Death total in world conflicts falls in 2016 for 2nd successive year

The number of deaths globally in conflicts declined for a second successive year, according to the Institute for International Strategic Studies (IISS).

Dr John Chipman, director of the London-based strategic think-tank, told a press conference that 80 percent of the total of deaths in conflicts last year were in 10 hotspots.

"Fatalities in world conflicts have declined for the second successive year in 2016 to 157,000 from 167,000 in 2015 and 180,000 in 2014," said Chipman.

"Yet the death total was still elevated by the standards of the previous decade -- an increasing number of conflicts bear the hallmarks of intractability and with the potential to flare at short notice."

The conflict in Syria was the world's most lethal, with 50,000 deaths, and the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan claimed 17,000 and 16,000 lives respectively.

The conflict in Mexico between the state and drugs cartels claimed the lives of 23,000 people, making it the second most lethal conflict in the world.

Chipman, speaking at the launch of the IISS's annual Armed Conflict Survey, said that in Mexico clashes among the cartels and with state security forces have become increasingly fierce and aggressive.

The other nations with the highest death totals from conflict were Yemen, Somalia, Sudan, Turkey, South Sudan and Nigeria.

Chipman said: "Finding the right policy responses... will be a major challenge for heavily-preoccupied policymakers but essential if conflict fatalities around the world are to be reduced substantially. In this area... good governance is a precondition of good strategy."

Civilians caught in the conflict continue to suffer on a huge scale, said Chipman, with refugees and also conflict gravitating towards towns and cities rather than following the traditional pattern of settling in dedicated refugee camps or in border areas. Endit