Issue

Conflict and Peace Building

Nearly 30 years after the Rwandan genocide, thousands of maimed amputees remind us of the war that took 500,000 lives in 100 days. War leaves marks that cannot be erased—not only in Rwanda, but on every continent.

Reporting from Conflict and Peacebuilding examines the roots of conflict, whether it be religious hatred, sectarian rivalry, a security vacuum, the struggle for natural resources, or the desperation that results from poverty.

Pulitzer Center journalists also cover war’s aftermath: the transitional governments that result in chaos, diplomacy that goes awry, peace talks that never end, and the people who suffer the consequences, young and old. We see the children who go hungry, lose their homes, leave school, become combatants, or join the jihad.

Often the end to conflict leaves turmoil in its wake while the road to peace seems circuitous: In South Sudan, rebel-commanders-turned politicians plunge the country into civil war. In the U.S., troops return home from one war only to be re-deployed to another. But everywhere, in every conflict, there are also voices crying out for peace, determined to heal the divide.

 

Conflict and Peace Building

Basra

Richard Rowley, for the Pulitzer Center

lights stutter on and off.
the sun rises and sets behind heavy curtains
while thousands of ants slowly inherit this tile and plaster to the desert.

Abbas Ibn Fernas' wings spread like a warning.

in the smooth marble stomach of our abandoned cities,
brush the flies away from the corner of his mouth

'what kind of men lived and worked in buildings like these?'
'strange to know that they were us...'

David Enders Interviewed on "Your Call with with Rose Aguilar and Sandip Roy"

On the next Your Call, it's our Friday media roundtable. This week, Rupert Murdoch's bid for the Wall Street Journal was accepted, the House passed ethics reform, and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld testified at a hearing about the death of Pat Tillman. Joining us to discuss the news of the week is Robert Hodierne of Army Times, David Enders, independent reporter in Iraq, and Pratap Chatterjee of CorpWatch. What was your story of the week? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar.

Can't Say Goodbye

Richard Rowley, for the Pulitzer Center
Iraq

lights stutter on and off.
the sun rises and sets behind heavy curtains
while thousands of ants slowly inherit this tile and plaster to the desert.

Abbas Ibn Fernas' wings spread like a warning.

in the smooth marble stomach of our abandoned cities,
brush the flies away from the corner of his mouth.

'what kind of men lived and worked in buildings like these?'
'strange to know that they were us.'

Iraq: Death of a Nation?

black smoke billows into a starless sky.

we were the ones who dried the canals and planted death in the river bank - powder and steel among the reeds. smallpox in a dakota blizzard. boot leather on the slave-bricked streets.

custer's 7th cavalry dismounts in fallahat.a hand pressed to the heart, just above his 9.

black points float in clear blue irises.her rank is missing from her uniform.

why does nothing taste good?