Shifting frontlines: Visualizing the evolution of the M23’s territorial influence in early 2024

June 20, 2024

In early 2024, IPIS, ASSODIP, and DIIS published a report on the stakes and motivations of the “March 23 Movement” (M23), a rebellion causing serious insecurity and humanitarian suffering in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The movement took up arms again in 2021, and it rapidly seized vast territories in the south-east of North Kivu province in 2022, with military support from the


The M23 “version 2” – Local stakes, motivations, perceptions, and impacts

April 4, 2024

Since 2021, the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has once again fallen victim to the “March 23 Movement” (M23). Supposedly defeated in 2013, the M23 took up arms again in 2021, and by 2022 had rapidly seized vast territories in the south-east of North Kivu province.


Roadblocks in Masisi and Walikale: Predation on movement in turbulent times

March 8, 2024

While minerals have centered in research on conflict financing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, armed actors often rely on alternative sources of revenue to finance their struggles. Among these are the operation of roadblocks. In this report, produced together with ASSODIP and the Danish Institute for International Studies, IPIS studies the linkage between roadblocks and the local artisana


Mapping the political economy of checkpoints in Somalia

December 20, 2023

The maps inform users on the locations of roadblocks across Somalia, the distribution of violence at checkpoints as well as the density of checkpoints per administrative region. Different maps also identify varying characteristics of the roadblocks, including their operator, location on a primary/secondary road and the amount paid at the checkpoint as toll.


IPIS-DIIS-SOMALIA-WEBMAP

Technical support for DIIS’ Somalia checkpoint mapping study

November 28, 2023

Consultancy IPIS contributed to ‘Paying the Price: The Political Economy of Checkpoints in Somalia’ a project by the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS), the Rift Valley Institute (RVI) and XCEPT. IPIS supported the project by providing a frame for the project’s data collection, developing a questionnaire for project field researchers and a platform for the input and collation of the


Program for the Development of Eastern Congo (P-DEC)

January 11, 2022

Eastern DRC continues to face complex crises rooted in conflicts around power, governance, identity and access to natural resources including minerals, land and forestry. The Program for the Development of Eastern Congo (P-DEC) adopts bottom-up peacebuilding approaches to reduce conflict and bridge social divisions. It supports communities and the private sector to:Build inclusive dialogue process


Checkpoint economy: the political economy of checkpoints in South Sudan, ten years after independence

December 10, 2021

Ten years after independence, the world’s youngest country is home to an entrenched political economy of conflict premised on checkpoint taxation. Humanitarian aid is not exempt, reveals a major new mapping report by DIIS and IPIS. When South Sudan became independent ten years ago, oil revenues were supposed to fuel the economy of the world’s newest country. But two years later in 2013, oil prices


“The Blue Mine” as a new status for qualifying mine sites in DRC. The result of successful advocacy by the Madini Project

November 23, 2021

On November 12th 2021, the National Minister of Mines of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Madam Antoinette N’Samba Kalambayi, signed the ministerial decree instituting a new status for the qualification /validation for artisanal mining sites: the Blue Status. Mine site qualification and validation (in line with the ICGLR’s Regional Certification Mechanism ) is a mandatory process in the DRC


Advocating for an improved enabling environment for the production, trade and export of OECD Due Diligence Guidance (DDG)-conformant minerals from eastern DRC

November 23, 2021

As part of the Madini project, a review of the current situation, trends and barriers in the production, trade and export of tin, tantalum, tungsten (3T) and gold from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was conducted by Levin Sources, with the aim to recommend concrete actions that can improve OECD-conformant sourcing of these minerals from eastern DRC. The link between the exploitation of


Madini

Madini – Strengthening regional stability in the Great Lakes

August 20, 2021

In December 2019, IPIS joined the consortium of International Alert, EurAC, OGP and Justice Plus to implement the Madini kwa Amani na Maendeleo (Minerals for Peace and Development) project, which aims to improve security, social cohesion and human rights in the conflict-ridden mineral-rich regions of eastern DRC.To achieve this objective, the Madini project plans to strengthen regional stability i


Promoting peaceful and seasonal migration in Northern Central African Republic

February 9, 2021

“You can negotiate with an armed group, not with the drought” The borderlands of the Central African Republic (CAR) are home to one of the largest seasonal livestock migrations (transhumance) in the world. Decades of unrest and crisis, however, have brutally disrupted most aspects of herding—the routes taken, the people involved, governance mechanisms, as well as relations to local populations. To


Annual Report 2019

August 26, 2020

This 2019 annual report provides an overview of IPIS’ research projects, capacity enhancement and outreach activities throughout last year. Read the full activity report to see what IPIS has been up to in 2019.


Conflict Mapping

August 25, 2020

Maps have been critical tools in military logistics and understanding of conflict for centuries. During recent decades, advances in Geographical Information Systems (GIS) allow IPIS to use maps for even more sophisticated analysis of conflict and peacebuilding initiatives.By collecting first-hand information in remote and conflict-affected areas, IPIS developed a new approach to conflict mapping f


Roadblocks South Sudan

The political economy of roadblocks in South Sudan

August 21, 2020

Roadblocks are a structural feature of South Sudanese roads. Whereas roadblocks in principle have legitimate roles to fulfil — ensuring security and levying decentralized taxes — they can also become vehicles for insecurity and illegal taxation.Along South Sudanese roads and rivers, state agents, security forces as well as armed groups occupy checkpoints at which they levy illegal taxes and hamper


Dashboard of incidents in eastern DRC – Kufatilia

June 10, 2020

The Kufatilia platform (“to track” in Swahili) is an SMS based incident reporting and follow-up mechanism that has been launched in 2019 to increase transparency of minerals supply chains in Eastern DRC. Developed by IPIS in partnership with the Centre for Expertise on Mining Governance (CEGEMI) based in Bukavu, and powered by Ulula, Kufatilia is a tool for Congolese civil society organisations to


IPIS Nord Kivu A0

Maps of conflict minerals in Eastern DRC (2020)

June 9, 2020

IPIS created maps of conflict minerals in eastern DRC, more particularly on Haut Uele, Ituri and North and South Kivu. These maps detail the type of minerals, the qualification of the mines, the mining titles and give an overview of armed presence in and around the mines. d Download the North Kivu map in full resolution   Download the South Kivu map in full resolution   Download the Haut


Pastoralism CAR

Pastoralism in the Central African Republic conflict

November 21, 2019

IPIS engaged with the British NGO Concordis International in a 3-year mediation and peace building project on pastoralism in the Central African Republic (CAR). The research aims to enhance understanding of  transnational transhumance conflict dynamics and to promote regional peace building measures.To avoid cattle thefts and taxes from the armed groups, pastoralists have deviated from the traditi


Map Pastoralism Ouham Pendé

Map Pastoralism Ouham Pendé (2019)

September 12, 2019

Each year the annual migration of transnational transhumance through the prefecture of Ouham-Pende, in northwestern Central African Republic (CAR), uproots a deep-seated mistrust between nomadic and sedentary communities. Escalating militancy and environmental pressures in the region has only amplified these issues in recent years.In partnership with Concordis International, IPIS hopes to enhance


IPIS welcomes University of Antwerp Summer School for workshop on artisanal diamond mining

September 2, 2019

On August 28th, 2019, 21 students from the University of Antwerp’s ‘Mine to Finger’ Summer School on diamonds were engaged on “The use of digital maps and open data in the analysis of artisanal mining” with a case-study of the Central African Republic (CAR). The students, with diverse backgrounds, engaged in critical and nuanced discussions on artisanal diamond mining. The workshop kicked-off with


Annual Report 2018

June 27, 2019

This 2018 annual report provides an overview of IPIS’ research projects, capacity enhancement and outreach activities throughout last year. IPIS consolidated its work in DRC, Central African Republic and Tanzania and deepened its expertise on mapping, data analysis and research on conflict drivers, natural resources, Business & Human Rights and arms trade. IPIS worked closely with civil societ