U.S. efforts to negotiate a long-term security agreement with Iraq are dividing Iraqi political parties and raising questions about the future of U.S. operations.

The Bush administration is convening a conference in Annapolis to try to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Skeptics, however, abound.

International attention is riveted on bringing Darfur’s rebel groups to the negotiating table. Meanwhile, peace in Sudan’s south appears increasingly fragile.

Washington’s hopes for progress in Iraq rest on cooperation with Sunni tribes previously aligned with insurgents. Yet the policy faces new opposition from Iraq’s Shiite-dominated government and targeted killings of tribal leaders.

The top U.S. officials in Iraq give sober but hopeful testimony to Congress on stabilizing Iraq, saying a large U.S. troop presence remains vital.

There are varying accounts about the security impact of added U.S. troops to Iraq. But the lack of political progress among Iraqi factions is glaring.

African countries are increasingly called upon to provide peacekeepers for conflicts on their continent, but they may be reaching the limits of their capacity.

International efforts have focused on getting UN peacekeepers into Darfur. But what about a peace agreement?

As the one-year anniversary of the Darfur peace agreement approaches, the Sudanese president agrees to a partial deployment of UN troops but many wonder if it just another diplomatic feint.

A UN envoy is proposing phased independence for Kosovo, nearly eight years after Belgrade’s dominion over the province ended.

The United States has proposed a UN Security Council resolution calling for a regional peacekeeping force to bring stability to Somalia, but some experts say such a resolution might achieve precisely the opposite.

The Security Council resolution that ended the monthlong war with Israel called for the disarmament of Hezbollah. But new reports suggest the group continues to smuggle in weapons from Syria, which, if true, could threaten the delicate peace in the region.

The African Union is assuming an increasingly high-profile role in peacekeeping on the continent, most recently in Sudan’s Darfur region. But the young institution faces organizational and financial barriers that are limiting its effectiveness.

The lifting of the Israeli blockade and the arrival of European peacekeepers are two long-awaited signs of progress in Lebanon. The withdrawal of Israeli forces could be next. Despite these developments, the UN force has a tough job ahead.

The election of René Préval as Haiti’s president earlier this year raised hopes the region’s poorest country was finally ready to move toward social and economic stability. But chronic concerns about gang violence and the UN commitment to Haiti have resurfaced again.

After a week of waffling, France commits a large number of troops and offers to lead the UN peacekeeping effort in Lebanon. The move is expected to clear a diplomatic logjam that delayed the deployment of peacekeepers. In the absence of a sizeable force, Kofi Annan is in the region attempting to stabilize the still-shaky cease-fire.

East Timor had been the feel-good story of UN nation-building. But success was declared far too early and international forces are once again necessary to restore stability in the world's newest state.

The United Nations announced it will send a peacekeeping force to Darfur to quell the ongoing violence. But can the UN succeed where the African Union has not?

Protests that left UN and French peacekeeping roops in Ivory Coast under seige have raised questions about a mission that had been cited as an example of a successful intervention.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, proposes sending a high-level team of Americans to the Ethiopia/Eritrea border to help settle the simmering border conflict there. Eritrea objects to the mission, questioning its legality and saying it would only accept rulings that forced Ethiopia to accept a border agreed to in peace talks after the last war.