Boko Haram’s recent kidnapping of over two hundred schoolgirls in Nigeria has once again brought the group into the international spotlight, making more urgent the questions about how to curtail its activities and the activities of other armed groups… Read more
At the midpoint between presidential elections in Nigeria, the country’s leaders need to take stock of the conflict resolution mechanisms in place to deal with the political divide between north and south, Muslim and Christian, and to prevent electoral… Read more
The Nigerian government’s 2009 amnesty of militants in the Niger Delta dramatically reduced the violence that had plagued the region and restored preinsurgency levels of oil production. However, many of the problems that sparked violent confrontations… Read more
A key divide in Nigeria is that between citizens who are deemed indigenous and those who arrived more recently. This new report says the government must do better to hold accountable those who commit indigene-settler violence and to foster greater… Read more
The group Jama’atu Ahlus-Sunnah Lidda’Awati Wal Jihad, known the world over as Boko Haram, is an extremist Islamic sect in Nigeria that has created havoc across the north of the country and in the capital, Abuja. Its violent attacks on government offices… Read more
Nigeria’s 2011 elections were the most violent yet—claiming 800 lives in three days. Breaking the cycle of violence includes ending impunity for political violence, cultivating local peacebuilding initiatives and strengthening local democratic… Read more
USIP has found the documentary film "The Imam and the Pastor" useful as a resource for workshops and training programs exploring themes of religious peacebuilding and inter-group reconciliation. As such, we commissioned religion and peacebuilding… Read more
Climate change, a growing number of voices in media and policy circles warn, is raising the risks of violent conflict in the twenty-first century. Dire futures are predicted for some of the world’s poorest, least prepared countries and their most… Read more
This report, sponsored by the Centers of Innovation at the US Institute of Peace (USIP), draws on the experiences of the author and Stakeholder Democracy Network (SDN) over the past four years in the Niger Delta. During this period, conflict has… Read more
Commissioned by the Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention at the United States Institute of Peace, this report offers a brief overview of electoral violence in Nigeria, examines Nigeria’s prospects for a nonviolent political transition in 2011, and… Read more
Recent incidences of ethno-religious violence in northern Nigeria have alarmed the international community to the point where Nigeria is now perceived as a potential breeding ground for transnational terrorism and violent religious extremism. According… Read more
Studies indicate that violence in Africa’s elections affects between 19 and 25 percent of elections. In many countries where electoral violence is a risk, it tends to recur and may consequently lead to an unfavorable view of democratization… Read more