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

Massif Expedition

The Colombian Massif region is crucial to the country's survival, providing 70 percent of Colombia's drinking water. Now, the once-pristine landscape faces threats from deforestation, mining, and the illegal crop industry.

The Underground Railroad of North Korea

For over two decades, a secret network has worked tirelessly to help thousands of refugees escape the world's worst dictatorship. This is the story of one desperate woman who risked her life to reach freedom, and of the complicated man who led the way.

This Week: Game of Drones

Drone warfare—cheap, easy and deadly—is likely to write the next chapter of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

This Week: Congo's Peacekeepers

Setting aside a dismal record of failure, incompetence and indifference, UN peacekeeping troops and the Democratic Republic of Congo's army seem to have finally joined forces to protect civilians.

This Week: A New Libya

Does anyone miss Qaddafi? Not really. But as Nicolas Pelham reports, the Libyan Revolution of 2011 has not delivered on the reforms that so many had anticipated. And the worst may be yet to come.

This Week: Africa's War on Terror

Earlier this year, Yochi Dreazen traveled to northern Mali, where government troops and French special forces were battling a growing network of jihadists for control of a vast desert territory.