Introducing ACLED: An Armed Conflict Location and Events Dataset

This paper presents ACLED, an Armed Conflict Location and Events dataset building on the Uppsala/PRIO armed conflict dataset. ACLED codes the exact location and specific information on individual battle events, transfer of military control from governments to rebel groups and vice versa, and the location of rebel group strongholds. In the current version, the dataset covers 8 conflict countries in West and Central Africa from 1960 through 2004. In addition to containing more precise information on the total extent of the conflict zone than previous datasets, the dataset also codes changes over time in the location and expansion of the civil war. This allows testing a new set of hypotheses regarding the escalation of civil war, how stalemates are reached, and other dynamic aspects of civil war.