(covering the period January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010)

In 2010 there were 24 active armed conflicts worldwide, a decrease of four from the previous year. After no change in the number of active armed conflicts between 2008 and 2009, this decrease marks a return to the prevailing downward trend that started in 2000.

No new conflicts were added in 2010, and conflicts were deemed over in Nepal, Burundi, Sri Lanka and Uganda. Both Nepal and Burundi signed peace agreements in 2006 that appear to have taken root.

Violence flared up in Burundi in 2008. But for two consecutive years since, the total number of direct conflict-related deaths in Burundi fell below 25.

In Nepal, while human-rights abuses and incidents of violence continued, especially in the Terai region, the violence lacked a political agenda; the number of combatant deaths resulting from conflict between political actors fell below 25 for a few consecutive years.

Sri Lanka’s civil war came to a decisive end in July 2009 when the government militarily defeated the main rebel group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The end to Sri Lanka’s war marks a rare instance of military defeat. The overwhelming majority of conflicts since the 1990s have ended through some type of negotiated settlement.

Although Northern Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) continued to commit violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and Central African Republic, no combat-related deaths have occurred on Ugandan soil in a number of years; and it seems unlikely the LRA will be active in Uganda again.

The number of armed conflicts in both Africa and Asia dropped by two this year. But these two regions continued to host three-quarters of the world’s conflicts. Europe, the Americas and the Middle East combined to host only one-quarter of the world’s conflicts.

In the last decade (2001-2010), a total of 32 conflicts have come to an end, while only 12 conflicts started or re-emerged.

Of these 12 conflicts, 7 were resolved, leaving only 5 that became active and have yet to be resolved. 

Africa has seen the greatest net gain during this period, with 14 conflicts coming to an end and 3 emerging, only 1 of which is active. 

Asia also saw significant net gains, with 9 conflicts coming to an end and 4 emerging, only 1 of which is active.

In Europe 1 conflict ended, and no new conflicts emerged.

The Middle East has seen the least improvement: while 6 conflicts ended, 4 conflicts began or re-emerged, 3 of which are active.

Significantly, of the 24 conflicts active in 2010, only 5 were added during this period, and earlier phases of 4 of these conflicts were included in earlier Armed Conflict Reports. 

While this trend means that very few new conflicts have emerged in the last decade, it also points to the protracted nature of many of the world’s armed conflicts, the overwhelming majority of which have been active for well over a decade.

To read detailed descriptions of individual conflicts, please go to the Conflict Descriptions page.

illustration: Melanie Ferrier