Published August 19, 2011 | By Annie Janus

The world is facing its second food crisis in three years. In 2008, soaring food prices led to widespread famine, political instability, and violent riots from Bangladesh to Egypt. Recently, food prices have resurged, placing pressure on many countries as they reached record highs earlier this year.

The sharp increase in food prices presents many far-reaching threats. In addition to humanitarian concerns, hunger is an instant source of instability. Due to the intense pressure spiked food prices have placed on many countries, food riots have recently erupted Algeria, Jordan, and Tunisia. Unless the situation improves, the international community is at risk of the widespread protests, land grabbing, and political upheavals that plagued the 2007-08 food crisis.

Published September 1, 2011 | By Annie Janus and Kendall Lawrence

Al Shabaab, a hard-line militia group, controls most of southern Somalia and, until recently, a large swath of Mogadishu. Though the exact origins of al-Shabaab are unknown, most scholars believe that the group started as a military faction of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), which took over Mogadishu and large parts of the south after intense factionalized fighting in 2006. Al-Shabaab has waged an insurgency against Somalia's transitional federal government (TFG) and its Ethiopian supporters over the past five years. The full name of the group is Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen (HSM) meaning ‘Movement of Striving Youth.’ The fighters are a mix of local and foreign youth, attracted to the group by its claims to be the defenders of Somali dignity from outside invaders while it also calls for a broader global jihad.

July 15, 2011
By Nate Haken
The Fund for Peace Commentary

I have a map of Uganda on my office wall. I put little red stickers on it whenever there are incidents of land conflict, clashes between armed groups, or cases of civil unrest. My map is getting cluttered and difficult to read.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni was re-elected by a landslide in February. Now, he has a very difficult job ahead of him. Certainly, the aging military man has shown himself to be a strong leader ever since he came to power in 1987. Early in his tenure, he was widely praised for guiding Uganda through a period of difficult economic reform. Though it took almost 20 years, he finally pushed the Lord’s Resistance Army out of Northern Uganda. Under Museveni, Uganda has been a leader in the fight against AIDS. The same is true with respect to the fight against terrorism, especially in Somalia.