The Taleban insurgency carried out several attacks during the month in Kabul, killing almost 50 people. The most serious attack took the lives of 33 people, of which at least four were civilians, who died after bombs went off as a convoy of buses carrying police officers drove by, on the outskirts of the capital. Days before a suicide attack on a bus killed 14 Nepali security guards working in the Canadian embassy. Around that same time, several other attacks rocked different parts of the country. In Ghazni province, an attack on a court of justice killed six people and in Badakhshan at least four people died when a motorbike with a bomb exploded at a market, and injured 18. The human rights organisation Amnesty International denounced that the figure of internally displaced people in the country has doubled in the last three years, alongside a deterioration of the conditions in which this displacement takes place. After international troops were withdrawn from the country there has been a peak in forced displacements while international humanitarian aid has dropped. (The New York Times, 1, 5, 21/06/16; 1/7/16)

Clashes were registered along the border separating Afghanistan and Pakistan between the security forces of both countries, leading to the closure of the Torkham border pass for five days; this is the main transit point between both countries. After a meeting of the Afghan ambassador to Pakistan, Mr. Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal, and the head of the Pakistani armed forces, general Raheel Sharif, it was agreed to reopen the border pass. As a result of the clashes, 13 people were injured in Pakistan and one Afghan police officer died. The clashes lasted two days. Tensions in the area had escalated after Afghanistan denounced the construction of a fence in Pakistan and their opposition to this fence, which led to the closure of the border in May. Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of starting an armed attack after announcing to its neighbour country that it would start building the fence. Most of the injured were civilians living in a village near the border. (The New York Times, 13/06/16)

Tension was on the rise in the country due to an outbreak of violence between anti-balaka militias and pastoralists backed by former members of the Séléka coalition. The fighting began on June 10 in Ngaoundaye, in the north-west of the Ouham Pende region, and lasted several days until the Séléka gained control of the town. On June 20 a clash took place between armed groups and MINUSCA in the mostly Muslim neighbourhood called PK5. Six combatants were killed and 15 civilians were injured in the fighting. The outbreaks of violence have forced the displacement of thousands of people. UNHCR and its partners currently provide aid to 67,000 refugees in southern Chad and 260,000 in Cameroon. Some 415,000 people are displaced inside the country. UNHCR has requested 225.5 million dollars to continue operating in the country, but to date has only received 24.7 million, about 11%. (AfricaNews, 17/06/16; UN, 20/06/16)

On 12 June, a military confrontation took place between the armies of the two countries in the area around the town of Tserona in Eritrean territory. This is one of the most important clashes to be reported since the 1998-2000 conflict between the two countries came to an end. Both have accused each other of beginning the exchange of heavy artillery, which caused numerous casualties on the other side, according to statements made by both countries. Ethiopia said that the exchange had ended, and that it had sent a clear warning message to Eritrea since, according to Ethiopia, Eritrea did not expect such a strong military response by the Ethiopian forces. Both countries periodically trade accusations of supporting insurgent groups to destabilize and/or overthrow the other’s government, a legacy of many years of fratricidal war. Eritrea, subject to UN sanctions, has indicated that the international community has failed to pressure Ethiopia to accept the border demarcation resolution, which was favourable to Eritrea, while Ethiopia has stated that it wishes to hold talks to discuss the implementation of the demarcation. (AFP, BBC, Al Jazeera, 13/06/16; ICG, 15/06/16)

Forced displacement due to violence, conflict and persecution affected over 65.3 million people around the world at the end of 2015. This is an unprecedented figure that represents an increase of more than 5 million over the previous year and is equivalent to one out of every 113 people in the world forced to leave their home. As part of the submission of its annual report, UNHCR released the figure based on the data obtained until December 2015. According to the information gathered, at the end of 2015 a total of 41 million people had been forcibly and internally displaced. The largest groups of internally displaced people (IDPs) were located in Syria and Iraq. Concerning refugees in other countries, the figure rose to 21.3 million. According to the UNHCR report, 54% of the refugees came from only three countries: Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia. In addition, the data indicate that half of all refugees were under 18 years of age. The report also states that the overwhelming majority of the refugee population (86%) is living in low- and medium-income countries. The main receiving country is Turkey, which is home to more than 2.5 million refugees, most of them Syrian nationals. UNHCR took advantage of the presentation of the report to warn of the worrying atmosphere of xenophobia in Europe given the increase in the arrival of refugees to the continent seeking refuge. (The New York Times, BBC, UNHCR, 20/06/16)

Tension mounts in the region after several Papuan organisations condemned the arrest of almost 3,000 people in May and June on the context of one of the foremost periods of social demonstrations in favour of self-rule of Western Papua in recent years. In mid-June, more than 1,000 people were arrested in several Western Papuan towns (Jayapura, Yakuhimo, Manokwari, Merauke, Fakfak and Sorong) for carrying out demonstrations in support of the United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) and in support of its application to gain full membership of the regional Melanesian Spearhead Group. Last year, the ULMWP attained observer status in that organisation, but Indonesia, which also has the same status, objects to it becoming a full member. According to the Jakarta Post, next year the ULMWP intends to launch an international campaign in favour of a referendum supervised by the international community on the independence of West Papua. Likewise, Papuan organisations reported that in May between 1,500 and 2,000 people were arrested for participating in demonstrations that commemorated the annexation of West Papua to Indonesia in 1963. These demonstrations took place in several of the region’s cities, but the most significant were recorded in early May in Jayapura (with the arrest of hundreds of people) and in late May in several areas (Wamena, where about 60 people were arrested; Manado, where 76 people were arrested, and Sentani, where about 200 people were prosecuted). Some of these protests demanded the release of political prisoners and called for various states in Asia, the Caribbean and the Pacific to support the Papuan peoples’ right to self-determination. Organisations such as Human Rights Watch condemned the continued use of excessive force by state security forces and bodies in their handling of peaceful demonstrations. Indeed, the police stated that they had no intention of allowing demonstrations in which the independence of West Papua was openly demanded. (The Guardian, 06 y 17/06/16; Radio New Zealand, 01/06/16; Jakarta Post, 15/06/16)

A UN report documented a series of human rights violations and abuses perpetrated by the armed group ISIS and concluded that the organisation is committing genocide against the Yazidi population in Iraq and Syria to the extent that it seeks to destroy the community through killing, sexual slavery, gang rapes, torture and humiliation. The report was based on interviews with dozens of survivors and determined that starting in August 2014, ISIS combatants (including militiamen of various nationalities) have committed a series of actions aimed at eradicating the identity of the Yazidi population, which follows a syncretic religion deemed “pagan” by ISIS. Among the many crimes and abuses committed by the armed group, the report describes the practice of forcing Yazidi men to convert to Islam, murdering those who refuse, the rape of women and girls as young as nine years old and the recruitment of children as young as seven to serve as combatants. According to the report, ISIS has created an online platform to circulate photos of the Yazidi women and girls that has ended up forming part of a kind of market for sex slaves. According to some testimonies, the women are raped almost every day and anyone who tries to escape is punished with the murder of one of her sons or daughters. The Yazidi community is estimated to consist of around 700,000 people, predominantly of Kurdish ethnicity and mostly living in parts of Syria and Iraq. According to the four researchers responsible for the report, at least 3,200 people are being held by ISIS fighters, mainly in Syria. (The Guardian and The New York Times, 16/06/16)

The recent arrest of several militants underscores the growing presence of the ISIS Islamist armed group in the Horn of Africa, especially in Kenya. According to government sources, ISIS is recruiting young people to fight abroad, in Libya and Syria, which has sparked concern in the country's security and intelligence services. The intelligence services estimate that around a hundred people have joined ISIS in Libya and Syria, and it is feared that when they return to the country they may strike against Kenyan and foreign targets, in a country that is already attacked regularly by combatants who have returned from Somalia after being part of al-Shabaab. The first al-Qaeda attack in Kenya occurred in 1998, the bombing of the US embassy, and the most recent massacre took place at Garissa University in 2015. In March four men were tried for attempting to travel to Libya to join ISIS, and in May the police announced that three people had been arrested, one of them a medical student, and that they had been accused of recruiting for ISIS and preparing an anthrax attack. Two other medical students fled. Several experts deny that an imminent large-scale attack in the country is possible, but the threat of radicalization and recruitment by ISIS, and the ensuing return, is a reality. (News24, 30/06/16)

In June, Boko Haram notably increased its attacks in Niger, in the southern border region of Diffa, and the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) launched a major military offensive in response. The worst of the attacks launched by the Boko Haram rebels took place on 3 June, in an action carried out in the city of Bosso that resulted in the deaths of 26 soldiers, the removal of various military equipment and the temporary loss of government control over the city. The attack prompted a reaction from the government of Niger, whose President Issoufou asked Chad to send 2,000 soldiers from the regional mission. The first Chadian troops arrived in Bosso on 8 June. On 17 June, Nigerien Defence Minister Hassoumi Massaoudou announced the start of the MNJTF’s regional offensive, which will involve troops from Niger, Chad and Nigeria to eliminate the militia from the border region between Niger and Nigeria. Meanwhile, on 16 June, Boko Haram attacked military barracks in Ghafam, in the Diffa region, killing seven police officers. That same day, it also attacked a Nigerian refugee camp near the capital of Diffa. (VOA, 10/06/2016; AFP, 17/06/2016)

Attacks and sabotage against oil facilities have continued in the southern Niger Delta region since last February, boosting insecurity. On 9 June, the impact of the actions carried out by the different armed groups operating in the area, the most important of which is the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), prompted the state-owned petrol company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), to announce that the attacks have cut crude and electricity production by half. Minister of State for Petroleum Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu declared that Buhari’s government is seeking to begin talks with the NDA and other armed groups in the area. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) issued a statement on 12 June urging the NDA to implement a ceasefire and to sit down at the negotiating table with it and the federal government. Meanwhile, a coalition of 21 civil society organisations from the region issued a joint statement asking the Nigerian government and the insurgent movements to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict. Furthermore, members of the Biafran groups known as the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and the Biafra Independence Movement (BIM), which have been connected to violence in the Niger Delta, have distanced themselves from the activities linked to the NDA. Local media outlets confirmed that a 30-day truce was achieved on 21 June to give the government time to develop a comprehensive plan for the region. (ISS, 07/06/2016; This day, 21/06/2016; The Guardian, 24/06/2016; VOA, 27/06/2016; ICG, 30/06/2016)

There was an important surge in violence during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Hundreds of people died in the country in different attacks, car bombings, and attacks against military facilities, the AMISOM installation, civilian and Government buildings, and civil locations such as hotels and restaurants. This is a trend that has surfaced in recent years and it may get worse considering the numerous statements made by the radical Islamist armed group al-Shabaab in an attempt to undermine the election process. Furthermore, al-Shabaab’s loss of control over numerous towns and strongholds in recent months has called into questioned the group’s capability, and it is determined to disprove this. Of note is the June 9 car bombing by al-Shabaab at an Ethiopian military base, in the town of Halgan, Hiraan region, in the centre of the country, where the AU mission AMISOM is stationed. The armed group claimed that it had killed at least 60 Ethiopian soldiers. AMISOM announced that it had been able to repel the attack and that 110 al-Shabaab militants had died. Ethiopia denied that any of its own soldiers had been killed in the clash, although Somali Security Minister Abdirizak Mohamed Ahmed said that government officials had counted 240 militants who were killed near the base and that nine AMISOM soldiers had died. Ethiopia is one of five countries that make up AMISOM, which has 22,000 troops. There were also two important attacks on two hotels that caused dozens of victims. At the beginning of the month, an attack on the Ambassador hotel in Mogadishu killed at least 10 people, including two members of parliament, and wounded another 50. On June 25, 11 people were killed in another car bombing at the Naso-Hablod Hotel in Mogadishu, where a minister of the Federal Government also died. The attack lasted for several hours until special forces could enter the Hotel and execute three al-Shabaab militants. More than 20 people were injured in the attack. On June 26, the National News Agency raised the death toll to 20. Although al-Shabaab was driven out of the capital in 2011, the group has continued to mount attacks on the city. In other events, army colonel Hassan Barre was killed at gunpoint near his home in Mogadishu, as well as Mohamed Kuno, the al-Shabaab militant who led the attack that killed 148 people at Garissa University in Kenya In April 2015. Kuno died along with 15 other militants in Kismayo when his convoy was hit by an attack at night. Of the 16 victims, four were high level members of al-Shabaab. Furthermore, AMISOM confirmed that five of its soldiers were arrested in Mogadishu for the alleged illegal sale of military supplies. (Dhacdo.com, 02/06/16; BBC, 07, 10/06/16; Goobjob, 26/06/16)

In a speech with a defiant tone, Syrian President Bashar Assad announced that he aims to regain control of “every millimetre” of Syria. His words were interpreted as a sign of confidence and commitment to continuing with a military solution after Russian intervention bolstered his position. His message was also considered counterproductive to international efforts to keep diplomatic channels open following the collapse of the cessation of hostilities agreement reached in February. Meanwhile, the Syrian government continued to hinder the delivery of humanitarian aid to populations that are difficult to reach and/or under siege. In May, the United States warned that if the delivery of supplies was not facilitated by 1 June, the West would help the UN to send aid by parachute, but this deadline passed and no measure of the kind was taken. In this context, in mid-June trucks carrying aid could access the besieged and rebel-controlled Damascus suburb of Darayya for the first time since 2012. However, Darayya’s inhabitants reported that the area was subject to many air strikes launched by the Syrian regime, which made the delivery of food difficult. The area around Aleppo also continued to suffer from the intensification of the air strikes over the opposition-controlled eastern part of the city, killing many civilians, according to UN reports. Hospitals and healthcare facilities continued to be attacked, including a paediatric centre supported by UNICEF, in violation of international humanitarian law. The leader of Hezbollah pledged to boost the group’s forces in Aleppo to reinforce the Syrian regime’s offensive on the city. Other active fronts in June included Deir ez-Zor governorate, where various attacks killed over 100 civilians, Idlib governorate, where an air strike on a market killed more than 30 people, and Manbij, in northern Aleppo governorate, the scene of fighting between ISIS and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) dominated by the Kurdish group YPG. The hostilities forcibly displaced hundreds of families, but around 50,000 civilians are estimated to remain trapped in the city. On the Syrian border with Jordan, however, nearly 60,000 refugees were held in a desert area with hardly any access to food and medicine. The authorities in Amman decided to close the border after a suicide attack claimed by ISIS killed six Jordanian guards and wounded another 14 people on the outskirts of a refugee camp. (The New York Times, 07, 10/06/16; ICG, 01/07/16; UN 01-30/06/16; The Guardian, 21/06/16)

Different armed clashes that occurred throughout the month raised fears of a return to hostilities in the country. On 11 June, forces allied to the SPLA-IO attacked the town of Kajo Keji, in the former central state of Equatoria. Later, on 15 June, dozens of people were killed and over 400 civilians were forcibly displaced when an armed group attacked government forces in the city of Raja, in the state of Western Bahr el Ghazal. Rizik Zachariah Hassan, the governor of the recently created state of Lol, has accused the SPLA-IO of being responsible for the attack on Raja, accusations that have been rejected by the SPLA-IO. In the worst attack during the month, on 25 June an armed group stormed the city of Wau, in the state of Western Bahr el Ghazal, briefly capturing it. The attack, which continued until 27 June, forced thousands of civilians to flee the area and seek refuge in UN camps, the campus of the University of Bahr el Ghazal and churches and non-governmental organisations. The SPLA initially declared a state of emergency due to the continuous insecurity in the city of Wau. President Salva Kiir abruptly dismissed Governor Elias Waya and replaced him with Andrea Mayar Achok. The crisis in Wao has led to the deaths of at least 43 people, according to the count kept by the government, and displaced around 120,000 people. A recently formed Islamist militant group, which includes members of the LRA and the Sudanese Janjaweed militia, led by the Ali Tamim Fartak, may be behind the attacks. A senior member of the SPLM-IO faction in Bahr al Ghazal had admitted that his fighters clashed with government forces south of the city of Wau. In other developments, the spokesman of the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations accepted the organisation’s responsibility for its lack of a rapid response during the massacre of internally displaced persons (IDPs) that took place on 17-18 February in a UN civilian protection camp in Malakal. The massacre claimed the lives of at least 30 people and left 123 others wounded. (VOA, 16, 24/06/2016; Sudan Tribune, 17-18, 26/06/2016; Radio Tamazuj, 24-25, 29/06/2016; Reuters, 28/06/2016; Al Jazeera, 03/07/2016)

A suicide attack blamed on ISIS in the airport in Istanbul killed 44 people and wounded around 250. The attack, which occurred on 28 June, caused great consternation in a country affected by various lines of conflict that has witnessed several large-scale attacks in the past year. Meanwhile, the armed conflict between the Turkish government and the PKK remained active. In June, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim announced the end of the military operations in the southeast and the start of a phase of reconstruction in damaged urban areas, a period during which Ankara also plans to take legal action against municipalities and mayors that it accuses of transferring resources to the PKK. Meanwhile, the Kurdish movement denounced the continuation of curfews in various districts, the policy of demolition and expropriation of buildings in areas declared high-risk by the authorities and the accumulated impacts of destruction, population displacement and blocked aid. The special operations in the districts of Nusaybin (Mardin province) and Sinark (in the province of the same name), which began in mid-March and ended on 3 June, resulted in the deaths of 1,000 PKK militiamen, according to the general staff. The conflict remained active on other fronts, including clashes in rural areas, bombardments of PKK targets by the Turkish Army in parts of Turkey and northern Iraq and offensive actions against the PKK. Among the incidents, the PKK claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack on a police station in the district of Midyat (Mardin province) that killed six people, including three civilians, and wounded over 50. Meanwhile, the armed group TAK, which is considered linked to the PKK, claimed responsibility for a suicide attack in Istanbul on a police vehicle in the neighbourhood of Vezneciler, and near the University of Istanbul, which killed 12 people, including five civilians, and wounded over 30 people. According to the toll kept by ICG, around 36 members of the security forces, 33 PKK militiamen and 13 civilians were killed in June. (Hürriyet, Firat, Reuters, 1-30/06/16)

The armed conflict in eastern Ukraine witnessed a rise in hostilities around residential areas, with a worsening situation for civilians due to the launch of attacks from civilian areas and the occupation of empty homes by soldiers from both sides. In June, over half a dozen civilians were killed and scores more were wounded. The hostilities expanded to civilian residential areas in the cities of Avdiivka and Marinka, two of the main focal points of the conflict in recent months, as well as Krasnohorivka and Chermalyk, all of which are under government control, and various districts of Donetsk, Makiivka, Dokuchaievsk, Horlivka, Komminternove, Zaitseve, Spartak, Sakhanka and Yasynuvata. The OSCE urged both sides to investigate the ceasefire violations. In international developments, the defence ministers of NATO agreed to strengthen their presence in Eastern Europe with the deployment of four robust rotating multinational battalions in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland and to take other measures in connection with the Black Sea region. According to NATO, this is the greatest strengthening of collective defence since the end of the Cold War. The agreement took place in a context of rising international tension between the West and Russia around various lines, including the conflict in Ukraine. The new plan of measures was announced during a meeting in Brussels in June, prior to the summit in Warsaw in July, and was followed by one of the largest military exercises since the end of the Cold War. The ministers also agreed to boost support for Ukraine through a comprehensive aid package. Moreover, the NATO Secretary-General denounced that Russia continued to support armed actors in Ukraine with materials, equipment, advice and aid. (Reuters, OHCHR, OSCE, RFE/RL, 1-30/06/16)

The armed forces of Bangladesh arrest more than 8,000 people in a three-day operation against those allegedly responsible for the murder of secular activists and members of religious minorities. At least 103 of the arrested had been detained due to alleged involvement in the killings, while the rest were arrested accused of possessing weapons, drug trafficking and other accusations. Among those arrested are members of the Islamist political party Jamaat-e-Islami. Since February 2015, more than 30 members of religious minorities, academics and activists have been murdered; ISIS claimed 21 of these killings. Nevertheless, the Government has repeatedly denied that ISIS is present in the country, although the Executive has highlighted the involvement of the political opposition in the killings carried out by Islamist organisations; such involvement has always been denied by the opposition. Over the last few days, a Hindu man was murdered in the city of Pahna, and the attack was claimed by ISIS. The wife of a police officer involved in the fight against terrorism was also murdered. Moreover, five members of the Jamaat-ul-Mujhaideen Bangladesh organisation were killed in several shootings. At the end of the month, the police announced they had shot the main suspect of killing the blogger Avijit Roy in 2015; the suspect had ties to the armed group Ansarullah Bangla Team. This announcement came a day after the death in police custody of another man, of whom it was suspected had ties with the killing of a Hindu professor, and was allegedly linked to the armed group Hizb ut-Tahrir. Human rights organisations have denounced the tactics used by the police. (Al Jazeera, 5, 7, 11, 13 & 20/6/16)

In a meeting in Brussels on June 13 the political opposition decided to form a political coalition to jointly oppose a third presidential term for Joseph Kabila, who in December must leave power because his term ends. This coalition will be called Rassemblement (Rally). The coalition includes the Union pour la Démocratie et le Progrès Sociale (UDPS), led by Tshisekedi, the Dynamic Opposition, and the G7, which had recently chosen former Katanga governor Moise Katumbi to be its presidential candidate. Vidiye Tshimanga is vice-president of Alternative 2016, one of the coalition groups, and has said that Étienne Tshisekedi will head the coalition. The country's political opposition has been divided since 1960. Vital Kamerhe, leader of the opposition party Union pour la Nation Congolaise (UNC), did not participate in the meeting in Belgium, although Tshimanga said that Kamerhe was represented in the meeting by two of his deputies. (VOA, 13/06/16)

Human Rights Watch denounced the excessive use of force by the country's security forces to crack down on anti-government protests over the development plans for the capital, Addis Ababa, and the Oromia Special Zone (Addis Ababa Master Plan). This plan includes the expansion of the capital at the expense of several cities in the Oromia region, which would become part of Addis Ababa. The Master Plan attempts to organize the demographic and urban growth of the city, although it has been criticized for its impact in the Oromia region and because the Oromo people have been left out of its design. HRW reports that at least 400 people have been killed and thousands arrested during student demonstrations in Oromia state since November 2015. (HRW, 16/06/16)

The conflict in Dagestan continued, with fresh insurgent and counterinsurgent attacks and human rights violations. Among the incidents in June, 10 alleged combatants and five members of the security forces lost their lives during a special operation conducted in part of the districts of Suleiman-Stalsky, Derbent and Tabasaran. The climate of insecurity continued for the civilian population, including abductions blamed on the security forces and an atmosphere of harassment. Disappearances and abductions were reported in Dagestan and other republics in the northern Caucasus throughout the month. Other forms of abuse against the population or civilian infrastructure included an attack on the car of the director of the House of Culture in the village of Karabudak Kent and an attack against a school in the district of Shamil, both in Dagestan. (Caucasian Knot, 1-31/06/16)