NU Online News Service, June 8, 12:53 p.m.EDT

The rising unrest throughout the Middle East and Africa, pluscivil strife in parts of Europe and the continued threat ofterrorism, mark this year's Terrorism and Political Violence Mapfrom insurance broker Aon.

The map, which is in its 10^th year, is a snapshothighlighting the threats multinational businesses need to concernthemselves with when dealing with foreign locations, says NeilHenderson, head of terrorism in Aon Risk Solutions' CrisisManagement team.

Henderson says the aim of the map, as it has always been, is tohelp multinational companies “make informed decisions” in theiroperations overseas.

This year's map, Henderson says, reflects the politicalupheavals in the Middle East and North Africa as the people areturning in open revolt against the autocratic rule that haspermeated the region for decades. Also, the risk of coup d'etat andrebellions in Africa “reflect a continent that presents asignificant political-violence risk.”

The map shows the civil unrest and labor disputes arising fromausterity measures in Western European nations such as Greece,France, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Aon notes that terrorism continues to severely afflictestablished conflict zones like Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan andSomalia, as well as parts of Nigeria and the Sahel region.

“The threat of occasional acts of international terrorismremains significant for most Western nations and major powers,” Aonsays.

The map covers three major perils:

• Terrorism and sabotage.

• Strikes, riots, civil commotion and malicious damage toproperty.

• Political insurrection, revolution, rebellion, mutiny, coupd'etat, war and civil war.

Paying attention to these perils, Aon has developed fromexisting coverages three insurance packages to cover the terrorismand political-violence risk. The three packages range fromterrorism and sabotage to a comprehensive bundle that includes actsof political upheaval and war.

Noting the recent upheavals in the Middle East and North Africa,Henderson notes, “The landscape [of political risk] can change andchange fairly rapidly.”

What he believes the map accomplishes is to relay to clients theatmosphere that the brokers see, and that will help them to“purchase the right insurance products to protect their assets,”Henderson says.