Conflict & Resilience Monitor – May 2026

African mediation must adapt to a changing conflict landscape shaped by extremism, organised crime, climate change, disinformation and geopolitical competition. While dialogue remains essential, mediation must become more strategic, inclusive and informed, with stronger African leadership and institutions to effectively manage modern conflicts and maintain African agency in peace processes.

Since the outbreak of war in April 2023, the Sudan crisis has witnessed an unprecedented proliferation and overlap of regional and international initiatives aimed at halting the fighting and launching a comprehensive political process. Despite the intensity of these efforts and the diversity of actors involved – from the Jeddah and Manama platforms to the International Quad and the Quintet and the efforts of the French Promediation Organisation – this multiplicity has failed to translate into any meaningful breakthrough in the peace process. On the contrary, it has contributed to increasing the complexity of the landscape by fostering an environment of competition and institutional fragmentation, thereby undermining the prospects for a unified international position.

Ethiopia’s seventh general election is scheduled for 1 June 2026. On the surface, the procedural gears appear to be turning. The National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) continues to follow its electoral calendar with repeated assurances of technical rigour that, at least formally, promises to be stronger than the previous cycles.

On 15 April 2023, Sudan’s Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted into full-scale civil war, triggering one of the world’s gravest humanitarian catastrophes with over 10 million people displaced and mass atrocities documented in Darfur. What distinguishes this conflict is not only its ferocity, but its technology: Sudan has become a live laboratory for autonomous drone warfare, artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted surveillance and open-source intelligence (OSINT) deployed in real time by belligerents and civil society monitors alike.

In our modern society, it is difficult to imagine going a day without a smartphone or internet access. From what we eat and buy to how we learn, work and manage our healthcare, we are immersed in a digital environment. According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Facts and Figures 2022 report, internet use is significantly higher among youth than among the rest of the global population, with seventy-five per cent of young people online compared to sixty-five per cent of the rest of the population. This gap is even more pronounced in Africa, where fifty-five per cent of youth use the internet compared to only thirty-six per cent of the rest of the population.