Among the most daunting challenges facing societies in post-conflict transition is what to do with the burden of gross violations of human rights committed during the conflict. Numerous societies have sought to ignore such atrocities – to dig a hole and bury the past – only to be confronted by their continual return, in the form of grievance and re-escalation into hostilities. Long after a formal peace has been declared, victims may feel the war still rages – relentless in its demand for answers, in the damage caused, in the absence of acknowledgement, accountability, reparation, or even change.

In November 2019, thousands swept the streets of Conakry, Guinea, in protest against Alpha Condé’s plans to eliminate the country’s constitutional presidential two-term limit. Meanwhile on the other side of the Atlantic, Bolivia’s Evo Morales was forced into resigning from a fourth presidential term by popular and military pressure. These are only recent examples of incumbents seeking to extend their time in office by any means possible.