CCAPS and ACLED launched updated conflict event data for all African countries from 1997 to 2011, with the updates including the North African Spring, LRA activity, and continuing violence in Sudan.

The Armed Conflict Location and Event Dataset (ACLED) provides the tools for analysts to explore which regimes are most dangerous in Africa, who are the most active conflict groups on the continent, where are civilians most at risk, what types of violence are most prevalent, and where violent social upheaval, such as rioting, is on the increase.

ACLED data are disaggregated by type of violence—including battles between armed actors, violence against civilians, and rioting—and a wide variety of actors—including government forces, rebel groups, militias, and civilians. All data is date-specific and geo-referenced to town level.

“This unparalleled level of disaggregation allows researchers, NGOs, policy-makers and journalists to better understand conflict patterns in some of the world’s most unstable states,” said Professor Clionadh Raleigh, Director of ACLED. “ACLED aims to provide the most accurate and up-to-date account of violence as it occurs across Africa.”

ACLED has also started producing real-time data for very high-risk states and publishing monthly trend reports which highlight escalating and ongoing conflicts while exploring violent group formation and patterns of violence within conflict-affected states.

The level of violence across African states in the past 15 years has been relatively high, but stable. However, with the new 2010-2011 event data, ACLED analysts have discerned divergent patterns across countries, types of violence, and actors.

The maps shown here demonstrate the versatility of disaggregated data. Map 1 below displays hotspots of conflict across Africa generally.

Map 2 below shows a detailed depiction of the Lord’s Resistance Army diffusion in the past 15 years.

The data updates through 2012 bring the total number of ACLED events across all states to over 60,000, making ACLED the most comprehensive dataset on conflict locations and events publicly available. ACLED data has also been expanded to include fatalities by event, and to classify conflict actors and their interactions.

ACLED data downloads, trends analysis, and maps are available at www.acleddata.com. In May 2012, ACLED will also be available in a searchable format and dynamic mapping tool, with real-time data updated monthly, at www.strausscenter.org/ccaps/mappingtool.