AllGov
Jan 3 2010

World Conflict Total for 2009 Drops to a Mere 7 Wars and 24 Severe Crises

Sunday, January 03, 2010

(graphic: Lambert Studios, Inc.-CSPG) The year 2009 was an improvement
as far as global wars were concerned, according to the Heidelberg
Institute for International Conflict Research. The institute’s annual
conflict analysis found there were a total of 365 political trouble
spots in 2009, including seven wars and 24 `severe crises.’ Even
though total conflicts were up from 2008, which had 353, the number of
`highly violent conflicts’ went down from nine wars and 30 severe
crises. The conflicts that Heidelberg officials considered a `war’ in
2009 were in Afghanistan, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Israel
(Hamas/Palestine), Yemen and Pakistan, which was counted twice’one for
its fight against the Taliban and another against various Islamist
militants. The fighting in Iraq was labeled a severe crisis rather
than a war.

The report also noted that negotiations or conferences were held to
deal with 65 of the 365 conflicts. However, of the 148 such talks,
only 40 concluded with an agreement. The Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict
set the year’s record for unsuccessful attempts with 13 sets of
negotiations, but no peace agreement.

Meanwhile, UN peacekeeping troops were stationed in 16 countries. The
number of personnel reached almost 100,000’the most since 1995. In
2009, UN missions experienced 98 fatalities.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

_Conflict_Total_for_2009_Drops_to_a_Mere_7_Wars_an d_24_Severe_Crises_100103