News

United Kingdom: Head of Economy & Peacebuilding

Mar 5, 2015 | International Alert

OverviewThe Head of Economy and Peacebuilding (E&PB) manages a team within the Peacebuilding Issues Programme (PIP). He or she provides conceptual and hands-on leadership for…

Drilling down into the Connection Researchers are Making between Climate Change and Conflict

Mar 5, 2015 | Keith Kloor

The Carbon Brief, a UK website created in 2011, is a destination for many seeking non-partisan information and analysis on climate change related news and research. I like…

Myanmar: Farmers Launch Boycott of MPs Who ‘Didn’t Stand Up for Us’

Mar 5, 2015 | Myanmar Times

A meeting of about 700 farmers at Mandalay’s Bayda Institute on February 28 released a seven-point statement demanding that the government stop “destroying farmers’ lives”…

Iraq/Kurdistan: ISIL Torches Oil Field Near Tikrit as Militia Advance

Mar 5, 2015 | Saif Hameed and Dominic Evans, Reuters

Islamic State militants have set fire to oil wells northeast of the city of Tikrit to obstruct an assault by Shi'ite militiamen and Iraqi soldiers…

Conflict Minerals: FTA Issues Statement on Conflict Minerals to Highlight Drawbacks on Draft Regulation

Mar 5, 2015 | Foreign Trade Association

The Foreign Trade Association (FTA) has published a statement on conflict minerals to highlight certain drawbacks associated with a draft regulation discussed by the European…

South Sudan: South Sudanese Minister Signs Mining Order

Mar 5, 2015 | Sudan Tribune

South Sudan’s petroleum and mining minister on Thursday signed an order meant to regulate the extraction of minerals in the world’s youngest nation.

The order, Stephen…

Liberia: Catholic Priest Wants Lawmakers to Account for Oil Money

Mar 5, 2015 | Antoinette Sendolo, The Inquirer

The Director of the Catholic Media Center (CAMCAM), Father Ambrose Dayouga Kroma, has urged the National Legislature to provide what he termed as detailed account…

South Sudan: Abandoned Oilfield a Toxic Wasteland in South Sudan

Mar 4, 2015 | Al Jazeera

The Thar Jath oilfield in South Sudan's war-torn Unity state has been abandoned.

The unmaintained facility, which lies inside rebel-held territory, is slowly rotting and leaking…

Libya: ISIS Fighters Take Over Major Libyan Oilfields

Mar 4, 2015 | Jared Malsin, Time

Fighters of the Islamic State in Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) took over at least two oilfields in Libya and attacked another on Tuesday, according…

South Sudan: Enough Project Calls for Targeted US Sanctions on Sudan Gold Exports

Mar 4, 2015 | Sudan Tribune

The United States should move swiftly to impose sanctions on gold produced in Sudan’s conflict zones, a think-tank group said.

“After studying this regime for 25…

South Sudan: Looted and Leaking, South Sudan's Oil Wells Pose Health Risk

Mar 3, 2015 | The Guardian

Thick black puddles and a looted, leaking ruin are all that remain of the Thar Jath oil treatment facility, once a crucial part of South…

Environmental Protests: Mapping the Global Battle to Protect Our Planet

Mar 3, 2015 | The Guardian

In 2012 protests erupted in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina over the demolition of a much beloved local park to build a business complex. A…

Liberia: Liberia Extractive Media Watch Formed

Mar 3, 2015 | SPY Ghana

The Liberia Extractive Media Watch has been formed. The Extractive Media Watch (EMW) has been officially registered as a not-for-profit organization under the laws of Liberia.The…

Liberia: NOCAL Responds To Global Witness Allegations on Oil Bid

Mar 3, 2015 | Front Page Africa

The attention of the National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL) has been drawn to misleading allegations made by Global Witness and carried by FrontPageAfrica newspaper…

Call for Applications: The United Nations Mandated University for Peace is Now Accepting Applications for 2015-2016 Academic Year

Mar 2, 2015

UPEACE embraces an innovative and inter-disciplinary approach to both the pedagogy and content of post-secondary learning. Our nine master programmes offer specialized, multi-disciplinary courses and…

India's Water Aggression against Pakistan

Mar 2, 2015 | Sajjad Shaukat

In the modern world, there are various forms of bloodless wars like economic wars which amount to aggression. In these terms, besides supporting subversive acts…

Iraq/Kuridstan: Turkey Eyes Oil in Northern Iraq

Mar 2, 2015 | Daniel J. Graeber, United Press International

Agreements with Iraqi administrations open the door for Turkish oil exploration in the Kurdish north, the Turkish energy minister said Monday.

"We have agreements with Baghdad…

Syria: Scientists Implicate Climate Change as Potential Cause of the Syrian Civil War

Mar 2, 2015 | Nathan Collins, Pacific Standard, Business Insider

There's been growing chatter over the years suggesting that global climate change can spark wars, particularly in developing countries where drought conditions could lead to…

Sudan/South Sudan: Two Sudans’ Oil Ministers Meeting in Juba

Mar 2, 2015 | Radio Tamazuj

South Sudan’s Oil Minister Stephen Dhieu Dau has met with his Sudanese Counterpart Makkawi Mohamed Awed in Juba today to discuss outstanding issues relating to…

Sudan/South Sudan: New Attack in Disputed Region Claimed by Sudan, South Sudan

Mar 2, 2015 | Edith M. Lederer, Associated Press

The United Nations reported another deadly attack Monday in the oil-rich region of Abyei that's claimed by both Sudan and South Sudan.

It was the fourth…

Myanmar/China/Andaman Sea: China's Deepsea Oil Rig Drilling Off Myanmar -CNOOC

Mar 2, 2015 | Reuters

China's flagship deepsea oil rig Haiyang Shiyou No. 981 is drilling offshore Myanmar in the Andaman Sea, tackling the deepest exploration well it has undertaken…

South Sudan/Sudan: Juba, Khartoum Begin Oil Fee Negotiations

Mar 2, 2015 | Sudan Tribune

South Sudan and its northern neighbour have started negotiations on provisions of the 2012 Cooperation Agreement, focusing on crude oil flowing through Sudanese territory.

Sudan’s petroleum…

Syria: Climate Change Implicated in Current Syrian Conflict

Mar 2, 2015 | Mark Zastrow, Nature

The drought that ravaged Syria from 2007 to 2010 was the worst in that nation’s recorded history, devastating agriculture in the region. Roughly 1.5 million…

Iraq: Iraq Says Crude Price Fall Prompts Review of Oil Contracts

Mar 2, 2015 | Reuters

Iraq said on Monday it is reviewing its oil production agreements with international firms because falling crude prices meant that the financial cost of existing…

Myanmar: Peace Brings Plantations and Displacement in Myeik Hills

Mar 2, 2015 | Wa Lone, Myanmar Times

The Kawutt-Kawmabyin area is more than 40 kilometres (27 miles) from Myeik and 80-km (50 miles) from Tanintharyi township. Much of the area, including the…

Iraq: Oil Smuggling Highlights Challenges in Shutting Down IS Finances

Feb 28, 2015 | Sharon Behn, Voice of America

In the span of one year, Islamic State militants made more than half a billion dollars by seizing government banks, illegal oil sales, kidnapping and…

Iraq/Kurdistan: Iraqi Kurdish Oil Tanker Docks in Israel

Feb 28, 2015 | I24News

An Iraqi Kurdish oil tanker, blocked for months from unloading its cargo has delivered its goods to Israel, according to ship-tracking data which showed the…

South Sudan: Study: ‘Direct Link’ Between Oil Exploration and Water Pollution

Feb 28, 2015 | Radio Tamazuj

The results of a new three-year scientific study show that oil production at Thar Jath and Mala fields in Unity State has polluted groundwater in…

Bangladesh: Violence and Land Grabbing Forced 210 Indigenous Families to Flee the Country in 2014

Feb 28, 2015 | Abid Azad, Dhaka Tribune

Two hundred and ten indigenous families fled Bangladesh in 2014 after being threatened or dispossessed of their land, a human rights report said. 

In 2014, some…

Myanmar: Land: The Search for Solutions

Feb 28, 2015 | Yen Snaing, The Irrawaddy

Dr. Thaung Htun is director of the Institute for Peace and Social Justice in Myanmar and a leading advocate for fair land use policies and…