goes past without another indication of the vast gas potential still largely untapped in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). Last…


Sierra Leone: Sierra Leone Community's Suit against Diamond Miner Shows Activist Trend

Aug 6, 2019 | Cooper Inveen, Reuters

Across Africa and the developing world, local groups are increasingly mounting legal challenges against companies extracting minerals, said David Pred, executive director of Inclusive Development…


Afghanistan: Inside Afghanistan's Desperate Battle to Control a Dam in Taliban Country

Aug 6, 2019 | Andrew Quilty, Vice

It was after midnight when red tracer rounds spat from government lines in Helmand’s Kajaki District across a band of darkness toward a second line…


Sierra Leone: Sierra Leone Community's Suit against Diamond Miner Shows Activist Trend

Aug 6, 2019 | Cooper Inveen, Reuters

The water “makes us get headaches and feel sick in our stomachs,” said Adi Kalie Bangura. Bangura’s claims are part of those made by a…


Iraq: Climate Change Is Exacerbating Iraq’s Complicated Water Politics

Aug 6, 2019 | Theodore Karasik and Jacopo Spezia Depretto, Fair Observer

Today, what is commonly known as the Fertile Crescent — the cradle of civilization and the Garden of Eden — is not so fertile anymore.…


Myanmar: Work on Expediting Land Compensation Continues

Aug 5, 2019 | Yee Ywal Myint, Myanmar Times

The government continues work on expediting compensation for people, especially farmers, who had land appropriated for urban development, Yangon Region Chief Minister U Phyo Min…


DRC: Ntaganda and ICC: The Conviction of a Congolese War Lord

Aug 5, 2019 | Ndubuaku Kanayo, Fair Planet

"The law is made for man, not man for the law", the precise words of William Godwin a journalist and political philosopher seem to be…


Iraq/Turkey: Iraq's Oil Expansion May Be Set back on Turkish Dam Project

Aug 5, 2019 | Miriam Malek, S&P Global Platts

Iraq's oil expansion may be in jeopardy after Turkey reportedly started a dam that could reduce water flows to energy companies operating in OPEC's second-largest…


China/Vietnam/South China Sea: Vietnam Police Disperse Protest at Chinese Embassy over South China Sea Standoff

Aug 5, 2019 | James Pearson, Reuters

Vietnamese police on Tuesday broke up a brief protest outside the Chinese embassy in Hanoi against Beijing’s maritime survey of an offshore block in the…


Afghanistan: MoMP Inks 9 Marble Extraction Agreements Worth $23m

Aug 5, 2019 | Afghanistan Times

The Ministry of Mines and Petroleum (MoMP) on Monday inked nine multimillion dollars' worthagreements of marble mining in western Herat province, incorporating amendments at the…


Mali: Wetlands International Emphasises Conflict-Sensitive and Human-Security Approaches to Infrastructure as New Malian Government Takes Office

Aug 2, 2019 | Wetlands International

Water infrastructure must be ‘conflict-sensitive’ and coordinated between ministries representative of all stakeholders if future escalation of violence in Mali is to be avoided, according…


Myanmar: Myanmar’s Environmental Challenges

Aug 2, 2019 | Gregory McCann, Asia Sentinel

After eight years collecting dust on the planning shelves and also at the confluence of the Mali and N’mai Rivers in upper Burma, the Chinese…


Myanmar: Four People, Including Official, Arrested in Deadly Land Dispute

Aug 1, 2019 | Sit Htet Aung, Myanmar Times

Four people, including a village administrator, have been arrested for casualties resulting from a dispute over fertile land in Yenangyaung township of Magwe Region. The conflict…


South Sudan: South Sudan to Improve Legal Framework in Oil and Gas Sector

Aug 1, 2019 | Mandisa Nduli, Africa Oil & Power

The African Development Bank, through its African Legal Support Facility and the National Petroleum and Gas Commission (NPGC) of South Sudan, has selected Centurion Law…


Sierra Leone: Sierra Leone to Draft Overarching Chemical Law by 2023

Aug 1, 2019 | Chemical Watch

Sierra Leone is drafting an overarching regulatory framework on chemicals by 2023, as part of a plan of regulatory, capacity building and awareness-raising actions that…


Climate Change: Sun Valley Climate Conference’s Broad Agenda: Wildfires, Military, Insurance, Resilience

Aug 1, 2019 | Don Jergler, Insurance Journal

Washington had a record 1,850 responses to wildfires on Department of Natural Resources lands last year. Over the last five years, wildfires have continued to…


DRC: US Agency Provides $3.7 Million to Combat Illegal Mining in DRC

Jul 31, 2019 | Ajifowoke Michael Gbenga, Ventures

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has provided $3.7 million to support the fight against illegal mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo…


Finland: Advance of Climate Change a Threat to Security in Finland, Says Expert

Jul 31, 2019 | Helsinki Times

Jarno Limnéll, a professor of cybersecurity at Aalto University, has reminded that climate issues and their direct and indirect ramifications for security should not be…


Rangers—Unsung Heroes of Wildlife Conservation

Jul 30, 2019 | UN Environment

World Ranger Day, an initiative of the International Ranger Federation, is marked on 31 July to celebrate the work rangers do to protect the planet’s natural…


Afghanistan: Illegal Mining Reduces Lapis Lazuli Prices in Afghanistan: Study

Jul 30, 2019 | Tamim Hamid, TOLOnews

An investigation by TOLOnews reveals that lapis lazuli prices have reduced unprecedently times due to illegal mining in one of the main deposits of the…


Myanmar: War and Business: Kachin’s ‘Frontline’ Hydropower Dam

Jul 29, 2019 | Ye Mon and Thomas Kean, Frontier

Despite Myanmar’s dire need for power, a US$250 million hydropower plant on the front lines of the Kachin conflict has been largely idle since the…


Iraq: Iraq's Oil and Gas Industry Aims to Be Energy Independent [Video]

Jul 28, 2019 | Osama Bin Javaid, Al Jazeera

Years of war and instability have damaged Iraq's gas and oil infrastructure, leaving it dependent on energy imports, despite having huge reserves. Now it wants…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Could Baghdad and Erbil End Iraq's Protacted Oil Dispute?

Jul 28, 2019 | Agence France-Presse

Iraq's federal authorities and the cash-strapped Kurdish regional government (KRG) have relaunched talks over longstanding oil and budget disputes, but observers are sceptical they will…


Myanmar: Police Investigate after 38 Feared Dead Following Violent Myanmar Land Dispute

Jul 27, 2019 | Mizzima

At least 25 people died following violence this week, a shocked regional MP said Friday at a press conference in Magway, as details were still…


Myanmar: At Least 25 Dead after Myanmar Land Dispute

Jul 27, 2019 | Dhaka Tribune

At least 25 people died when a land dispute in Myanmar turned violent this week, a regional MP said Friday, as details were still emerging…


South Sudan: South Sudan Tries to Protect Wildlife after Long Conflict

Jul 27, 2019 | Sam Mednick, Associated Press

South Sudan is trying to rebuild its six national parks and 13 game reserves, which cover more than 13% of the country’s terrain, following the…


Nigeria: Insecurity: Nigeria Loses $14bn Annually to Farmers-Herders’ Clashes – Fayemi

Jul 26, 2019 | Rotimi Ojomoyela, Vanguard

Governer Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, yesterday, lamented that Nigeria loses $14 billion annually to farmer-herder clashes, saying it may affect the country’s ability to…