News
Timor-Leste: East Timor PM Seeks to Diversify Economy with Help of Oil Fund
Aug 26, 2015
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Randy Fabi, Reuters
East Timor will tap into its $16.6 billion oil fund to build the necessary infrastructure to attract non-energy investment, the prime minister said on Wednesday,…
DRC: Portland Goes Conflict-Free
Aug 26, 2015
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Enough Project
Activists and policymakers are celebrating the Portland City Council’s vote today to enact a policy to ensure that cellular devices and other key communication equipment purchased by the city are not connected to…
Conservation in Conflict Zones: Protecting Peace and Biodiversity in Colombia
Aug 25, 2015
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Brittany Ajroud
With a new peace process underway between the Colombian government and leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in Cuba, the spotlight is back on…
Uganda: Museveni Orders Probe into Karamoja Land Grabbing
Aug 25, 2015
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Steven Ariong, The Monitor
President Museveni has ordered investigations into land grabbing in Karamoja sub-region where many residents face eviction by some people purporting to be investors. The President…
Iraq: Iraq Oil Minister Says $9 bln in Arrears Paid to Oil Firms
Aug 25, 2015
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Reuters
Iraq has paid foreign oil companies $9 billion in remaining arrears for 2014 and was paying outstanding fees for 2015 in stages until the beginning…
Ukraine: UN Giving Chickens to Small Farms in Ukraine
Aug 25, 2015
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Prague Post
Some 7,000 three-week-old layer-broiler chickens are being distributed this week to small farms in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Provision of the birds is the latest…
South Sudan: South Sudan’s Loan Requests to Oil Companies Rebuffed
Aug 25, 2015
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Radio Tamazuj
South Sudan’s government has been unsuccessfully seeking $200 million in loans from oil companies since June 2014, according to officials. Officials in both the ministry…
China/Vietnam/South China Sea: China Oil Rig to Keep Drilling in Waters Disputed with Vietnam
Aug 25, 2015
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Reuters
A Chinese oil rig at the center of last year's standoff between China and Vietnam will continue drilling not far from Vietnam's coast, China's maritime…
Violence Over Land in Darfur Demands We Look Again at Links Between Natural Resources and Conflict
Aug 24, 2015
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Brendan Bromwich
Given that there have been three major peace processes in Sudan’s troubled western province of Darfur, the current escalation of violence indicates that perhaps something…
Water Wars: "Water Wars Are a Myth" - Expert Says Many Govts Eager to Cooperate
Aug 24, 2015
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Magdalena Mis, Thomson Reuters Foundation
The doom and gloom predictions of increasing battles around the world over water are a myth, with only a handful of disagreements over shared waters…
China/Vietnam/South China Sea: Controversial China Rig Completes Drilling Well Near Vietnam Coast
Aug 24, 2015
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Reuters
The Chinese oil rig at the center of last year's standoff between China and Vietnam over oil exploration in the South China Sea has completed…
Iraq/Kurdistan: Israel turns to Kurds for Three-Quarters of its Oil Supplies
Aug 23, 2015
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David Sheppard, John Reed, and Anjli Raval, Financial Times
Israel has bought as much as three-quarters of its oil from Iraqi Kurdistan in recent months, the Financial Times reported Sunday. According to the report,…
Sierra Leone: Sierra Leone Gold and Diamond Exports Plummet Due to Ebola
Aug 22, 2015
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AFP
Sierra Leone said Saturday gold exports had plunged three-fold and diamond exports nearly halved in the first half of 2015, a sign of the devastation…
Liberia: Shake-Up at Liberia Oil Firm Leaves Managers, Scores out of Job
Aug 22, 2015
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Rodney D. Sieh, FrontPageAfrica
Weeks after a FrontPageAfrica investigative report pointed to looming bankruptcy at the National Oil Company of Liberia, a decision has reportedly been reached to downsize…
Tin is the Biggest Conflict Mineral: GAO
Aug 21, 2015
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Emily Chasan
Tin may pose the biggest challenge for companies looking to rid their supply chains of “conflict minerals” blamed for funding violence in the Democratic Republic…
Sierra Leone: H1 Diamond Exports Drop after Peak in April
Aug 21, 2015
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Awoko
Diamond exports for the first half (H1) of 2015 have dropped from a high of 64.5 thousand carats in April to 35.6 thousand carats in…
China’s Ongoing Game of Chess in Southeast Asia
Aug 20, 2015
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Eliza King
As China continues to expand into a superpower large enough to one day rival the United States, the support and cooperation of Southeast Asian countries…
Water Wars and Migration of Peoples Go to Eastern Europe?
Aug 20, 2015
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ABC
In 2015 it became apparent that the Middle East syndrome (increased tension and conflict in connection with the reduction of water resources) begins to spread…
Zimbabwe: Housing Co-operative Sues Chikwinya for Land ‘Grabbing’
Aug 20, 2015
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Xolisani Ncube, NewsDay
Woman Affairs minister Nyasha Chikwinya has been taken to court for allegedly falsifying documents to claim ownership of land occupied by a housing co-operative in…
The World’s Hot Spot
Aug 19, 2015
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Thomas Friedman
Here’s a bet about the future of Sunni, Shiite, Arab, Turkish, Kurdish and Israeli relations: If they don’t end their long-running conflicts, Mother Nature is…
Decentralisation Key to Ending Water Wars
Aug 19, 2015
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Nipon Poapongsakorn and Nujpanit Narkpitaks
Water is the lifeblood of agriculture. It has significant impacts on the livelihood of millions of Thai farmers. Early on in rainy season this year,…
Food Security: Peace is Good for Food Security - Sasu
Aug 19, 2015
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Samuel Hinneh, GhanaWeb
Born into a farming family where Lydia Sasu, a farmer and the executive director of Development Action Association (DAA) witnessed her mother struggle to make…
DRC: SEC’s Disclosure Requirement on Conflict Minerals Again Ruled Unconstitutional — What Now?
Aug 19, 2015
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Jessica S. Lochmann, Frank S. Murray, and Mark T. Plichta, National Law Review
In a long-awaited decision, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (DC Circuit) reaffirmed its prior decision,…
D.C. Circuit Voids SEC “Conflict Minerals” Policy on First Amendment Grounds (Again)
Aug 18, 2015
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Jonathan H. Adler
This morning, a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit again concluded that the Securities and Exchange Commission’s “conflict minerals”…
Call for Papers: IPSA 2016
Aug 18, 2015
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International Political Science Association
Organisers of two panels on environmental peacebuilding at the IPSA World Congress 2016 are looking for submissions. Abstracts have to be submitted through the IPSA…
Cambodia: Cambodian Government Takes Umbrage at US Congressman’s Comments on Land Grabs
Aug 18, 2015
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Radio Free Asia
Cambodia’s Ministry of Land Management is acting in accordance with the country’s laws and making an effort to respect citizens’ rights, a ministry official said…
DRC: D.C. Court Unleashes Conflict by Throwing out Conflict-Minerals Rule
Aug 18, 2015
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Daniel Fisher, Forbes
A federal appeals court in Washington threw out a regulation under the Dodd-Frank Act requiring public companies to state whether they use “conflict minerals” in…
Iraq: Iraq's Economy in Trouble
Aug 18, 2015
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Sinan Salaheddin, Associated Press
As of July, Iraq's oil revenues stood at $31.5 billion, according to Oil Ministry figures, with an average daily export capacity less than a 3.3…
Iraq/Kurdistan/Turkey: Iraqi Kurdistan Says Oil Pipeline Sabotage Cost It $501 mln
Aug 18, 2015
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Reuters
Repeated sabotage by "organised gangs" of the oil pipeline from northern Iraq to Turkey has cost the autonomous Kurdistan region $501 million since July 1,…
Sudan: Volume of Sudanese Exports of Gum Arabic Reached 34.000 Tons
Aug 18, 2015
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Shadia Basheri, Sudan Vision
Gum Arabic is one of the important commodities that comes on the top of the Sudanese exports, especially after the outage of oil revenues because…