International Security Bulletin

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Weekly Brief: May 4, 2015

By Thucydides  

Top Story

Representatives from around the world traveled to New York this week to begin the ninth review conference for the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). Review conferences have been held every five years since the NPT entered into effect in 1970. American Secretary of State John Kerry, who will lead his country’s delegation, coauthored an article for Foreign Policy emphasizing the twin goals of nonproliferation and nuclear disarmament. However, progress towards the disarmament goals agreed upon at the last review conference (in 2010) has largely stalled, which may create friction as the parties to the NPT try to move forward on nonproliferation and disarmament issues. On Tuesday, Mr. Kerry gave a speech in which he disclosed the number of nuclear warheads in America’s arsenal, as well as the number of retired warheads scheduled for dismantlement. The Federation of American Scientists opines that the 500-warhead reduction during the presidency of Barack Obama is “modest” and “disappointing.”

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Weekly Brief: April 20, 2015

By Thucydides  

Africa

Al-Shabab militants drove a car loaded with explosives into a government compound in Mogadishu, Somalia, on Tuesday. After the explosion, gunmen stormed the government offices and killed at least 17 people, including eight civilians and two soldiers. Security guards and Somali special forces soldiers eventually managed to secure the building, killing five attackers.

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Weekly Brief: March 30, 2015

By Thucydides  

Middle East

Fighting in Yemen continued to escalate this week. On Wednesday, the Houthi rebels seized an airbase as they moved closer to the city of Aden, where President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi was sheltered. By Thursday, Mr. Hadi had briefly sought shelter in Oman before moving on to Riyadh. On Thursday, Saudi Arabia led airstrikes against the Houthis in the capital, Sanaa, as well as the cities of Saada and Taiz. The strikes also involved aircraft from the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan, Morocco, and Sudan. Pakistan and Egypt provided naval support. All ten countries are predominantly Sunni Muslim, while the Houthis area Shiite group. John Kerry, America’s secretary of state commended the attacks, while Iran (whose population is mostly Shiite) denounced them. Ground troops from the Saudi-led coalition also began to march toward Aden. The Brookings Institution warned that the intervention was unlikely to speed resolution of the conflict. The Daily Beast reports that the conflict in Yemen has become a “regional proxy war” and represents a big setback for American counter-terrorism operations.

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Conflict Report: South Sudan

By Thucydides  

Background

South Sudan became a country on July 9, 2011. Its independence from Sudan brought an end to part of a devastating civil war that had originated in southern Sudan in 1983. Less than three years after declaring independence, South Sudan became embroiled in its own civil conflict. On December 15, 2013, President Salva Kiir accused his former vice president, Riek Machar, of plotting a coup against him. Kiir had fired Machar in July, along with his entire cabinet. Kiir arrested eleven prominent politicians he suspected of involvement with the alleged plot.

Fighting broke out between supporters of Mr. Kiir and supporters of Mr. Machar. Ethnic tensions, spurred by radio broadcasts, have fanned the flames of the conflict and converted it into a civil war between two ethnic groups: Mr. Kiir’s Dinka and Mr. Machar’s Nuer. Shortly after the fighting began, reports indicated that both sides had begun killing civilians of the opposing ethnicity. On December 16, government military forces killed 200-300 Nuer men in Juba, the capital. There were also reports of rebels targeting Dinka civilians elsewhere.

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