News@ISS

13 Oct 2009: Mistake to merge police forces: ISS

webmaster@issafrica.org (Institute for Security Studies) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 02:10:22 PDT

East Coast Radio 13 October 2009: Johan Burger from the Institute for Security Studies has been sharing his view with Newswatch following the police department's announcement at the weekend.

13 Oct 2009: Deadly prelude for new 'shoot to kill' police powers

webmaster@issafrica.org (Institute for Security Studies) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 02:01:31 PDT

News.scotsman.com, 13 October 2009: Andrew Faull, of the crime and justice programme at Pretoria's independent Institute for Security Studies, said Zuma's and Cele's rhetoric was "an easy way to score political points".

"It was entirely predictable that policemen would struggle to interpret the statements," said Faull.

'If uncertain - call 10111'

webmaster@issafrica.org (Institute for Security Studies) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 01:55:28 PDT

News24, 13 October 2009: Due to the current crime climate, police should be forced to issue an order stating that officials in unmarked vehicles were not allowed to pull people over.

This was the opinion of Dr Johan Burger, senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) on Monday, in reaction to cases where people had to stop if pulled over by police.

Burger referred to countless incidents where criminals pretended to be police members and then robbed or hijacked people.

ISS Today: Exercise Golfinho An Example For Other Continental Brigades

webmaster@issafrica.org (Institute for Security Studies) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:58:58 PDT

ISS Today:13 October 2009

The Southern African Development Community Standby Brigade (SADBRIG) recently held Exercise GOLFINHO, so named at the suggestion of Angola and Mozambique as being the Portuguese for “Dolphin” - an animal known for coming to the rescue when humans are in danger. The exercise took place at the South African National Defence Force Combat Training Centre in the Northern Cape, Lohatla, and in Walvis Bay over the period 1 to 26 September 2009. The aim of the exercise was to prepare the SADBRIG for multidimensional Peace Support Operations in line with the African Union Standby Force Roadmap.

10 Oct 2009: President Girma addresses Parliament

webmaster@issafrica.org (Institute for Security Studies) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:31:21 PDT

WaltaInfo, 10 October 2009: Last month, the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), Pretoria, published “The Somalia Conflict – Implications for peacemaking and peacekeeping efforts” by Solomon A. Dersso.

12 Oct 2009: 'I prayed that the police would stop them'

webmaster@issafrica.org (Institute for Security Studies) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:32:55 PDT

The Star, 12 October 2009: Johan Burger, of the Institute for Security Studies, said hijackers putting their victims in the boot was not a new phenomenon.

"If you are in the boot, you are out of their way and you won't attract attention - and you can also reactivate the car if the anti-hijack (mechanism) kicks in," said Burger.

"Criminals learn from each other and copy what works for them," he said.

9 Oct 2009: Gauteng SA's robbery hotspot

webmaster@issafrica.org (Institute for Security Studies) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:56:13 PDT

News 24.com 9 October 2009: However, a senior researcher at the ISS, Dr Johan Burger, discouraged people from leaving South Africa.

"If people want to emigrate, they should rather go to other provinces where home robberies are less common. Don't leave the country."

23 Sep 2009: Crime Nightmare

webmaster@issafrica.org (Institute for Security Studies) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:30:49 PDT

IOLProperty 23 September 2009: ...Crime researcher Johan Burger, of the Institute for Security Studies, said the results suggested the stats' late release was caused by the bad news they carried.

8 Oct 2009: Zero tolerance cops on the way

webmaster@issafrica.org (Institute for Security Studies) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:51:27 PDT

Sunday Times Online: 8 October 2009 Yesterday, in a discussion of last month's crime statistics, senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, Dr Johan Burger, said South African police were now likely to take an "offensive approach to policing".

23 Sep 2009: New database of MPs interests

webmaster@issafrica.org (Institute for Security Studies) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:24:02 PDT

News24.com 23 September 2009: Members of the public who want to know which officials received which gifts or in which companies they have interests can now find this information on the website www.ipocafrica.org.

This website was launched in Cape Town on Tuesday by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS).

ISS Today: South Africans Fighting for International Criminal Justice

webmaster@issafrica.org (Institute for Security Studies) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 02:10:35 PDT

ISS Today: 9 October 2009

The prospect of prosecutions for grave international crimes is an important weapon in the arsenal of human rights protections. The past two decades have seen important developments in this regard. Today the actions of states and their military forces are regulated by international criminal law, and although not widely recognised, several South Africans have played an instrumental role in developing these criminal justice responses."

ISS Today: Cleaning Out the Closet: Armed Groups in the Great Lakes Region

webmaster@issafrica.org (Institute for Security Studies) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 03:03:48 PDT

ISS Today: 8 October 2009

The presence of so-called ‘negative forces’ in the Great Lakes Region, especially eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has long been recognised by major stakeholders such as the African Union, the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region and the United Nations, as one of the major impediments to stability in the region. Currently, with several ongoing military operations in eastern DRC, the use of force to deal with these ‘negative forces’ is considered the most fruitful option. Even in the case of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), which took part in a protracted peace process with the Government of Uganda (GoU), facilitated by southern Sudan, a military solution is favoured to either neutralise the movement or push it to sign an agreement. This includes Ugandan forces currently hunting down the movement’s remnants in the Central African Republic."

5 Oct 2009: Water Wars Will Arise Out of Political Failure, Not Bad Weather

webmaster@issafrica.org (Institute for Security Studies) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:18:08 PDT

Published in The East African, 5 October 2009: "Nairobi — The second day of the Institute for Security Studies meeting on Climate Change and Transnational Water Management featured case studies highlighting the collaborative approach to managing the Niger River Basin, the process of mediating conflicts caused by the recession of Lake Chad, and the evolution of Ecowas as a regional institution."

05 Oct 2009: Contention Over Rankings of African Nations

webmaster@issafrica.org (Institute for Security Studies) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:12:07 PDT

The New York Times 5 October 2009: "Both indexes offer elaborate and detailed breakdowns of dozens of indicators. Some who have researched similar issues but are not involved in either of the new indexes, like Hennie van Vuuren, in the Cape Town office of the Institute for Security Studies, said the split that led to two indexes was unfortunate."

ISS Today: Mozambican Government Launches New Reintegration Process

webmaster@issafrica.org (Institute for Security Studies) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 06:18:27 PDT

ISS Today: 05 October 2009

Following a 16-year civil war that ended in 1992, Mozambique has remained a relatively peaceful country and has avoided a resurgence of armed conflict. The country has had three general elections since the signing of a peace agreement and is gearing up for a fourth that is to take place on the 28th of this month.

ISS Today: African Opposition Parties Have Their Share of the Blame

webmaster@issafrica.org (Institute for Security Studies) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 02:55:09 PDT

ISS Today: 5 October 2009

The end of the Cold War led to or coincided with the establishment or re-introduction of multiparty political systems across Africa. In the early 1990s, almost all the African countries adopted new constitutions that provided for democracy, multiparty and the holding of competitive elections at regular intervals. Only a few countries (e.g. Botswana, the Gambia, Mauritius, and Senegal) had this system before 1990, and Libya is almost the only African country with no multiparty system today.

ISS Today: President Zuma Meets With His Police ‘Force’

webmaster@issafrica.org (Institute for Security Studies) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 04:50:44 PDT

ISS Today: 2 October 2009

This week on Tuesday, President Zuma met in Pretoria with most of the more than one-thousand-one-hundred station commissioners, as well as other senior officers of the South African Police Service (SAPS). According to his office, this is part of the President’s intention to meet with public servants to ensure that they understand and support Government’s objectives.

ISS Today: Handling of Detainees in Military Operations: The African Perspective

webmaster@issafrica.org (Institute for Security Studies) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 10:25:27 PDT

ISS Today: 1 October 2009

During the course of international military operations, the armed forces detain personnel who are either combatants or non-combatants. A detainee therefore, refers to any person captured or otherwise detained by armed forces in a military operation and can be classified as ...

ISS Today: Containing Dirty Diamond Dealings in Zimbabwe: Can the Kimberley Process do it Alone?

webmaster@issafrica.org (Institute for Security Studies) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 07:16:48 PDT

ISS Today: 30 September 2009

According to research by US-based policy analyst, Taya Weiss, “trillions of dollars are siphoned through lawful and unlawful transactions involving diamonds. She also suggested, rather more controversially, that “terrorists and smugglers are hard to find precisely because they are protected by powerful interests”. Yet the situation playing itself out in Zimbabwe appears to vindicate Taya’s hypotheses – if one examines the involvement of government in the mineral sector, specifically in the Marange district.

ISS Today: Economic Empowerment of Women: What Will it Take?

webmaster@issafrica.org (Institute for Security Studies) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 01:58:33 PDT

ISS Today: 29 September 2009

Estimates state that 1.5 billion people worldwide live in abject poverty with the majority living in the developing world. Research has shown that the depth and incidence of poverty are very high in sub-Saharan Africa in comparison to other regions of the world.

ISS Today: New European Regulation Against Illegal Fishing Raises Concerns in Africa

webmaster@issafrica.org (Institute for Security Studies) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 04:07:05 PDT

ISS Today: 28 September 2009

The European Commission has passed far-reaching regulations designed to restrict the flow of illegal fish into European markets. The regulation places obligations on countries wishing to export to the EU and they will come into force in January 2010. It is a matter of some concern whether African countries will be ready and able to respond.

Forum on Unconstitutional Regime Changes ends in Addis Ababa

webmaster@issafrica.org (Institute for Security Studies) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 23:04:36 PDT

The Patriotic Vanguard, Sierra Leone: 26 September 2009

The Second Secretary at the Sierra Leone Embassy in Addis Ababa, Mr. Christopher Bockarie, was among participants that took part at a day’s forum themed ‘Unconstitutional Regime Changes: The Re-emergence of Coups in Africa’, recently held at the Hilton Hotel in Ethiopia.

Organized by the Institute for Security Studies, Human Security Initiative and Hanns Seidel Foundation, the forum was aimed at coming up with recommendations for regional bodies to prevent such machinations by would-be rogue regimes.

ISS points to possibility of attacks

webmaster@issafrica.org (Institute for Security Studies) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 03:27:00 PDT

Eyewitness News, 25 September 2009

The Institute for Security Studies says it is not impossible terrorists are planning to attack US government buildings in South Africa... The embassy refused to comment but the ISS’s terrorism expert Anneli Botha said South Africa was not immune to these types of attacks.

ISS Today: Police Fetishism, Inequality and a Culture of Violence

webmaster@issafrica.org (Institute for Security Studies) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 02:24:53 PDT

ISS Today: 25 September 2009

On the 14th of September, members of the South African Police Services (SAPS) killed six alleged would-be cash heist robbers in a shootout in Pretoria. The story was paraded in the media like a national sports team returning home with a trophy. Journalists asked police whether it was true they had ambushed the robbers and whether they had fired on them from a police helicopter as they fled.

ISS Today: Is MONUC Withdrawal from the DRC by 2011 Realistic?

webmaster@issafrica.org (Institute for Security Studies) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 01:29:52 PDT

ISS Today: 23 September 2009

The Congolese minister of Communications and Media, Mr Lambert Mende Omalanga, on 14 September announced that the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), MONUC, would withdraw from that country by 2011. Though the issue of withdrawal had been raised many times in the past, so definite a statement came as something of a surprise. Not only was it left unclear as to whether this would be a total or merely the beginning of a phased reduction in strength, but the choice of 2011 was strange. Not only will 2011 mark the 50th anniversary of Congolese independence, it should also see the holding of the second set of national multiparty elections.