World Peace Foundation

Introduction to blog series on Gender Based Violence & Starvation - World Peace Foundation This essay introduces the key ideas and challenges involved in examining SGBV and starvation, and introduces the nine essays in the series.

It’s a privilege to be working with Bridget Conley and Dyan Mazurana on the intersection of starvation and sexual & gender-based violence.

Here we introduce a series of insightful pieces from attendees of a conference hosted by @worldpeacefdtn.bsky.social

worldpeacefoundation.org/blog/introdu...

In 2026, WPF is deepening its work on #conflict, #accountability, and #peace by connecting research, advocacy, and analysis to confront how violence is sustained and normalized.

Join us to learn about the systems that drive harm and how they can be dismantled to create non-violent futures.

The War That Outgrew Sudan Middle East rivalries are turning a local war into a regional crisis..

Professor Alex de Waal authors, "The War that Outgrew Sudan," on the role of outside players in the Sudanese Civil War. @foreignaffairs.com @worldpeacefdtn.bsky.social

www.foreignaffairs.com/sudan/war-ou...

[#4] The War in Darfur with Alex de Waal – Hamed Al Ghaithi

Produced by Hamed Al Ghaithi—a student at @fletcherschool.bsky.social, the podcast Metamorphosis features Executive Director Alex de Waal on the war in #Darfur, the use of #starvation as a weapon, and why the #humanitarian response keeps falling short.

🔗 Listen here: shorturl.at/HzEFF

Who is the World’s Greatest Famine Criminal? - World Peace Foundation Who, in the last 150 years, has murdered the largest number of people by starvation and ranks as the greatest famine criminals?

This year, our most read essay was “Who Is the World’s Greatest Famine Criminal?”, which explores #famine as a man-made crime and analyzes the leaders whose policies and actions caused the greatest starvation deaths in the last 150 years.

🔗 Revisit the full essay here: shorturl.at/T8kNj

The younger generation is fed up with corruption: interview with Alwande Khumalo  - World Peace Foundation South African social justice activist Alwande Khumalo discusses her work exposing corruption and why her generation is demanding change.

Alwande Khumalo (@armstradect.bsky.social) talks about why young people in South Africa are fed up with the status quo & how they are exposing #corruption & demanding #accountability.

Read it here: shorturl.at/Gx2K2

2025 was a year of deepening wars, escalating authoritarianism & resurgent famine.

In this context, WPF & its partners published ten major reports, confronted #famine in #Gaza & #Sudan, exposed #corruption in the global #armstrade & documented community-centered pathways beyond mass #incarceration

How Europe’s migration policy and arms empowered Sudan’s warlords European migration funding strengthened Sudanese paramilitaries, while weak export oversight allowed the flow of arms.

A recent Al Jazeera English piece shows how EU migration funding and lax arms-export oversight empowered warlords in #Sudan. European money and weapons continued to flow into the conflict, deepening instability and humanitarian need.

Read more here: www.aljazeera.com/opinions/202...

Moving for Survival: Oral Histories of Famine and Labour Migration in the Darfur–BeG Borderlands  - World Peace Foundation This blog post adopts a bottom-up approach to analysing recurrent famines in the Darfur–Bahr el Ghazal borderlands of southwestern Sudan

Our latest blog by explores how #displacement is rarely voluntary when faced with famine within #Darfur. War, climate collapse, economic collapse & instability push entire communities to relocate, not for dreams or opportunity, but simply to stay alive.

Read more here: shorturl.at/BQ7o9

New Briefing: Germany supplied fighting vehicle parts and other arms to Israel throughout 2024 - Shadow World Investigations For the first time, data analysed by Shadow World Investigations (SWI) reveals exports of arms and weapons components from Germany to Israel occurred throughout 2024. Germany does not publish its real...

Germany exported #arms to Israel throughout 2024, even as #Gaza raged on. According to new customs data revealed by @shadowworldinv1.bsky.social, Berlin shipped roughly €3.7 million in armoured-vehicle components & another €4.3 million worth of arms & ammunition

Learn more here: shorturl.at/6hCNg

Voices from al-Fashir - World Peace Foundation Famine in al-Fashir is man-made. Strikes on markets, hospitals, public infrastructures, and shelters were all the result of human decisions.

What does #famine look like? People in Al‑Fashir ground oilseed cake to survive, hospitals reduced to dressing wounds with mosquito nets, starvation replaced markets and kitchens. It’s a powerful reminder: famine isn’t an abstraction.

Read more here: worldpeacefoundation.org/blog/voices-...

Donald Trump pledges to tackle Sudan atrocities - what difference can he make? The war is being fuelled by regional powers and the US president may have some leverage over them.

Professor Alex de Waal authors "How Trump’s Pledge To Tackle Sudan Atrocities Could Play Out" for BBC. @worldpeacefdtn.bsky.social

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Rents and Political Settlements - A Hopeless Muddle? - World Peace Foundation Aditya Sarkar discusses whether a change in rent flows can explain the evolution of political settlements in the Horn of Africa.

What holds a political system together, and what tears it apart? In fragile states, political finance, not just resource rents, may drive the ebb and flow of power. Our new analysis shows why

Read more here from our partnership with @peacerep.bsky.social: worldpeacefoundation.org/blog/rents-a...

“Could see the blood on the ground from space”

In this @vox.com's Today, Explained clip, Alex de Waal describes the massacres by the RSF in El Fasher, #Sudan —shelling, attacks on hospitals, executions & sexual violence carried out & filmed by paramilitary fighters.

Listen at the link in our bio

Building Peace and Accountability in Transactional Political Systems - World Peace Foundation Local dialogues can build coalitions and reduce conflict, but Nigeria’s transactional system and elite-driven elections block accountability.

Jared Miller examines what #accountability means inside transactional and #corrupt political systems, using #Nigeria as a case study. His research shows both the potential of grassroots engagement and the limits posed by elite political marketplaces.

Read here: shorturl.at/hOUD8

Can Trump help Sudan? Podcast Episode · Today, Explained · 11/19/2025 · 27m

Professor Alex de Waal analyzes the two generals in the middle of Sudan's civil war, starting at (2:37). @vox.com @worldpeacefdtn.bsky.social

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c...

The Corruption Tracker is exposing the arms trade as one of the most corrupt businesses in the world, affecting almost any region. Yet, the impacts of both arms sales and corruption are often ignored, or even excused, especially when it comes to the African continent. From Russian mercenaries to Emirati money to European weapons and militaries, some African countries have had to bear much foreign intervention even in supposedly postcolonial times.

Who Arms Africa? Over the next twelve months, this series from our partners at the @armstradect.bsky.social exposes how corporations profit from war in Africa.

Learn more here: corruption-tracker.org/who-arms-afr...

Is the UAE involved in Sudan's war? - ABC listen Sudan is the world's largest humanitarian crisis but its civil war is being fuelled by weapons flown in from other countries.

In an interview with ABC News, Professor Alex de Waal discusses how Sudan's paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces, gets its weapons. @worldpeacefdtn.bsky.social

www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

The Trillion Dollar War Machine: How Runaway Military Spending Drives America Into Foreign Wars and Bankrupts Us at Home How Runaway Military Spending Drives America Into Foreign Wars and Bankrupts Us at Home

Out this week, a must-read book from our partners William Hartung & Ben Freeman of @quincyinst.bsky.social on #militaryspending – The Trillion Dollar War Machine: How Runaway Military Spending Drives America Into Foreign Wars and Bankrupts Us at Home

Find it here: bookshop.org/p/books/the-...

Professor Alex de Waal Breaks Down Tigray’s Deep Crisis—And What Must Change Now #ZerayPress YouTube video by ዘርኣይ ፕረስ Zeray Press

📺 Zeray Press – "Professor Alex de Waal Breaks Down Tigray's Deep Crisis–And What Must Chaneg Now"

🔗 www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0Id...

Shame on TPLF, Abiy and Isaias committed Genocide, Tigraians didn't fight to restore TPLF#armamedia YouTube video by ኣርማ ሚድያ arma media

🎥 YouTube – “Shame on TPLF, Abiy and Isaias Committed Genocide, Tigrarians didn't fight to restore TPLF”

De Waal reflects on the 5th anniversary of the war on #Tigray and 3rd anniversary of the Pretoria peace agreement.

🔗 www.youtube.com/watch?v=qT9c...

Trump is making diplomatic efforts to end Sudan's civil war. What's at stake? The Trump administration is pushing for a ceasefire in Sudan. NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks to Sudan scholar, Alex de Waal, about the challenges in bringing an end to the conflict.

🎙️NPR - "Trump is making diplomatic efforts to end Sudan’s civil war: What’s at stake?"

De Waal analyses the diplomatic stakes and why Sudan’s collapse demands more than headline-grab diplomacy.

🔗 www.npr.org/2025/11/09/n...

CNN Newsroom Live - Alex de Whaal/Newsroom with Kim Powered by SnapStream Cloud Sharing

📺 CNN – A deep-dive analysis on the humanitarian fallout in Sudan and what happens when institutions fail.

🔗 video.snapstream.net/Play/8MoT9Fw...

Shutdown forces airports into unprecedented flight reductions Podcast Episode · Apple News Today · 11/06/2025 · 15m

🎧 Apple News – De Waal explains why the RSF taking control of the city of El Fasher in Sudan amkes a turning point of the civil war.

🔗 podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...

Terror Returns to Darfur Only American pressure can stop the killing in Sudan.

📝 Foreign Affairs Magazine – “Terror Returns to Darfur: Only American Pressure Can Stop the Killing in Sudan.”

The retaking of Darfur by the RSF signals a return to the worst chapter of Sudan’s history, and that global inaction is dangerous.

🔗 www.foreignaffairs.com/sudan/terror...

Media Round-Up: Insights From Executive Director Alex de Waal on #Sudan & #Ethiopia

Exeuctive Director Alex de Waal continues to engage with global media the crisis in Sudan, the anniversary of the war in Tigray, and the geopolitical dynamics at play.

Trump is making diplomatic efforts to end Sudan's civil war. What's at stake? The Trump administration is pushing for a ceasefire in Sudan. NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks to Sudan scholar, Alex de Waal, about the challenges in bringing an end to the conflict.

Professor Alex de Waal discusses the likelihood of a ceasefire in Sudan. @npr.org @ayesharascoe.bsky.social @worldpeacefdtn.bsky.social

www.npr.org/2025/11/09/n...

Interrogating the Authoritarian Frame: Boundaries of Belonging - World Peace Foundation Authoritarians pose groups of people as the cause of societal problems, then prescribe exclusion of those peoples and enforced norms.

Authoritarian regimes use identity, fear and gendered narratives to draw lines between the “us” and the “them” to create opportunities to seize power.

Read the full essay here: shorturl.at/4iNKL

#gender #authoritarianism

Recommended listening:

The MyTERN podcast by our friends at @tuftsprisoninitiative is about life before, after & during after incarceration using persaonal storytelling to reveal the systems of racial, gender and economic injustice that shape our lives.

#podcast #massincarceration

A Sudanese massacre foretold: the grim familiarity of the RSF’s rampage through El Fasher Atrocities unfolding in El Fasher since it fell to paramilitary forces follow a bleak pattern seen in Rwanda, Liberia and Sudan itself, including lack of international action

Professor Alex de Waal quoted in a piece on the devastation of El Fasher, Sudan, at the hands of the paramilitary group RSF. @theguardian.com @rachelmsavage.bsky.social @elenamorresi.bsky.social @worldpeacefdtn.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...