Africa
Somalia and Somaliland restart dialogue
Somalia has made a $1 million donation to the drought-hit breakaway region of Somaliland, ahead of controversial talks between the two sides to clarify their future relations.
Tag: autonomy
Africa
Niger Delta Avengers re-ignite insurgency
A new militant organization, the Niger Delta Avengers, has claimed a string of attacks on oil infrastructure, and issued communiques broaching secession from Nigeria.
Southeast Asia
Mass arrests in West Papua independence protests
Nearly 2,000 were arrested by security forces in Indonesia's Papua province for "illegal" pro-independence demonstrations marking the end of Dutch colonial rule in 1963.
The Amazon
Peru: Amazon leaders broach separatism
Authorities in Peru's northern rainforest region of Loreto announced plans for a referendum on seceding from the country, saying Lima treats the region as an internal colony.
Europe
Tatar autonomy suppressed in Crimea
The Supreme Court of Russia-annexed Crimea officially designated the Tatar Majlis an "extremist entity" and banned its activities—effectively ending Crimean Tatar autonomy.
Greater Middle East
More Green Berets to Syria: on whose side?
Obama is to mobilize 250 troops to Syria, helping Arab militias fight ISIS. Will these militias be brought under the Kurdish-led coalition—or will the Kurds be isolated to appease Turkey?
Africa
Darfur: Sudan planning ‘Final Solution’?
Amid a referendum portrayed by Khartoum as a step toward peace, regime-backed militias unleash a new scorched-earth campaign in Darfur—reviving calls for US intervention.
North Africa
Algeria: protests commemorate ‘Berber Spring’
Algeria's Berber community took to the streets to commemorate the 1980 "Berber Spring" uprising and demand greater cultural rights—or actual independence.
The Caucasus
Nagorno-Karabakh in Russo-Turkish game
As the worst fighting since a 1994 truce breaks out inĀ Nagorno-Karabakh, Turkey’s President Erdogan asserts himself as protector of Azerbaijan, pledging to back Baku “to the end.” (Map: Wikipedia)
Africa
Niger Delta pipeline blast signals renewed insurgency
A deadly blast on a pipeline in Nigeria's restive Delta region has raised fears that militants—pacified with an amnesty and pipeline protection contracts—are returning to arms.
Greater Middle East
Syria: CIA-armed rebels vs. Pentagon-armed rebels?
Is the Kurdish-Arab fighting in northern Syria pitting the Pentagon-backed Syrian Democratic Forces against FSA-aligned Islamist factions armed by the CIA?
The Andes
Colombia: will paras fill post-FARC power vacuum?
Rights groups see an urgent threat that criminal gangs and paramilitary groups will fill the power vacuum in remote areas of Colombia as the FARC is demobilized.