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The desolate political stalemate which has prevailed since the military suppression of the pro-democracy movement in 1988 continues unabated.

Amid political instability and violence, Iraq's economic problems have been viewed as secondary and unrelated. They are not. U.S. and Iraqi institutions have systematically lost and the insurgency gained momentum as living conditions failed to improve.

The international community is slowly awakening to the grim realisation that collapse of the Congo peace process and return to war are real prospects in that giant country, several millions of whose citizens died in the conflicts of the past decade.

The international response to the crisis in the western Sudanese region of Darfur remains limp and inadequate, its achievements so far desperately slight.

Kyrgyzstan’s society has become more mature since independence but its government more authoritarian.

The target of disbanding the paramilitary United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC) by the end of 2005, set when the government of President Alvaro Uribe signed the Ralito I accord with the far-right group nearly a year ago, remains problematic.

This is the third of a series of briefings and reports on Islamism in North Africa. The first provided general background on the range and diversity of Islamic activism in the region, and subsequent papers examine with respect to particular states, the outlook and strategies of the main Islamist movements and organisations, their relations with the state and each other and how they have evolved. The analysis focuses on the relationship between Islamic activism and violence, especially but not only terrorism and the problem of political reform in general and democratisation in particular.

The Saudi regime faces one of the more difficult phases in its history. Fearful of change, accustomed to a system in which it holds enormous power and privileges, the ruling family may consider any serious reform a risk not worth taking.

Persistent reports of links between the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terror network overshadow and put at risk the peace process between the MILF and the Philippine government.

The January 2003 Linas-Marcoussis Accords have been badly compromised by a lack of good faith and political will. All the key issues – nationality, eligibility for elections, and disarmament – that they attempted to address in order to restore peace and national unity to Côte d’Ivoire and lead it to presidential elections in October 2005 are stalemated.