War has been hell for South Sudan’s people, but it has been very lucrative for the country’s leaders and commercial collaborators, South Sudan’s war profiteers. South Sudan has been torn apart by three wars in the last 60 years. Two and a half to three million people have perished as a result of these wars. This legacy has finally caught up to the world’s newest country, as the United Nations declared a full-blown famine in February 2017, a rare declaration that the U.N. hadn’t made for any part of the world since 2011, and multiple U.N. officials have asserted that South Sudan stands on the brink of genocide.
On January 31, Acting Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Michael Piwowar welcomed interested parties to submit comments in response to a statement calling into question the current Conflict Minerals Rule. In the weeks following, numerous companies, investors, activists, NGOs, and others have come out publicly in support of the Rule. The Enough Project strongly opposes any suspension, weakening, or repeal of the current Conflict Minerals Rule, and urges the SEC to increase enforcement of the Rule. Our full comment can be found below.
The Central African Republic (CAR), a country that has seen more than four years of deep political crisis and unprecedented violence against civilians, is undergoing a process of de facto partition. In February 2014, then-U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned the international community that CAR was at risk of splitting apart, stating that, “[T]he situation continues to worsen. Both Muslims and Christians have been murdered and forced to flee their homes. The sectarian brutality is changing the country’s demography. The de facto partition of the CAR is a distinct risk.” Despite his warning, CAR did not escape this fate. In 2017, more than 14 armed groups compete for the control of the territory and its natural resource wealth.
“Weapons of Mass Corruption” is the fifth in a series of in-depth, field research-driven reports on the dynamics of profit and power fueling war in the Horn, East and Central Africa. Violent kleptocracies dominate the political landscape of this region, leading to protracted conflicts marked by the commission of mass atrocities by state and non-state actors. Enough's Political Economy of African Wars series will focus on the key players in these conflicts, their motivations, how they benefit from the evolving war economies, and what policies might be most effective in changing the calculations of those orchestrating the violence–including both incentives and pressures for peace.
Testimony of Sasha Lezhnev, Enough Project Associate Director of Policy, given on November 29, 2016 before the U.S. Congress’ Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission hearing on “Democracy and Human Rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”
The Democratic Republic of Congo is not a failed state—for everyone. It is a failure for the vast majority of Congolese who suffer from abysmal security, health care, and education services. However, it is an efficient state for ruling elites and their commercial partners who seek to extract or traffic resources at the expense of Congo’s development.
If international policymakers are to have a real impact in helping Congolese reformers actually transform the system of violent kleptocracy in the Democratic Republic of Congo, they need to shift lenses. Policies should focus on creating significant consequences for those most responsible for the system of violence, corruption, and undermining of democracy. This can be done by creating new leverage using tools of financial pressure normally reserved for countering nuclear proliferation and terrorism aimed at isolating certain leaders from the international financial system, and increasing support for Congolese civil society organizations and journalists to hold the government accountable.
Political tensions are building in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where sitting President Joseph Kabila is attempting to subvert the country’s constitution, hold on to power, and reduce political space ahead of the scheduled end of his second presidential term. During the past 18 months, the situation has worsened, with multiple attempts to significantly delay elections; peaceful protesters arbitrarily arrested, beaten, or killed; and the expulsion of several key international researchers or officials, including those from the United Nations Joint Human Rights Office, Human Rights Watch, Global Witness, and the Congo Research Group.
Sudan’s increasingly urgent economic crisis, which has recently grown more acute because of financial isolation related in part to tighter sanctions enforcement for Iran, has become the Sudanese regime’s greatest vulnerability. This economic vulnerability has caused sanctions relief to replace debt relief as the regime’s primary preoccupation, giving the U.S. government powerful leverage to support an inclusive peace deal in Sudan that leads to a transition to democracy.
The successful February 2016 election of President Faustin Archange Touadéra marks a new beginning for the Central African Republic (CAR) and provides hope that the country is now stabilizing after three years of violence and political transition. Touadéra has been endorsed by many of his political opponents, and the country remained largely peaceful in the weeks following the elections.
In April 2016, after considerable foot-dragging, opposition, and obstacles, the two main parties to the conflict in South Sudan that erupted in December 2013 formed a transitional government as mandated in the August 2015 peace agreement. Sustainable peace in South Sudan will continue to be elusive unless leaders make profound and fundamental changes to establish accountability and end impunity.
An illegal charcoal cartel is helping to finance one of the most prominent militias in central Africa and destroying parts of Africa’s oldest national park. Nursing alliances with Congolese army and police units and operating remote trafficking rings in the sanctuaries of Congo’s protected forests, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) is a kingpin in Africa’s Great Lakes region’s organized crime networks and a continuing threat to human security.
The illegal charcoal trade in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (Congo) has become one of the most lucrative enterprise for Congo’s most notorious and stalwart rebel group, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). In addition to financing ongoing armed conflict, the charcoal trade is threatening Virunga, Africa’s oldest national park and a protected UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Recently, the president of South Sudan, Salva Kiir, called for global support to recover assets stolen by South Sudanese elites and deposited into foreign bank accounts or spent on purchasing properties in foreign countries. This is not the first time President Kiir has expressed a desire to tackle elite corruption in his country. In past cases, however, there has been no effective follow through, leaving the situation unchanged and the stolen assets in the hands of those who stole them.
Testimony of Brad Brooks-Rubin, Enough Project Policy Director, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health Policy's hearing on “U.S. Sanctions Policy in Sub-Saharan Africa," given on June 8, 2016.
Testimony of Brad Brooks-Rubin, Enough Project Policy Director, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health Policy's hearing on “U.S. Sanctions Policy in Sub-Saharan Africa," given on June 8, 2016.
Testimony of Brad Brooks-Rubin, Enough Project Policy Director, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health Policy's hearing on “U.S. Sanctions Policy in Sub-Saharan Africa," given on June 8, 2016.
Testimony of Brad Brooks-Rubin, Enough Project Policy Director, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health Policy's hearing on “U.S. Sanctions Policy in Sub-Saharan Africa," given on June 8, 2016.
This policy brief adapts and expands on congressional testimony I delivered on April 27, 2016 before the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations in a hearing on “South Sudan’s Prospects for Peace and Security.”
Testimony of John Prendergast, Enough Project Founding Director, before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations' hearing on “South Sudan’s Prospects for Peace and Security,” given on April 27, 2016.
Peace efforts in Sudan have failed in the past, in large part because of insufficient international leverage over the Sudanese government, but now the Obama administration has an unprecedented opportunity in its final months in office to make a policy investment that could pay big dividends. The Obama administration can further build on new, emerging leverage with the Khartoum regime in support of an inclusive peace deal in Sudan leading to a transition to democracy.
A new Enough Project report details how, in its final nine months, the Obama administration has an unprecedented opportunity to build on emerging leverage with the Sudanese government and deploy new targeted financial pressures to support a peace deal in Sudan.
Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank 1502) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Conflict Minerals Rule have improved global minerals supply chain transparency and begun to help break links between the minerals trade and violent conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (Congo).
Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank 1502) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Conflict Minerals Rule have improved global minerals supply chain transparency and begun to help break links between the minerals trade and violent conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. For nearly two decades, illicit mining and minerals trafficking – primarily in tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold (“3TG”) – have provided significant financing to a range of armed groups as well as corrupt and abusive elements of the Congolese army.
As conditions for ordinary South Sudanese people continue to deteriorate, government mismanagement is combining with economic and political crises to create a “toxic situation,” according to a Enough Project brief. The brief, Addressing South Sudan’s Economic and Fiscal Crisis, calls for action by the international community, and also for commitment by the warring parties to put the needs of the people ahead of their own.
Political Economy of African Wars Series
“Deadly Enterprise” is the third in a series of in-depth, field research-driven reports on the dynamics of profit and power fueling war in the Horn, East and Central Africa. Violent kleptocracies dominate the political landscape of this region, leading to protracted conflicts marked by the commission of mass atrocities by state and non-state actors. Enough's Political Economy of African Wars series will focus on the key players in these conflicts, their motivations, how they benefit from the evolving war economies, and what policies might be most effective in changing the calculations of those orchestrating the violence–including both incentives and pressures for peace.
Testimony of John Prendergast, Enough Project Founding Director, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's hearing on “Independent South Sudan: A Failure of Leadership,” given on December 10, 2015.
Presented by the Enough Project, the Enough Forum is a platform for dynamic discourse engaging critical issues, challenges, and questions among thought leaders, field researchers, and policy experts. Opinions and statements herein are those of the authors and participants in the forum, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or policy recommendations of the Enough Project.
New field research from the Enough Project shows that the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) is weakened to an unprecedented point, counting only 120 armed fighters in its ranks, scattered across three countries in central Africa. Despite its weakened state, the LRA continues to pose a threat to local populations in Central African Republic (CAR), the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and in South Sudan, with 150 recorded attacks and 500 abductions of civilians for the first eight months of 2015 and 200,000 people displaced.
Testimony of Sasha Lezhnev, Enough Project Associate Director of Policy, before the House Foreign Affairs Committee's Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations hearing on “Ridding Central Africa of Joseph Kony: Continuing U.S. Support,” given on September 30, 2015.
In a letter to the African Union (AU) chairperson, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, the Enough Project joined with 37 South Sudanese and international organizations, urging that the meeting should be used to support the establishment of an AU commission-created hybrid court for South Sudan. The court would try grave crimes committed in the country’s recent conflict, as provided for in the August peace agreement between the parties to the conflict. The organizations also urged Dlamini Zuma to help ensure the long-awaited publication of the report by the AU Commission of Inquiry on South Sudan.
The Enough Project, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International sent letters to the United Nations Security Council, asking them to fulfill their commitment to impose sanctions on individuals who have committed abuses against civilians in South Sudan and calling for an arms embargo. See letter below.
The Enough Project welcomes the decision by the Government of South Sudan and President Salva Kiir to sign the compromise peace agreement, adding his signature to that of armed opposition leader Dr. Riek Machar and other stakeholders, to hopefully bring their country’s brutal civil war to an end.
Read the full statement below.
On August 25, the Enough Project released a public statement addressing U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan Donald Booth’s diplomatic visit to Sudan. Ambassador Booth should use this trip to enhance U.S. policy on Sudan by creating the financial pressure necessary to target the individuals and entities that benefit from pervasive corruption and ongoing conflict in Sudan.
South Sudan’s warring factions have one last chance to end their country’s 20-month civil war and sign a compromise agreement proposed by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) mediators, who are leading negotiations. The U.S. government has promised serious consequences if the parties fail to meet the August 17 deadline set by the international community. During his recent visit to East Africa, President Obama convened a roundtable on South Sudan with the presidents of Kenya and Uganda, Ethiopia’s prime minister, Sudan’s foreign minister, and the African Union Commission’s chairperson to build consensus on the need to collectively pressure South Sudan’s warring parties toward peace. In no uncertain terms, President Obama warned that the United States is prepared to move forward with additional available tools to apply greater pressure on the parties. When speaking to the African Union, he said that if the two sides miss the deadline, “the international community must raise the costs of intransigence.” At a press conference in the region with Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, President Obama explained, “we also think that [the United States] can be a mechanism for additional leverage on the parties, who, up until this point, have proven very stubborn and have not yet risen to the point where they are looking out for the interests of their nation as opposed to their particular self-interests. And that transition has to take place, and it has to take place now.”
President Obama’s upcoming trip to Ethiopia and Kenya offers an opportunity to reorient U.S. government policies to move beyond threats and focus on a much more robust strategy of disrupting and ultimately dismantling this system, which is funding, fueling, and profiting from the conflict in South Sudan.
Testimony of Akshaya Kumar, Enough Project Sudan and South Sudan Policy Analyst, before the United States Congress Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission hearing on “The Current Human Rights Situation in South Sudan,” given on July 10, 2015.
Political Economy of African Wars Series
“Warlord Business” is the second in a new series of in-depth, field research-driven reports on the dynamics of profit and power fueling war in the Horn, East and Central Africa. Violent kleptocracies dominate the political landscape of this region, leading to protracted conflicts marked by the commission of mass atrocities by state and non-state actors. Enough's Political Economy of African Wars series will focus on the key players in these conflicts, their motivations, how they benefit from the evolving war economies, and what policies might be most effective in changing the calculations of those orchestrating the violence–including both incentives and pressures for peace.
Political Economy of African Wars Series
"Neighborhood Watch: Mobilizing Regional Action for Peace in South Sudan" is the first in the Enough Project's new series of in-depth, field research-driven reports on the dynamics of profit and power fueling war in the Horn, East and Central Africa. Violent kleptocracies dominate the political landscape of this region, leading to protracted conflicts marked by the commission of mass atrocities by state and non-state actors. Enough's Political Economy of African Wars series will focus on the key players in these conflicts, their motivations, how they benefit from the evolving war economies, and what policies might be most effective in changing the calculations of those orchestrating the violence–including both incentives and pressures for peace.
While significant progress has been made towards creating a conflict-free minerals trade in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, gold continues to fund armed commanders. Thanks to on the ground initiatives in Congo, international activist and industry pressure, and federal legislation in the United States, 70 percent of the 3T mines (tin, tantalum, and tungsten) are now free of armed groups and Congo’s army, according to the International Peace Information Service. However, only 35 percent of gold mines in eastern Congo are conflict-free, with abusive Congolese army commanders and armed groups still profiting from the trade.
A trade in illegally mined and smuggled “conflict gold” is fueling both high-level military corruption and violent rebel groups in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to a new report by the Enough Project. “Congo’s Conflict Gold Rush: Bringing gold into the legal trade in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” by the Enough Project’s Fidel Bafilemba and Sasha Lezhnev, offers an in-depth portrait of the conflict gold supply chain, from muddy artisanal mines where gold is dug out with shovels and pick-axes, through illicit transport routes in Uganda, Burundi, and Dubai. Based on seven months of field research at mines and in regional capitals, the report provides an in-depth discussion of solutions to the conflict gold supply chain.
Gold coming from Sudan is conflict-affected, high-risk, and helping to destabilize the country’s main conflict-zones of Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan. This brief, which stems from our new report Fool's Gold: The Case for Scrutinizing Sudan's Conflict Gold Trade, provides an overview of conflict-affected gold in Sudan and offers policy recommendations.
Poachers are killing the elephants of Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo at an unprecedentedly rapid pace. Since mid-April of 2014, park rangers have found the carcasses of 131 elephants, slaughtered for their tusks. Unlike in the past, when criminal gangs carried out most of the poaching, the main actors appear to be heavily armed groups using professional techniques. Some of the poachers have been involved in Central Africa’s many conflicts and have carried out multiple atrocities against civilians, creating much misery and suffering over the past decade.
From the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) to the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) to Al-Shabaab, many of the world’s most infamous and destabilizing armed actors today finance their activities in part through the illegal exploitation and trade of natural resources. Theft in the context of armed conflict constitutes the war crime of pillage, which is punishable in most domestic jurisdictions and at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
From the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) to the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) to Al-Shabaab, many of the world’s most infamous and destabilizing armed actors today finance their activities in part through the illegal exploitation and trade of natural resources. Theft in the context of armed conflict constitutes the war crime of pillage, which is punishable in most domestic jurisdictions and at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
From the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) to the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) to Al-Shabaab, many of the world’s most infamous and destabilizing armed actors today finance their activities in part through the illegal exploitation and trade of natural resources. Theft in the context of armed conflict constitutes the war crime of pillage, which is punishable in most domestic jurisdictions and at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
There is no doubt that some form of a national dialogue will be a key ingredient to a comprehensive peace in Sudan. But, to have a transformative effect on governance, that process needs to be meaningful, genuine, and inclusive. Despite hopeful signals in September 2014, Sudan’s nascent national dialogue process is currently none of those things. As it stands right now, the dialogue’s format remains imbalanced, exclusive and restrictive. Beyond problems with the structure of the process, the Sudanese government’s actions outside of the dialogue forum have further undermined prospects for genuine discourse about the way forward. But, this could change, if the Sudanese government decides to engage meaningfully and demonstrates its commitment by fulfilling six preconditions, including an alternate neutral administration for the dialogue. International stakeholders now have an opportunity to help to rebalance power dynamics and revitalize the much-needed but deeply compromised process.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (“Congo”), gold is a major financial lifeline for armed actors. Fortunately, jewelry retailers and consumers can play important roles to help end the conflict gold trade and the suffering it causes, together with the actions of governments. The Enough Project has engaged with the largest jewelry retailers in an effort to encourage companies to use their power and resources in more robust, effective ways to support responsible sourcing in Congo and the Great Lakes Region. Two companies in particular—Tiffany & Co. and Signet Jewelers—have demonstrated clear leadership in beginning to address the conflict gold issue by taking proactive steps to set up supply chain controls, contribute to solutions on the ground in Congo, and support the communities affected by mining and violence in Congo.
Learn More About the #CongoGold Jewelry Leader Review and Campaign here.
Our policy analyst Akshaya Kumar argues that the desperate situation of the people in rebel-controlled areas, the Sudanese government’s aid blockade, and indiscriminate attacks on civilians, along with statements recently attributed to senior commanders in the government forces, lay the foundation for a case of crimes against humanity by extermination.
For the third year running, the Enough Project is publishing a needs assessment conducted by anonymous researchers with access to rebel-held parts of Sudan’s South Kordofan state. An independent humanitarian expert has endorsed the methodology of the study, “Life Under Siege” which paints a holistic picture of a place where internationals are not given permission to enter.
The Enough Project, United to End Genocide, and Voices for Sudan sent a letter today to the 15 members of the United Nations Security Council urging the Council to vote in favor of the draft resolution on global targeted sanctions currently before them.
The Enough Project, along with Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Oxfam and a coalition of other international and local human rights organizations signed a letter calling on members of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to immediately impose a comprehensive arms embargo on South Sudan. We call on IGAD to issue a communiqué requesting that the United Nations (UN) Security Council adopt a resolution imposing a comprehensive international arms embargo.
The Good Lie, a new Warner Brothers film, depicts the shared experiences of several of the "Lost Boys and Girls of Sudan" during the Second Sudanese Civil War and is a powerful point of entry into the story of peace and conflict in South Sudan. This discussion guide can be used in the classroom or among youth groups to enhance and inform conversations surrounding the film.
South Sudan achieved independence from Sudan in 2011, marking a major milestone and promising to bring with it peace, prosperity, equality, and development. However, in December 2013, a political power struggle unleashed a new and brutal armed conflict that continues today and civilians are paying the highest price.
Quatre Questions à Adresser Immédiatement dans le Processus de Paix en RCA
Un nouveau rapport Enough Project examine les défis auxquels le gouvernement de transition et ses soutiens internationaux face dans leurs efforts pour assurer la paix en République centrafricaine . Le rapport identifie quatre principaux domaines dans lesquels un soutien durable et l'action internationale sont essentielles pour progresser la paix en RCA : la planification des élections prévues pour l'année prochaine ; responsabilité pour les auteurs d'atrocités ; le désarmement, la démobilisation et la réintégration des combattants armés ; et des initiatives locales de réconciliation .
Four Issues to Target Now in the CAR Peace Process
A new Enough Project report discusses the challenges the transitional government and its international supporters face in their efforts to secure peace in the Central African Republic. The report identifies four key areas in which sustained international support and action are essential for progressing peace in CAR: planning for elections scheduled for next year; accountability for the perpetrators of atrocities; the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of armed combatants; and local reconciliation initiatives.
The Enough Project and five partner organizations have sent letters to the 15 UN Security Council Ambassadors, calling on the Council to make further changes to the mandate of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) to ensure that it has the focus, resources, capacity, and will to deliver and report on its core mandate of protecting civilians.
Just four years after enactment of historic Dodd-Frank “conflict minerals” legislation, a new investigative report by the Enough Project identifies early signs of success, with many lucrative mines in eastern Congo no longer controlled by violent armed groups responsible for mass atrocities, rape, and grave violations of human rights.
The Enough Project has been closely following the violent conflict in Central African Republic, where mass killings and human rights abuses continue at an alarming rate. This new report authored by Field Researcher Kasper Agger explores the underlying drivers of the conflict, including regional dynamics and natural resource exploitation. Additionally it identifies ways the international community can support sustainable peace and stability.
The Enough Project and Humanity United have released an open letter on enhancing U.S. Policy towards Sudan and South Sudan to Secretary Kerry, Ambassador Rice, and Ambassador Power. The letter, signed by David Abramowitz of Humanity United and John Prendergast of the Enough Project, spells out three areas where U.S. policy could be enhanced towards both Sudan and South Sudan: promoting accountability, supporting peace, and fostering democratic transformation.
Those in the international community concerned with South Sudan’s downward spiral into conflict have an important role to play to help stop this senseless killing. We call on the international community to take the following steps to address the urgent civilian protection issues facing the people of South Sudan.
As commemorations unfold honoring the 20th anniversary of the onset of Rwanda’s genocide and the 10th year after Darfur’s genocide was recognized, the rhetoric of commitment to the prevention of mass atrocities has never been stronger.
As commemorations unfold honoring the 20th anniversary of the onset of Rwanda’s genocide and the 10th year after Darfur’s genocide was recognized, the rhetoric of commitment to the prevention of mass atrocities has never been stronger.
As commemorations unfold honoring the 20th anniversary of the onset of Rwanda’s genocide and the 10th year after Darfur’s genocide was recognized, the rhetoric of commitment to the prevention of mass atrocities has never been stronger.
The foundation for a viable, comprehensive peace process for the deadly war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is finally starting to emerge. A new Enough Project report analyzes the changing dynamics of Congo's peace process and outlines steps ahead for building momentum for peace in Congo.
Enough joined a coalition of Congolese and international organizations convened by Human Rights Watch to press the Congolese government to pass critical legislation that will pave a path for high-level accountability for atrocities in Congo. Two laws currently pending in parliament are crucial to the establishment of specialized mixed chambers in Congo, which would prosecute perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including rape and sexual enslavement. The chambers would be located in Congo and trials would be carried out in collaboration by local and international judges, lawyers and investigators. Local access and ownership over justice for atrocities are crucial, and with the help of international funding, oversight and expertise, the mixed chambers hold enormous promise for carrying out fair, balanced, and sophisticated prosecutions, with emphasis on due process rights and victim and witness support and protection.
Sexual and gender-based violence, or SGBV, has been a defining feature of a complex armed conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that has endured for decades that is rooted in economic, political, land, and ethnic competition.
The United Nations Security Council is currently debating the extension of the mandate of the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo, which is up for renewal on April 1, 2014. Together with Oxfam, World Vision, and five other non-governmental organizations, the Enough Project published an open letter to the Security Council giving recommendations for MONUSCO on civilian protection, governance, and the peace process.
A group of NGOs working in Congo sent a letter to the World Bank, expressing concern about the lack of progress and development of the DDR plan know as "DDR III." The other NGO signatories to the letter include International Alert, Tearfund, Norwegian Refugee Council, Christian Aid, World Vision, Care, the International Rescue Committee, and ZoA International.
Implementing a viable and effective national strategy on disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration, or DDR, of ex-combatants of armed groups in eastern Congo is an urgent issue in the regional peace process for the Democratic Republic of Congo, argues a new Enough report.
Testimony of John Prendergast, Co-Founder of Enough Project, before the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Human Rights, and International Organizations on U.S. policy on Sudan and South Sudan given on February 26, 2014.
Recent fighting in South Sudan -- marked by evident war crimes and crimes against humanity -- must be resolved through an inclusive peace process, according to an Enough Project field dispatch authored by Enough Co-Founder John Prendergast.
Over two dozen humanitarian organizations and NGOs have issued a joint appeal to Secretary of State John F. Kerry and Director of Office of Management and Budget Sylvia M. Burwell in advance of President Obama’s FY2015 Budget request to Congress, asking them to fulfill existing U.S. commitments in South Sudan and anticipate growing needs in the Central African Republic.
Escalating violence, displacement, and new political developments in the areas along Sudan’s periphery—Darfur, South Kordofan, and Blue Nile—are going largely unnoticed as international attention focuses on violence in South Sudan.
U.S. military advisors and their African partner forces are facing increased difficulties in their mission to end the threat of the Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA, and to capture rebel leader Joseph Kony, because of heightened regional instability and insufficient helicopter support.
Following the military defeat of the M23 rebel group in eastern Congo in November 2013 and the unprecedented desire of several other armed groups to surrender in subsequent weeks, “The region is going through a period of renewed turbulence,” United Nations Special Envoy Mary Robinson said on January 13, 2014.
Testimony of John Prendergast, Co-Founder of Enough Project, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the situation in South Sudan given on January 9, 2014.
In this open memorandum we outline possible steps the U.S. could take in addition to what is presently being done, including the immediate deployment to Juba of U.S. Special Envoy Donald Booth, U.S. support for mediation efforts by South Sudanese church leaders or the East African regional organization IGAD (the Intergovernmental Authority on Development), and the creation of safe havens for civilians by the U.N. peacekeeping mission.
Given the limits on access to rebel-held areas of Sudan’s Blue Nile state, there has been little information made public about the situation civilians face. In an effort to document the scope of their needs, an international non-governmental organization conducted a series of verification missions to rebel-held parts of the state in mid-2013. Due to security concerns, the organization wishes to remain anonymous. However, to raise awareness about the situation, they have requested the Enough Project make public their findings.
Over 73 campuses from the Enough Project’s Conflict Free Campus Initiative wrote an open letter to U.S. Special Envoy to Congo and the Great Lakes Russ Feingold.
The Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA, has grown weaker in the past two years as the Ugandan-led and U.S.-supported counter-LRA African Union Regional Task Force, or AU-RTF, has pursued its mission to eliminate the rebel group. The regional force,however, lacks the logistical capacity and authorization to access key areas where LRA groups operate in remote areas in Central Africa.
Tremendous strides have been made in recent years to cut the conflict minerals trade in eastern Congo. In the past four years, governments, nonprofits, and private sector actors in Africa, the U.S., and Europe have built regulatory frameworks and stimulated the global market for responsibly sourced minerals. This report explores how to get the certification process on track in order to bring peace, security, and regional economic growth to the region.
This activist brief provides details and talking points on the illicit conflict gold trade and the M23 rebel group's involvement. It explains how M23 and its allies took over took over a profitable part of the conflict gold trade in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
On October 31, 2013, residents of the contested Abyei region that lies between Sudan and South Sudan announced the results of a historic unilateral referendum to join South Sudan. This Enough Project report contextualizes the Ngok Dinka community's vote to join South Sudan and calls for the U.S. and the African Union to take immediate action to help determine Abyei’s final status.
Warped and exploitative regional relationships have been one of the most critical factors in Congo becoming the site of the deadliest war in the world over the past two decades. Several of Congo’s neighbors have been deeply involved in the war, and the Congolese government’s deep corruption and bad governance have created conditions in which the army and a host of militias have operated with impunity and destabilized eastern Congo. The Congo-Rwanda relationship, however, has been at the heart of the decade-and-ahalf-long war in Congo and is thus the focus of this report.
Life-saving humanitarian activity has been held hostage to politics, argues a new Enough Project policy brief.
The M23 rebel group has taken over a profitable part of the conflict gold trade in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or DRC, argues a new Enough Project report.
The mission to end the deadly Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA, rebel group is regaining momentum. This report examines the impact of U.S. special forces on the counter-LRA mission and recommends steps forward in light of the restart of offensive operations, which were suspended due to the violent coup in the Central African Republic and the Obama administration's recent committement to extend the mission into 2014.
A coalition of human rights groups, including the Enough Project, representing hundreds of thousands of supporters released a letter today to the Hotel Association of New York City, urging all of their 260 member hotels in the greater metro region to deny Sudanese President Bashir accommodations.
This dispatch is based on research and interviews conducted by the author in Kampala, Uganda between September 11–18, 2013 at the site of Kampala Peace Talks between the Government of Congo and the M23. It is part of an ongoing Enough Project series on issues related to the peace process in Congo and the Great Lakes region.
25 Sudan experts, human rights groups, and leading voices on genocide prevention, including George Clooney, Don Cheadle, John Prendergast and Omer Ismail, released an open letter addressed to President Obama, calling on the U.S. government to do everything possible to dissuade President Bashir from travelling to New York City for UN meetings.
This group of 58 European and global non-governmental organizations calls on the European Commission to adopt legislation requiring European business entities to conduct supply chain due diligence in order to ensure that they do not contribute to conflict financing or human rights abuses in the production and trade in natural resources. Such legislation should, at a minimum, meet international standards endorsed by the United Nations and by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and reflect principles contained within the European Union's own Corporate Social Responsibility strategy.
As companies prepare their first required reports on conflict mineral use to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, Responsible Sourcing Network and the Enough Project released a report that sets expectations for the contents of the inaugural reports required by Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
On Sunday, July 14, 2013, fighting between the Congolese army and the M23 rebel group resumed on the outskirts of Goma in eastern Congo, with each side blaming the other for initiating the hostilities. This field dispatch explores the recent fighting and lays out the implications for peace in the region.
Economic imperatives are now a major driving force for escalating violence in Darfur. Drawing on firsthand interviews with refugees on the Chadian border with Darfur, as well as many others inside Sudan, this report challenges the oversimplification of inter-tribal disputes and highlights the Sudanese government’s role and ongoing interest in the latest rounds of violence.
This report is based on recent field research conducted by Enough Project field staff in Uganda, at the site of the Kampala Peace Talks, and on the front lines of combat between the Congolese military and M23 rebels near the area of Mutaho, just north of Goma, North Kivu province. It addresses the escalating security situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and calls for a single, coordinated peace process to ensure peace in the region.
An open letter by House Representatives Jim McGovern (D-MA) and Ed Royce (R-CA) calls on President Obama to support counter-LRA operations. The letter asks the President to remain committed to working with regional forces to protect civilians until the LRA is defeated.
The Enough Project has released this policy paper in advance of the July 25, 2013 Ministerial meeting of the U.N. Security Council. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will preside over the meeting to push for implementation of a peace accord signed in February 2013 by 11 African nations and four international organizations. The aims of the accord are to end the cycles of conflict and crisis in eastern Congo and to support an effective peace process in Africa's Great Lakes region.
The Sudanese government’s campaign of repression against opposition groups in its Blue Nile state has developed into an armed conflict between the Sudan Armed Forces and a coalition of rebel groups, the Sudan Revolutionary Forces. This report, based on visits to the front lines in central Blue Nile in late 2012 and early 2013, and details the current situation of the armed conflict there and its effect on the civilian population.
The mandate of the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel for Sudan and South Sudan, or AUHIP,expires on July 30, 2013. The renewal process and the panel’s forthcoming “final” report—surveying its work from October 2009 to the present day—present a unique opportunity to think about the future of this long struggle for peace.
The Enough Project and a coalition of human rights experts congratulate Special Envoy Russ Feingold on his appointment as U.S. Special Envoy to the African Great Lakes region and call on him to lead the efforts for stability and peace in the central Africa. The signatories include: Anthony W. Gambino, former USAID Mission Director to the DRC; Stephen R. Weissman, Former Staff Director; House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Africa; John Prendergast and Sasha Lezhnev of the Enough Project; Mark Schneider of the International Crisis Group; David Abramowitz of Humanity United; Sarah Pray of the Open Society Policy Center; Jason K. Stearns of the Rift Valley Institute; Wynnette LaBrosse of Open Square; Jolly Okot and Lisa Dougan of Invisible Children; Dr. Denis Mukwege of Panzi Hospital; Michael Poffenberger of The Resolve; Michel Gabaudan of Refugees International; Jacques Bahati of the Africa Faith and Justice Network; Vukasin Petrovic of Freedom House; Sean D. Carasso and Monique Beadle of Falling Whistles; Alysha Atma of the Atma Foundation; Timi Gerson of American Jewish World Service; Naama Haviv of Jewish World Watch; and Jensine Larsen of World Pulse.
A new Satellite Sentinel Project report confirms that Sudan and South Sudan have violated bilateral agreements to create a safe demilitarized zone border. DigitalGlobe satellite imagery acquired in May and June 2013 reveals violations at least 14 locations within the zone.
Enough Project Policy Alerts provide a reaction and set of recommnendations to a significant development designed for policymakers, advocates, and other influential people participating in the policy making process.
There has never been a better chance than now for sustainable peace to take hold in eastern Congo since the current phase of conflict began in the mid-1990s. This activist brief looks at the role that the United Nations and U.S. government can play in ensuring that the new peace process brings lasting stability to the Congolese people.
This report, based on field research conducted by Kasper Agger and Jonathan Hutson in January 2013, documents new evidence that the Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA, has turned to elephant poaching as a means to fuel its atrocities.This report is a co-production of the Enough Project, The Resolve, Invisible Children, and the Satellite Sentinel Project (with DigitalGlobe).
Peace has a better chance to take root in eastern Congo now than at any time since the cycle of conflict began in the early to mid-1990s. This report analyzes the factors that contribute to the unique role the U.N. special envoy Mary Robinson can play in establishing a more comprehensive and inclusive peace process that addresses the core drivers of violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
A joint report by the Enough Project and Satellite Sentinel Project examines the Abbala militias' recent power play to gain control over lucrative gold mines in North Darfur and makes the case that these actions are a continuation of state-sponsored atrocity and plunder.
A report co-produced by The Resolve, Invisible Children, and the Enough Project uses satellite imagery and testimony from Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) defectors to document the renewal of Sudan’s support to the LRA from 2009 until at least early 2013, and to pinpoint the likely location of rebel leader Joseph Kony’s recent camp in Sudanese-controlled territory.
A report co-produced by The Resolve, Invisible Children, and the Enough Project uses satellite imagery and testimony from Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) defectors to document the renewal of Sudan’s support to the LRA from 2009 until at least early 2013, and to pinpoint the likely location of rebel leader Joseph Kony’s recent camp in Sudanese-controlled territory.
Over the past two years, the Enough Project and the Satellite Sentinel Project, or SSP, have used DigitalGlobe satellite imagery and on-the-ground research to gather information that could serve as evidence of the Sudanese government’s responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity in its South Kordofan and Blue Nile states. This joint publication is a compilation of satellite imagery and legal analysis of the atrocities commmited since June 2011.
Invisible Children, the Enough Project, and The Resolve released a statement on the implications of a premature conclusion to Ugandan and U.S. supported operations to counter the LRA in central and east Africa.
The international community’s current approach to brokering peace between the two Sudans is caught in a counterproductive cycle. This paper argues that the issues troubling the most recent negotiations are symptomatic of broader problems with the international community’s efforts to broker peace in the Sudans, identifies the underlying reasons why the process has failed to move forward, and proposes three recommendations for a more viable strategy.
Current efforts to end the Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA, including the deployment of U.S. military advisors to East and Central Africa, are unlikely to succeed if they are not accompanied by substantial diplomatic, military, logistical, and intelligence support. This series of LRA issue briefs describes the main obstacles to success and explains what steps the United States and its partners should take in their efforts to end the LRA threat.
In an open letter to the President, Enough Project Co-founder John Prendergast and Executive Director John C. Bradshaw offer specific policy recommendations for Congo, the Sudans and the Lord's Resistance Army.
In an open letter to the President, Enough Project Co-founder John Prendergast and Executive Director John C. Bradshaw offer specific policy recommendations for Congo, the Sudans and the Lord's Resistance Army.
In an open letter to the President, Enough Project Co-founder John Prendergast and Executive Director John C. Bradshaw offer specific policy recommendations for Congo, the Sudans and the Lord's Resistance Army.
On September 27, 2012, President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan and President Salva Kiir of South Sudan signed nine landmark agreements in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The agreements mark the culmination of a two-year long negotiation process facilitated by the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel, or AUHIP, and address issues arising from South Sudan's independence from Sudan.
Gold has emerged as the most lucrative conflict mineral for armed groups in Congo because it is easy to smuggle small quantities for large profits. This activist brief maps out the conflict-gold trade in Congo and outlines steps forward to bring an end to the deadly trade.
The cold war between Sudan and South Sudan could reignite into a devastating armed conflict if they do not quickly resolve their dispute over the final status of Abyei, a resource-rich area straddling the two countries’ ill-defined border. A new field report and video discusses the urgency of resolving the dispute in order to maintain peace and security in the region.
Amid the host of challenges the South Sudanese people have faced, intercommunal violence has often been treated by South Sudanese leaders and the international community as a lesser priority for attention. This paper examines the government's efforts to prevent and mitigate violence and outlines recommendations for lasting peace in Jonglei state.
The Enough Project and a coalition of international NGOs call on President Obama to lead the response on the crisis in eastern Congo and to appoint a special Presidental Envoy to support peace efforts in the region.
A joint report by the Enough Project and a coalition of non-governmental organizations seeks to assess progress made by UN actors against the benchmarks outlined in the UN Regional Strategy on the Lord's Resistance Army.
This paper is the first in a three part series on the process, leverage, and substance necessary to create a path towards a viable peace in eastern Congo and the surrounding region.
On November 20, the M23 rebel group seized Goma, a major city in eastern Congo. This new field dispatch discusses the aftermath of the recent siege and urges the international community to push for high-level committement for a sustainable peace process in the region.
This is the second installment in a series of Policy Briefs focusing on the international community’s extraordinary opportunity to help support peace within and between the two Sudans.
This is the first of two papers on the illegal conflict-gold trade from eastern Congo that is fueling one of the most violent conflicts in the world. This paper tracks the transnational trade from mines in eastern Congo to consumers. The second paper will map a way to resolve this problem by setting out recommendations to formalize the trade, cut down conflict-gold smuggling, and create jobs to provide living wages to Congolese miners.
When the M23 rebellion broke out, observers were divided over whether the smuggling ring led by wanted warlord Bosco Ntaganda would continue to help fund the rebellion, or would be hampered by the fact that most ex-officers of the National Congress for the Defense of the People, or CNDP, were needed in the bush to join Ntaganda’s mutiny. This Enough Project field dispatch discusses how the scenario played out.
The Enough Project's United Nations Security Council Resolution 2046 Compliance Tracker. This chart was originally published on August 2, 2012 and updated on October 10, 2012.
On September 27, South Sudan and Sudan signed a partial peace deal in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The deal marked the conclusion of the final round of negotiations between the two nations. This field dispatch outlines the details of agreements and looks ahead to next steps to implement agreements and to resolve the outstanding issues.
On August 22nd, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, voted to adopt conflict minerals regulations in accordance with the Dodd-Frank Act that require companies to publicly disclose whether any of the minerals they use originated in Congo. This easy-to-understand guide is a tool to help activists understand the ruling and its provisions.
On May 2, 2012, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2046, which called for, among other things, the government of Sudan’s acceptance of the Tripartite Proposal to facilitate the delivery of international humanitarian assistance to South Kordofan and Blue Nile. Today, nearly five months since Resolution 2046’s adoption, the Sudanese government continues to deny international humanitarian aid organizations with access to civilians. In this paper, the Enough Project proposes the following draft resolution that may serve as the basis for future U.N. Security Council action.
For over a year, the government of Sudan, led by alleged genocidaire President Omar al-Bashir, has denied international humanitarian aid organizations access to the states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile, in which a coalition of armed opposition groups, known as the Sudan Revolutionary Front, or SRF, has been fighting against government forces.
Sudan and South Sudan are engaged in a final round of talks to settle the outstanding issues of Abyei, border disputes and demarcation, security arrangements along the border, and citizenship. In the previous round, the two parties provisionally agreed to an economic deal.
The Ugandan government’s decision to end amnesty for fighters from the Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA, in May 2012 is causing significant upheaval in LRA-affected communities and creating major obstacles to finally ending the LRA. Former rebels fear that they will face prosecution and are certain that the removal of amnesty will discourage future defections and escapes from the LRA. In this paper, the Enough Project proposes a 3-part plan to achieve greater defections from the LRA while addressing the need for justice and truth-seeking.
On August 22, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, adopted regulations for Section 1502, the provision of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law that deals with conflict minerals from the Democratic Republic of Congo, or DRC. The trade in these minerals fuels a conflict that continues to cause suffering among the people of eastern Congo.
Current efforts to end the Lord’s Resistance Army, including U.S. military advisors currently deployed in East and Central Africa, are unlikely to succeed if they are not accompanied by the proper diplomatic, military, logistical, and intelligence support. This series of LRA Issue Briefs describes the main obstacles to success and explains what steps the U.S. and its partners should take in order to end the LRA as soon as possible.
In early August 2012, the governments of Sudan and South Sudan concluded an agreement on oil and related financial transfers. Among other things, the agreement provides for South Sudan to transfer to Sudan, over a period of approximately three years, $3.028 billion. This cash transfer is in addition to the payment of identified fees for the use of pipelines and other oil infrastructure located in Sudan.
Leading electronics companies are making progress in eliminating conflict minerals from their supply chains, but still cannot label their products as being conflict free. Since Enough’s last corporate rankings report on conflict minerals in December 2010, a majority of leading consumer electronics companies have moved ahead in addressing conflict minerals in their supply chains—spurred by the conflict minerals provision in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and growing consumer activism, particularly on college campuses. Most firms have improved their scores from the 2010 rankings, but some laggards still remain.
Recently, the government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, or SPLM-N, signed separate memoranda of understanding, or MOUs, with the so-called “Tripartite Partners” comprised of the United Nations, the African Union, and the League of Arab States. While challenges remain, the MOUs are a positive step forward in securing unfettered access for international humanitarian aid organizations to conflict-affected populations in South Kordofan and Blue Nile.
Another Darfur peace agreement has failed, but the United Nations, or U.N., and some donor governments continue to prop up its implementation. This continued support is actually making matters worse in Darfur. By buttressing a dead peace deal, the interna- tional community is ignoring the ongoing conflict that the agreement did not address, while simultaneously contributing to the divide-and-conquer strategy of the Khartoum government, which seeks to negotiate separately with the various Darfur factions and to insulate the Darfur insurgency from other similar rebellions in South Kordofan, Blue Nile, and – potentially – the East.
The tide on conflict minerals is starting to turn but more must be done to close loopholes that still allow smuggling. The most recent outbreak of violence in eastern Congo, spawned by the Rwanda-backed M23 rebellion, has economic interests at its core, as the rebels and their patrons are resolved to preserve their access to Congolese land and natural resources, including minerals. However, this masks noteworthy progress that companies and governments have made over the past 18 months to significantly diminish the ability of armed groups to generate income from conflict minerals.
The following chart is designed to summarize the Enough Project’s United Nations Security Council Resolution 2046 Compliance Tracker.
In the last days before the August 2 deadline, Sudan and South Sudan’s positions on key outstanding issues remain far apart. This report provides an overview of the current positions of the two sides as of July 31, and advocates for increased international engagement.
“They were shooting everyone. Women, men, children, and the old,” said Omer, a 28-year-old refugee from the town of Maganza in the Sudanese state of Blue Nile.
“I was in the market,” he recalled, selling goods harvested from his farm. “I saw the soldiers coming and shooting and I heard the Antonovs.” Immediately, he ran from the market back home to find his family. But in the chaos, Omer left his three-year-old son. “The war was too much,” he said quietly. “There was not time to look for him.”
As South Sudan celebrates the one year anniversary of its independence, the new nation and its citizenry are in the midst of a critical legal and political process: the drafting of a permanent constitution. Delays in this process risk undermining its credibility among South Sudan’s civil society, opposition political parties, and the international community.
Evidence continues to mount that the government of Rwanda has been harboring, supporting, and arming war criminals and mutineers, including Bosco Ntaganda, in neighboring eastern Congo. Former rebels from the Rwanda-linked National Congress for the Defense of the People, or CNDP, and an affiliated offshoot group called the M23 movement are currently in open rebellion against the government in Kinshasa and fighting the Congolese national army, or FARDC.
On June 7, yet another round of negotiations between officials from Sudan and South Sudan broke up without the conclusion of any concrete and sustainable agreements. This last round of talks centered, in large part, on discussions of the ill-defined international border that divides the two countries and related security issues.
Nearly two years have passed since the governments of Sudan and South Sudan started negotiations on post-secession issues. Today, the two sides remain much as they were in July 2010, when the full negotiation teams first met for an initial exposure session and signed the guiding principles for the process.
Although civilian protection is stated to be the highest priority of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, MONUSCO, the mission continually struggles to fulfill this mandate. Overall, the failure of the U.N. to deal with the FDLR, as a major factor in regional instability, allows for the eastern Congo crisis to fester. The optimal longer term alteration in MONUSCO’s mandate would be to empower and support it, in coordination with other actors in the region, to end the FDLR threat along the lines of the Ituri “Artemis” model. Given MONUSCO’s current mandate on civilian protection, however, this policy brief is focused only on making the existing operation a more successful one.
The U.S. military advisors deployed against Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army in central and east Africa are starting to make progress in tracking the group, but serious challenges remain to make the mission a success. To assess both the progress and challenges of ongoing efforts to end the LRA, Enough Project LRA researcher Kasper Agger travelled to the Central African Republic and reports on the findings from his trip, along with an accompanying video and photo slideshow.
This week, the International Contact Group on the Great Lakes Region will meet in The Hague, Netherlands. The upcoming meeting will likely focus on four urgent subject areas: security reform and civilian protection in eastern Congo, continued irregularities in the Congolese political process and the upcoming provincial elections, continued reform in the conflict minerals sector, and armed groups and regional dynamics including the FDLR and LRA. As a whole, these areas represent core impediments to peace, stability, and development in the Great Lakes. The Enough Project has developed recommendations to the group on specific elements of each subject area where this body can act to create real progress to mitigate conflict and fill critical gaps in cross-border coordination and communication.
This week, the International Contact Group on the Great Lakes Region will meet in The Hague, Netherlands. The upcoming meeting will likely focus on four urgent subject areas: security reform and civilian protection in eastern Congo, continued irregularities in the Congolese political process and the upcoming provincial elections, continued reform in the conflict minerals sector, and armed groups and regional dynamics including the FDLR and LRA. As a whole, these areas represent core impediments to peace, stability, and development in the Great Lakes. The Enough Project has developed recommendations to the group on specific elements of each subject area where this body can act to create real progress to mitigate conflict and fill critical gaps in cross-border coordination and communication.
The recent volatility of the Sudan-South Sudan relationship raises important questions about why peace and stability between the two countries is so tenuous. From interviews conducted in Juba, South Sudan’s leaders appear open to continued talks and to the establishment of improved relations with Khartoum, especially in response to international pressure to do so. But there is a perceptible shift within the leadership in Juba toward disengagement with Sudan.
On March 31, indicted war criminal and rebel leader turned Congolese General Bosco “The Terminator” Ntaganda launched a rebellion against the Congolese state while facing the threat of arrest and prosecution for war crimes under international and Congolese criminal law.
We, the 142 undersigned Congolese and international civil society and human rights organizations, call on the government of the United States to provide urgent diplomatic leadership and support to the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo to arrest Bosco Ntaganda.
Concluding its first-ever trial, a panel of judges at the International Criminal Court issues a verdict in the case of Thomas Lubanga, finding him guilty of recruiting child soldiers. Lubanga, a Congolese warlord, was found guilty of recruiting, training, and using child soldiers in conflict. His deputy, Bosco Ntaganda, also faces similar charges at the ICC, however, he remains un-apprehended as a general in the Congolese Army, or FARDC.To provide context behind the events surrounding Ntaganda’s recent defection, the Enough Project has produced a new timeline chronicling the major occurrences since the conviction of Ntaganda’s former commander, Thomas Lubanga, by the ICC for three counts of war crimes. The timeline details the actions of Ntaganda, as well as the other defections, troop movements, diplomatic efforts, international involvement and clashes between the mutinous soldiers and the Congolese Army.
In recent days the renewed hostilities between Sudan and South Sudan have caught the world’s attention. However, the back-and-forth between the two countries has often been difficult to follow. In light of this, the Enough Project has produced a new timeline to chronicle the often confusing events along the border and in the negotiating room.
The 2006 elections were a moment of great hope for the DRC, as the country and its people moved out of the shadow of one of the most destructive conflicts the world has known. Official development assistance since the end of the post-war transition totals more than $14 billion. External funding makes up nearly half of the DRC’s annual budget. The UN peacekeeping mission, MONUSCO, costs more than $1 billion a year.
This Enough Project factsheet sheds light on who is Bosco Natanga, the infamous Congolese General, also known in the region as “The Terminator.” Incongruously, he’s been called both a war criminal and a lynchpin to regional stability; yet as a member and leader of several armed groups, he has left a bloody trail across the eastern Congo.
While the U.N. declared the famine in Somalia over in February, a third of the country's population still faces a food crisis. The Enough Project reports from Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, where famine conditions were the greatest and most persistent.
The February 23 “London Conference”—with representatives from over 50 countries, the U.N., key regional organizations, the Somali Transitional Federal Government, and most of the largest Somali regional administrations and movements—is the subject of considerable anxiety, skepticism, and hope among Somalis. It is widely seen as a critical moment in Somalia’s long 20-year crisis, a meeting that could shape the direction of the country in the coming years, for better or for worse.
This paper addresses the challenges of justice reform in Congo and explores potential solutions for the future. The ideas set forth are gleaned from discussions with many individuals on the front lines in this battle against impunity.
The Great Lakes Contact Group meeting in Washington will focus on four urgent subject areas: the Congolese elections, security sector reform in Congo, conflict minerals, and armed groups and regional dynamics including the LRA. The following recommendations focus on areas where the Group can act to mitigate conflict and fill critical gaps in cross-border coordination and communication.
This report argues that the U.S. mission to end the Lord’s Resistance Army needs more capable troops, more robust transport and intelligence capabilities, and a two-tiered strategy to encourage defections. The report also calls for an agreement that allows regional troops to deploy in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Since its independence last year, the Republic of South Sudan has successfully addressed a number of critical issues, but also has setbacks and challenges, many of which are the result of decades of war and neglect.
Prior to South Sudan’s independence in July 2011, Sudan was the largest country in Africa, bordering nine other states. Today, the two Sudans share a diverse and critical geopolitical sub-region that links the Sahara, the Sahel, the Horn, and the Great Lakes. In this report the Enough Project examines some of the two countries’ most important neighbors and regional relationships.
In an attempt to shed light on what has occurred in the negotiations to date, as well as to inform future discussions concerning the process, and the AUHIP’s contribution to it, Enough has compiled the following timeline providing an overview of the negotiations to date, and reflecting the various changes to the process’ structure.
If the first decade of the new millennium bears a single enduring political lesson,
it is this: Intervention strategies that plan the war but not the peace will fail.
Indifference to or wishful thinking about the crafting of a post-intervention political
order guarantees disorder, and can leave both the occupied country and the
intervening power worse off than before.
The last round of negotiations between the government of Sudan and theSudan People’s Liberation Movement/Republic of South Sudan saw significant concessions made by the SPLM/RSS and a lack of political will to negotiate on the part of Khartoum. Although the two parties remain far apart in their positions, the SPLM/RSS proposal put forward in the last round paves the way for a comprehensive deal going forward.
Enough has recently documented that Sudanese military forces in Blue Nile state have engaged in the killing and raping of civilians, resulting in tens of thousands of refugees and displaced persons fleeing for safety in neighboring Ethiopia and South Sudan, and within Blue Nile. On a trip to a location near Kurmuk in Blue Nile close to the Ethiopian border, Enough Project staff spoke to Blue Nile’s elected governor, Malik Agar, about the current situation and his aspirations for Sudan’s future.
In Issue #3 of our LRA Strategy Report Cards we take stock of what President Obama has accomplished in the first year of implementing his comprehensive strategy to address Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) violence in central Africa, and what he will have to do in the coming months if hopes for an end to LRA violence in 2012 are to be realized.
With the Congolese elections just three weeks away Enough Project researcher in Goma, Fidel Bafilemba, considers President Kabila’s tenure and what the future may hold for the Congo.
For peace and stability to take hold in Congo, reform must happen on multiple fronts. The final lead-up to Congo’s elections marks a pivotal moment for reform and conflict prevention in eastern Congo, where success will require increased involvement from the Obama administration, the Congolese government, and corporations, all pushing for conflict minerals monitoring, mine security, and community protection.
After a trip to the Ethiopian border, Enough Project researchers Amanda Hsiao and Omer Ismail report that Sudanese government forces and militias are killing and raping civilians in Blue Nile state, according to refugees who recently fled the fighting.
The international community must temporarily redirect the pressure it is placing on Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government, and insist that it focus first and foremost on ensuring unimpeded access to famine victims in its areas of control. In Somalia, 750,000 people are at immediate risk of famine and a total of 4 million—half the total population—needs emergency assistance.
Now is the time to bring an end to the predatory militia known as the Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA. If efforts to counter the LRA are not dramatically bolstered by sustained U.S. leadership, the group could strengthen and become an even greater threat to regional stability.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton traveled to eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in August 2009, and expressed a strong commitment to addressing the causes of conflict and unconscionable loss of human life. It is time for the U.S. administration to back the secretary’s words and deliver on its promises aimed at bolstering democratic processes and ending violence against civilians.
Before the end of this year tens of thousands of people in Somalia—possibly hundreds of thousands—are going to die. As Somalis now starve, the militant Islamist group al-Shabaab denies them even the opportunity to migrate in search of food.
Somalia is dying. Three-quarters of a million people are at immediate risk of famine; another 750,000 are refugees in neighboring countries, and 4 million – half the total population – is in need of emergency aid.
The combination of current internal, regional and international variables could provide a real catalyst for future peace in Sudan. Demonstrations earlier this year, inspired by Arab Spring initiatives in neighboring countries, were ruthlessly crushed with draconian regime tactics—including rape of women involved in protests.
Within its first month of independence, South Sudan was named among the top five countries in the world where terrorist attacks are most likely to occur. Further attempts toward destabilization by militias are therefore imminent and are, in fact, likely still happening in the field.
Within its first month of independence, South Sudan was named among the top five countries in the world where terrorist attacks are most likely to occur. Further attempts toward destabilization by militias are therefore imminent and are, in fact, likely still happening in the field.
After a decades-long deadly struggle for freedom, South Sudanese celebrated for days over the realization of their dream of independent statehood. A new U.S. policy—rooted in the international responsibility to protect civilian life and democracy promotion—is desperately needed for these two new Sudans.
Violence is on the rise in eastern Congo, with attacks by the Rwandan FDLR rebel group increasing in recent months. Civil society representatives here in eastern Congo’s North and South Kivu provinces have continuously watched as the long-feared FDLR militia keeps a stranglehold on their villages, committing atrocities to hold their unwilling host communities subdued.
The international community’s robust push for southern independence, while successful, has been the continuation of a long-standing piecemeal approach to Sudan that addresses the symptoms, rather than the root causes of the country’s conflicts. Less has been said of the fragility and potential for mass conflict that exists in what will be left of Sudan itself, and the policy changes needed to address this reality.
Born out of the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in eastern Congo, a group of prominent civil society organizations recently formed a coalition to address the linkage between natural resource exploitation and human rights abuses in the region.
When Sudan becomes two countries on July 9, 2011, the two new states will face multiple urgent crises. Without a change in international policy approach, Sudan’s internal strife will become an international conflict that could threaten the wider stability of the region and will certainly cause new levels of human suffering.
In Issue #2 of our LRA Report Card we report that incremental progress in the strategy’s first six months of implementation is not living up to the reality of rising LRA violence on the ground—and give President Obama some “homework” to improve his grades.
In order to inform certification efforts on conflict minerals from eastern Congo, this report gleans lessons from other certification processes, including those for fair labor, blood diamonds, forestry, and oil revenue transparency.
The town of Malakal, Upper Nile State, South Sudan, is under siege. An increased Sudan People’s Liberation Army security presence is illustrative of the weaknesses of the government approach to dealing with militias, as well as the concerns of its citizenry.
The Abyei area has often been called Sudan’s Kashmir, a territory claimed by two nations. It could more aptly be described as Sudan’s West Bank, where a local population is being progressively dislodged and displaced by government-backed settlements. This report presents an assessment of the current situation of ongoing violence in Abyei, and recommendations for a sustainable solution.
As South Sudan edges toward independence in July 2011, Abyei remains a critical flashpoint for conflict, as demonstrated by the recent intentional burning of villages by forces reportedly aligned with the northern government, and the displacement of 20,000 residents.
The human security situation in the Abyei region of Sudan has rapidly deteriorated in the past week due to renewed violence. Satellite Sentinel Project (SSP) has confirmed through satellite imagery that buildings consistent with civilian infrastructure appear to have been intentionally burned Maker Abior and Todach villages.
This report, based on extensive interviews conducted in Upper Nile state in January and February 2011, provides an overview of the state of play among South Sudan’s militias, which continue to be a critical challenge to securing a peaceful separation between North and South Sudan, and to the formation of a stable new state.
Given recent reports of escalating violence, including aerial bombardment of civilians, the challenges to achieving progress in Darfur remain urgent. Darfur must become a focus of U.S. and broader international policy equal to that of the North-South dynamic in Sudan.
This report describes the experiences of former LRA who have recently returned to northern Uganda, explaining their reasons for leaving the LRA ranks and the challenges faced throughout the demobilization period, the current status of the remaining LRA groups in Sudan, Congo, CAR, and recommendations to align existing efforts and provide greater incentives to encourage more LRA fighters to defect, disarm and come home.
President Obama’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) strategy, released in November 2010, outlines a comprehensive approach to stop atrocities perpetrated by the LRA and help affected communities rebuild. Issue #1 grades the content and initial rollout of this strategy.
This report, based on interviews conducted by John Prendergast and Fidel Bafilemba in North Kivu in November 2010, provides an overview of the extent to which the minerals trade from eastern Congo today remains dominated by a mafia network of military, political, and business interests in Congo, its neighbors, and within the supply chains that connect the mines to international markets.
For the southerners living in Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, this week’s referendum on independence represents the best chance for returning to their homeland, and they are turning out in droves to vote.
This Peace Watch update covers the referendum, incremental progress on post-referendum issues and continued deadlock on Abyei, and increasing violence threatening civilians in Darfur as the Doha talks once again stall.
This field dispatch, which is the second of two focusing on the destabilizing factors that exist within Unity state, examines the fears that remain of renewed attacks by SPLA breakaway officer Gatluak Gai.
This is the first of two field dispatches examining ongoing developments that threaten to destabilize Unity state, arguably one of the most strategic areas of South Sudan as it approaches a referendum.
This Peace Watch update covers the progress of plans for the referendum proceeding despite abuse and legal challenges, an increase in violence and still no deal on Abyei, and hostilities in areas of Darfur increasing, but small progress in Doha negotiations.
Enough recently traveled to the bombing site in Kiir Adem, where aerial bombardments by the Sudanese Armed Forces of a South Sudanese army installation and surrounding community conjure up memories of Sudan’s long civil war and underscore the fragility of peace, especially along the country’s long, contested border.
Enough presents an initial ranking on the progress made by the 21 electronics companies who source minerals from the Congo. This report focuses on the efforts within the industry to address the conflict minerals issue and also assesses the response of other industries that are reliant on the 3Ts and gold.
As South Sudan approaches its referendum, key developments covered in this issue include: challenges in the referendum planning process, still no deal on Abyei, minor progress on post-referendum negotiations, Pand rospects for a sustainable peace deal dwindle for Darfur.
Five years after facilitating the signing of a peace agreement between the Sudanese government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army/Movement, the U.S. government is once again engaging with the two Sudanese parties to prevent renewed conflict in Sudan. Former State Department official Jeff Millington offers a retrospective look at the strategy pursued by the U.S. government from the late 1990s to 2005 that produced the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.
As South Sudan approaches its referendum, key developments covered in this issue include:referendum registration beginning, Presidents Bashir and Kiir set to talk on Abyei, and an escalation of fighting in Darfur.
What would easily be the world’s deadliest war in 2011 could erupt in Sudan around the coming January 9 referenda on self-determination for oil-rich Southern Sudan and Abyei. The time has come for bold diplomacy, in which the interests of the parties are addressed in a way that lays the foundation for a lasting peace in all of Sudan.
As South Sudan approaches its referendum, key developments covered in this issue include: technical details for the southern referendum, Abyei negotiations broaden to include all outstanding CPA issues and post-referendum arrangements, and continuing concerns over conditions in Darfur.
Based on extensive research in all areas where the LRA operates, as well as in northern Uganda where the LRA originated, this paper aims to shed light on the nature of the “new” LRA in the hope that some of the information presented here can help to finally bring an end to the conflict that is taking place outside of Uganda but which continues to affect northern Uganda also.
Congolese President Joseph Kabila’s sudden ban on mineral exports from three eastern provinces has left many observers in the region questioning the effectiveness of the directive. It has also reportedly made life difficult for experts at Congo’s mining ministry in Kinshasa, who have been struggling with how to implement and enforce the ban.
At rare moments during the course of a war, a confluence of factors come together to provide a window of opportunity for real conflict transformation. Now Congo has a unique opportunity to bring an end to more than 125 years of having its people and resources pillaged by colonial powers, international traders, neighbors, and foreign and domestic armed groups.
As South Sudan approaches its referendum, key developments covered in this issue include: preparations for the South Sudan referendum remain behind schedule, Abyei negotiations flounder in Addis, post-referendum talks have made little progress, and insecurity is pervasive in Darfur as Doha talks stall.
Although Darfur only rarely makes the headlines lately, the reality on the ground continues to be defined by profound insecurity, limited humanitarian access, impunity for perpetrators of violence, and the absence of credible human rights reporting.
As part of its Sudan Working Group Series, the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars released today a paper entitled, “Avoiding the Train Wreck in Sudan: U.S. Leverage for Peace,” as part of a two-piece publication examining international engagement in Sudan.
Expectations for what the January referendum will bring are tremendously high among residents of Unity state in South Sudan. While anticipation for the vote has placated a population that has grown increasingly discontent with its government, these grievances have not gone away. If South Sudan receives its independence, the southern ruling party will have to address its people’s expectations or risk popular violence.
Groups from the Lord’s Resistance Army continue to attack civilians throughout central Africa. Attacks against civilians in a remote corner of Bas Uele district in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo go largely unnoticed. Unlike most areas where the LRA operates, attacks in northern Bas Uele are intended to empty the area—of strategic importance to the LRA’s cross-border movement to the Central African Republic, or CAR—of civilians. The lack of a meaningful military force to challenge the LRA has turned the northern region of Bas Uele into a veritable haven for the brutal rebel group.
Senior commanders continue to benefit from Congo’s lucrative mineral trade. Striking examples of this trend are the staggering lifestyle and investments of some Congolese army officers here in the Kivus. Although official army salaries top out at 90,000 Congolese francs per month, less than $100, many Congolese generals and colonels own gas stations, run minerals exporters or ‘comptoirs’, and new buildings are sprouting up like mushrooms throughout cities of Goma, Bukavu, Butembo, Bunia and Kinshasa.
In less than six months, the people of southern Sudan will vote in a self-determination referendum that is expected to result in the secession of the South roughly a year from now. The dynamics shaping the historic and dramatic changes in Sudan are fluid, yet some of the core issues facing southern Sudan will endure regardless of the outcome of the referendum. In this field dispatch for Enough, southern Sudan field researcher Maggie Fick identifies some of these key, lesser recognized, flashpoints.
The time has come for an urgent rethink of how the United States can contribute to peace in Sudan now, building on the lessons of the recent past.
The return of Congolese refugees from neighboring Rwanda remains a particularly contentious issue here in North Kivu, eastern Congo. This Dispatch presents a closer look at some of the patterns of returns and specific types of land disputes that have emerged during the past months, and their potential to further destabilize the region.
In the immediate aftermath of Sudan’s elections back in April, several potential flashpoints emerged. While the polls had passed generally peacefully in the South (at least at face value), the post-elections period has been marked by an escalation in tensions.
A global coalition of 26 humanitarian and human rights organizations published this report calling for urgent action from African heads of state who will meet at a major summit of the African Union in Uganda from July 19-27.
Although the details remain highly murky, it appears that the Ugandan army suffered a significant loss of troops in the Central African Republic, or CAR, as those forces continue to hunt for Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army.
Although the details remain highly murky, it appears that the Ugandan army suffered a significant loss of troops in the Central African Republic, or CAR, as those forces continue to hunt for Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army.
Enough Field Research Ledio Cakaj follows the violent path of Joseph Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army
Enough Field Research Ledio Cakaj follows the violent path of Joseph Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army
Enough Field Research Ledio Cakaj follows the violent path of Joseph Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army
Based upon the rigorous analysis of leading indicators across nine overarching categories of benchmarks, the Enough Project, the Save Darfur Coalition, and partners developed the following assessment of the amount of change or improvement that has been observed in key areas over the last six months.
The Obama administration built a diplomatic approach to Sudan around periodic, hard-nosed policy assessments of the situation on the ground and the judicious deployment of incentives and pressures in response to the situation on the ground. Yet to date, there are virtually no indications that the administration has held any of the parties to account for their actions since the policy review was announced, and senior administration officials appear badly divided on their approach to Sudan. There is a pressing need for Secretary of State Clinton and President Obama to become directly involved, not only to signal that Sudan is a priority of the administration, but to get the interagency “deputies” review process and the overall approach to diplomacy back on track.
Although the bulk of the results for Sudan’s recent national, regional, state, and local elections have been announced, the potential for local outbreaks of post-election violence in certain areas of the South remains. At this tense juncture, the results of several hotly contested races for state governor may spark local violence and potentially broader conflict in the near future, with consequences for the South’s fast-approaching self determination referendum. This dispatch provides a brief overview of some of the more disconcerting situations.
Enough experts provide an update on the Darfur peace talks in Doha and lay out the calculations of each side.
Amjed Farid is a young student activist involved with the Girifna movement in Khartoum, Sudan. As a participant in this movement, Amjed shared some of his thoughts on the goals of Girifna.
Enough experts analyze the agreements being negotiated by the major parties in southern Sudan's upcoming independence referendum.
All signs indicate that Sudan, Africa’s largest state, will very soon split in two—either peacefully or violently. In a self-determination referendum scheduled for January 2011, the people of southern Sudan are widely expected to vote for separation from the north.
The Lord’s Resistance Army continues to pose a severe threat to civilians in Democratic Republic of the Congo. Since the LRA began attacking civilians on Congolese soil in September of 2008 through the end of 2009, it has killed approximately 1,800 civilians.
In the absence of an effective response by the Sudanese government to the LRA, many local men and boys have taken community security into their own hands. They are part of a loose-knit, meagerly armed, local defense force called the Arrow Boys.
As the ink still dries on a preliminary deal between Sudan and Darfur’s largest rebel group, the situation at the Darfur peace talks in Doha, Qatar is changing rapidly. Here’s an update capturing what we are hearing from various sources.
Walikale territory, a vast and remote region of North Kivu, is scene of much of the fighting in Congo during the past year, and home to some of the region’s most lucrative mines. This is the second of two Field Dispatches looking at the crisis in eastern Congo.
A resurgent LRA is terrorizing the population in the Haut Uele region of Congo. Soldiers deployed to the region have been unable to provide adequate protection. This is the second of two dispatches based on my visit to Haut Uele.
In a trip to Democratic Republic of the Congo in December 2009, Enough researchers found abundant evidence of brutal ongoing violence committed by the Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA. This is the first of two dispatches based upon my visit to Haut Uele.
The end of 2009 saw optimistic statements about the situation in Congo from both the United Nations and the Congolese government. However, my experience on the ground in North Kivu seemed to point to a different picture. This is the first of two field dispatches based on my travel to particularly contentious territories in the region.
In this letter to the Deputies Committee, the Enough Project pushes for a course of action marked by deeper diplomatic engagement and a willingness to impose consequences on those undermining the path to peace in Sudan.
As tensions increase as the April 2010 elections and January 2011 referendum approach, the United States must ensure strict adherence to unambiguous benchmarks and apply pressures and incentives accordingly.
“I myself was kidnapped by the LRA,” Joseph Bikwalubi Musafiri told me. “My story is especially interesting because it is about a government authority kidnapped by the LRA.”
Congo’s mineral wealth continues to play a central role in the country’s conflict dynamics. Despite the upsurge in displacement and atrocities during 2009, multinational companies continue to purchase minerals from the war zone.
Sudan’s national elections scheduled for April 2010 will be neither free nor fair absent significant international pressure to dramatically change the electoral landscape.
The cross-border nature of the Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA—currently active in northeastern Congo, the Central African Republic, and southern Sudan—is a clear threat to international peace and security.
In recent months, Duk County and other neighboring, largely Dinka counties in western Jonglei state, have been afflicted by several violent attacks by armed, organized, and well-trained militia.
The view from the ground in South Kivu, eastern Congo, reveals a deeply insecure environment as a result of the military offensive Kimia II.
Here in North Kivu province, anxiety about the return of Congolese refugees from Rwanda has long been an especially contentious issue.
As milestone after milestone is missed on the road to Sudan's 2010 election cycle, Enough experts try to answer the question: What's next for Sudan now?
Enough experts lead you down the path of the 3Ts—tin, tantalum, tungsten—and gold from the mines of Eastern Congo all the way to your cell phone.
There are now two major sources of insecurity in South Kivu: reprisal attacks by the FDLR seeking to punish civilian populations for ‘supporting’ the government offensive, and a wider climate of abuses and atrocities committed by the Congolese army, local militias with shifting loyalties, and other bandits and armed groups.
Sunday, November 1st marked the start of the month-long period of voter registration throughout Sudan, a key step toward the first democratic elections to be held in the country in 24 years, now slated for April 2010.
28 Days. That is the amount of time left for Sudan’s rival parties to resolve their differences over a law that will determine the critical details of southern Sudan’s looming, landmark self-determination referendum.
Recent Lord’s Resistance Army attacks display worrying signs of a more organized, larger, and better-armed rebel force. These developments raise questions about the LRA’s ability to rearm and secure supplies.
In Juba, the capital of southern Sudan, the need for 'fierce urgency' in implementing the Obama administration's new policy couldn't be more clear. Tensions are running high and political rumors are flying in this town, which is ground zero for implementation of the peace agreement that is emphasized prominently in the Obama administration's Sudan policy.
At least 31 former LRA fighters returned to Uganda in the month of September, after surrendering to Ugandan army forcers operating in Congo. This number, while still modest, represents a major increase from the past six months, when on average only a handful of LRA rebels returned each month. According to Ugandan army officials, this increase is a direct result of sustained military pressure by the Ugandan army.
The Darfur peace process is at a crossroads. Until now, the mediation team has not produced a credible peace proposal and key external actors have not generated the necessary pressures and incentives to achieve an agreement.
The human cost of Operation Kimia II—the ongoing joint offensive by the Congolese army and United Nations peacekeepers against Rwandan rebels in eastern Congo—outweighs its benefits. To prevent this crisis from deteriorating further, and to ensure that those military gains that have been achieved can be secured, the Congolese government should suspend new offensive operations and work vigorously with the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo, or MONUC, and international donors to put in place a more effective counterinsurgency approach.
It is increasingly evident that the ruling National Congress Party is eager to undermine the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in Sudan. Left unchecked, the NCP’s behavior will trigger a return to war and make it all the more difficult to resolve the crisis in Darfur.
The United States has largely steered clear of Chad’s internal crisis, but the inadequacies of crisis management in Chad will continue to negatively impact the situation in Sudan, where the United States has invested heavily in peace. It’s time to get serious about Chad, and the Obama administration is in a unique position to coordinate pressure on President Déby to enact genuine political reforms.
The United States has largely steered clear of Chad’s internal crisis, but the inadequacies of crisis management in Chad will continue to negatively impact the situation in Sudan, where the United States has invested heavily in peace. It’s time to get serious about Chad, and the Obama administration is in a unique position to coordinate pressure on President Déby to enact genuine political reforms.
This week’s legal decision on the boundary of Abyei—an oil-rich and contested region along the disputed North-South border within Sudan—is the first major test of recent commitments made in Washington by the two parties to Sudan’s 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, or CPA. The international community—in particular the United States, which played a critical role in negotiating the Abyei Protocol—has a responsibility to ensure that the ruling is respected and that the residents of Abyei and the affected surrounding areas are protected from violence.
For 13 years, the people of eastern Congo have been ensnared in a tangled web of armed groups—from foreign rebels to the Congo’s own army—who prey on Congolese civilians and, with collaboration from governments and multinational corporations, strip the country of its immense natural wealth. This conflict can only end when the international community abandons the piecemeal approach it has adopted to deal with this multi-layered and immensely complex conflict and takes a holistic approach to peacemaking.
The United States and other key actors need to lower their expectations for the upcoming February 2010 national elections in Sudan and develop a multilateral strategy to press the Government of National Unity—the ruling National Congress Party in particular —to enact meaningful reforms regardless of who wins in 2010, revitalize CPA implementation, and establish a framework for talks in Darfur that are consistent with the power-sharing provisions of the CPA.
The myriad challenges and risks facing Sudan in the next 19 months cannot be addressed and mitigated unless the international community adopts a new approach to the crucial final stages of CPA implementation. Robust, coordinated, and high-level engagement is essential from all, not just a few, of the CPA’s “guarantors”—those states and organizations that witnessed the signing of the CPA and agreed to support its implementation. The United States and other key guarantors should play a lead role in driving this multilateral, multi-track approach, since the scale of the challenges over the coming months merit the engagement of all of the international actors who committed four years ago to supporting implementation of the CPA. The Washington conference is a positive start, but should be followed-up with efforts that penalize failure to implement key provisions of the agreement.
Testimony of John Prendergast, Co-founder of the Enough Project,
Before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Testimony of John Prendergast, Co-founder of the Enough Project,
Before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Operation Lightning Thunder did not end the threat of the Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA, and sparked harsh reprisals by the LRA against civilians in Congo. Given the U.S. role in this operation and its appalling consequences for civilians, the Obama administration now has a responsibility to help finish the job and finally bring an end to the LRA’s devastating reign of death and destruction in central Africa.
Operation Lightning Thunder did not end the threat of the Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA, and sparked harsh reprisals by the LRA against civilians in Congo. Given the U.S. role in this operation and its appalling consequences for civilians, the Obama administration now has a responsibility to help finish the job and finally bring an end to the LRA’s devastating reign of death and destruction in central Africa.
The Obama administration must not allow the politics of the piracy problem to distract it from putting in place a long-term strategy to help Somalis forge a state that, with measured external support, can fight piracy, promote peace and reconciliation, and combat the threat of terrorism within its borders.
This is the third installment in a series of open letters to President Obama spelling out a practical roadmap to end the crisis in Sudan. Co-authored by Enough, the Save Darfur Coalition, and the Genocide Intervention Network, the letter outlines a blueprint to achieve President Obama’s objective of a comprehensive peace for all of Sudan, a goal shared widely throughout the international community.
From President Obama's appointment of a special envoy for Sudan to the expulsion of 16 aid groups from Darfur, the past several weeks have brought both welcome first steps and the development of a potential humanitarian disaster to the situation in Sudan. Many activists have grown understandably and increasingly frustrated given the seeming lack of urgency and relative silence from the Obama administration in addressing the looming humanitarian crisis in Darfur.
Companies that produce electronics that could contain conflict minerals from eastern Congo have a responsibility to ensure that their business dealings are not inadvertently helping to fuel atrocities. This is not an easy task, but it is achievable.
Companies that produce electronics that could contain conflict minerals from eastern Congo have a responsibility to ensure that their business dealings are not inadvertently helping to fuel atrocities. This is not an easy task, but it is achievable.
The time has come to expose a sinister reality: Our insatiable demand for electronics products such as cell phones and laptops is helping fuel waves of sexual violence in a place that most of us will never go, affecting people most of us will never meet. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is the scene of the deadliest conflict globally since World War II. There are few other conflicts in the world where the link between our consumer appetites and mass human suffering is so direct.
The Obama administration offers a fresh opportunity for the United States to meaningfully engage in an effort to bring peace to Sudan at a time when the stakes have never been higher. Nevertheless, policymakers still need the collective voice of activists to keep the conflict high on their agendas and to generate public support for making tough decisions. We explore the impressive accomplishments of Sudan activists to date; the windows of opportunity for peace in Sudan; and what you can do. The bottom line: thoughtful, persistent activism makes a difference. The genocide in Darfur won’t end overnight, and there are no guarantees that the North-South war won’t resume, but there are a number of factors that provide a real opportunity for lasting peace in Sudan— if the international community acts boldly and swiftly. Such action will come if—and probably only if—activists continue to generate enough light and heat to point the way.
East and central Africa is battered by an arch of chronic conflict that stretches from Somalia to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Congo and Sudan alone account for nearly eight million deaths due to the legacy of war in the past two decades. Although the United States has provided billions of dollars in humanitarian aid, support for peacekeeping missions, and electoral assistance, this aid has not yet succeeded in altering the dynamics that have kept this region dangerously destabilized.
East and central Africa is battered by an arch of chronic conflict that stretches from Somalia to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Congo and Sudan alone account for nearly eight million deaths due to the legacy of war in the past two decades. Although the United States has provided billions of dollars in humanitarian aid, support for peacekeeping missions, and electoral assistance, this aid has not yet succeeded in altering the dynamics that have kept this region dangerously destabilized.
The precarious peace between northern and southern Sudan stands at a crucial crossroads. Intended by its architects as the cornerstone of peace in a country fractured by conflict, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, or CPA, has been hamstrung by the National Congress Party’s intransigence, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement’s growing pains, and the international community’s neglect.
The issuance of an arrest warrant for Sudan’s sitting head of state for crimes against humanity offers the Obama administration a chance to catalyze multilateral efforts to bring about a solution to Sudan’s decades-long cycle of warfare. One of the crucial missing ingredients to conflict resolution efforts has been some form of accountability for the horrific crimes against humanity that have been perpetrated by the warring parties in Sudan, primarily the Khartoum regime. Peace without justice in Sudan would only bring an illusion of stability, without addressing the primary forces driving the conflict.
The precarious peace between northern and southern Sudan stands at a crucial crossroads. Intended by its architects as the cornerstone of peace in a country fractured by conflict, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, or CPA, has been hamstrung by the National Congress Party’s intransigence, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement’s growing pains, and the international community’s neglect.
President Barack Obama has inherited a dangerous and fast-moving crisis in Somalia—one with profound implications for regional and international security. While some within the new administration will be tempted to continue to place short-term counterterrorism goals ahead of a more comprehensive strategy approach as was done during the Bush administration, the shortcomings of this approach are abundantly clear: violent extremism and anti-Americanism are now rife in Somalia due in large part to the blowback from policies that focused too narrowly on counterterrorism objectives. The new U.S. national security team must make a clean break by defining and implementing a long-term strategy to support the development of an inclusive Somali government.
A coalition of 100 humanitarian and human rights organizations today called on John Holmes, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, to insist that protecting civilians be a top priority of the joint Congolese and Rwandan military operation in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Holmes is due to arrive in Goma, the North Kivu capital, on February 7, 2009.
Last week’s arrest of Congolese rebel leader Laurent Nkunda and the deployment of an estimated 4,000 Rwandan soldiers into eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, or DRC, as part of joint Rwandan-Congolese military operations against the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, or FDLR, represent a major, and dangerous, crossroads.
The narrative of an irreparably fragmented rebellion in Darfur does not reflect the reality on the ground. This paper identifies key rebel groups, and explains what they represent, what divides them, and—most importantly—what could potentially unite them if a credible, sustained, and internationally backed peace effort was put in place.
This is the second installment in a series of letters to President Obama spelling out a practical roadmap to end the crisis in Sudan.
This is the second installment in a series of letters to President Obama spelling out a practical roadmap to end the crisis in Sudan.
The U.S supported military offensive against LRA rebels has backfired and must change to stop senseless civilian killing, according to a new report. The U.S. can take swift action to salvage the poorly executed offensive by insisting the operation refocus on apprehending the LRA leadership and stop civilian deaths asserts Enough Project and Resolve Uganda in a joint statement
The beleaguered people of North Kivu province in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo are justifiably angry. Despite the international community’s $500 million investment in 2006 elections and the world’s largest United Nations peacekeeping mission (costing more than $1 billion per year), the current round of fighting is the most destructive since 2005 and the latest chapter in more than 12 years of near continuous warfare.
The beleaguered people of North Kivu province in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo are justifiably angry. Despite the international community’s $500 million investment in 2006 elections and the world’s largest United Nations peacekeeping mission (costing more than $1 billion per year), the current round of fighting is the most destructive since 2005 and the latest chapter in more than 12 years of near continuous warfare.
The next president will face an unprecedented array of foreign policy demands upon taking office in January. The urgent national security challenges are the most visible among them, with Iraq and Afghanistan topping the list. But Pakistan, the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflagration, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Sudan, Somalia, and the global financial crisis will also cry out for immediate attention.
The message of Sudan activists all over the United States is clear: Don't try to contain the damage from the war in Darfur--end the war. Don't just declare that genocide is taking place--end the genocide. Don't just try to manage the consequences of crisis after crisis in Sudan--end these crises.
The offensive by the rebel Laurent Nkunda’s National Congress for the Defense of People, or CNDP, has dramatically worsened the crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. This latest fighting threatens to once again draw Congo’s neighbors directly into the fray in a damaging escalation that would effectively undo a six-year regional and international effort to stabilize the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Great Lakes region.
The peace process in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo is on the verge of collapse due to resumed hostilities between Government forces and rebels loyal to Congolese general Laurent Nkunda. Absent immediate and robust diplomatic pressure on the Congolese government and a more impartial effort by United Nations peacekeepers to stop the fighting, the region could descend back into total war.
China has again assumed the Presidency of the U.N. Security Council, a position that it last held in July 2007 when it led the authorization of a U.N. peacekeeping force for Darfur. At that time, Beijing appeared to be responding to a global campaign by activists, in advance of the Olympics, to shame China into using its influence to address human rights crises in locales in which it has significant economic investments. But China's actions have belied its rhetoric, and it has continued to protect its favorite deadly dictators in places like Darfur, Burma, and Zimbabwe. The Chinese government is not entirely a lost human rights cause, but its roadmap badly needs revision.
My testimony today will address threats to the agreement that ended that brutal war—Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). However, I want to focus my remarks on the significant opportunities available right now not just to implement that agreement, but to achieve a lasting peace for all of Sudan, including Darfur. The stakes could hardly be higher. If the CPA unravels, there will be no chance for peace in Darfur, and if Darfur continues to deteriorate, the likelihood increases dramatically of a return to what was—for 20 years—a far more destructive war in the South.
The ICC’s request for an indictment of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, the renewed prospect of an inclusive peace process for Darfur, and the drive toward national elections in 2009 are three major opportunities that the United States and others must urgently seize to bring peace to Sudan.
This is the first of two Enough strategy papers on Somalia by Ken Menkhaus, a professor at Davidson College and a specialist on the Horn of Africa. Based on recent field research, the first half of this report provides an analysis of the current crisis in Somalia. The second half critically examines why international policies toward Somalia have produced disastrously unintended results, and makes an urgent case for a review of those policies. A follow-up report will explore options and make recommendations for a new, more effective, international approach to Somalia.
China’s support for despots in Sudan, Zimbabwe, and Burma is a bad investment. In the long-run, China’s own interests would better be served by standing up to states that abuse their own citizens.
Steps towards an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir provides an opportunity for the U.N. Security Council to demand real changes in Khartoum’s policies and behavior. Unfortunately, the historical record suggests that the Council will likely miss this opportunity as it has missed many others during the past five years. This report diagnoses the underlying obstacles to effective Security Council response, providing a practical guide on how activists can better engage their governments to stop—and ultimately prevent—genocide and crimes against humanity.
Don’t Blame Human Rights Activists for Crimes Against Humanity
In a welcome step, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court requested an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in Darfur. This move is not only based on sound evidence, but can be a step forward in the path to secure peace.
With the International Criminal Court's move to charge Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for genocide in Darfur, we here at the ENOUGH project though you might like to be reminded of some of his past comments and behavior.
We congratulate you and welcome your appointment as mediator for the Darfur peace process. Your work is as vital as it will be challenging, and we believe that with leadership,and credible support from the international community, peace is within reach for Darfur. Equally clear without an effective peace process, Darfur’s violence will continue, and Sudan’s ultimate fragmentation will only become more likely.
Almost a year has passed since the United Nations Security Council approved a civilian protection force for Darfur. But the United Nations-African Union mission in Darfur, known as UNAMID, is stunted.
The world has had 14 years to take action against the perpetrators of the genocide and those who now terrorize eastern Congo in their name, but the international response remains sorely inadequate. Absent an international action plan to finally remove this scourge, eastern Congo will continue to suffer.
Five weeks after Enough issued its report “Sounding the Alarm on Abyei” the town of Abyei has ceased to exist. Brigade 31 of the Sudanese Armed Forces, or SAF, has displaced the entire civilian population and burned Abyei’s market and homes to the ground. These events were predicted, and absent effective word and action, they became inevitable. Somehow, the United States government missed all the signals—again. There is still time to prevent a return to full-scale war throughout Sudan, but the Bush administration must step up and make sure the international community is doing all it can to bring peace to Sudan.
The unprecedented attack on a suburb of Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, by the Justice and Equality Movement, or JEM, demonstrates once again the urgent need for a credible and inclusive peace process to resolve the crisis in Darfur. This paper outlines the urgent steps that must be taken to create a peace to keep in Darfur. Enough and the Save Darfur Coalition have identified these steps through our field work, our consultations with key actors, and our own experience with peace processes in Sudan and elsewhere. In particular, we draw on the model used to negotiate the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the decades-long war in southern Sudan.
The Darfur peace process in currently in shambles. Read our Activist Brief for an outline by Enough and the Save Darfur Coalition of the urgent steps that must be take to create a peace to keep in Darfur.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has never been so close to losing power, and appears willing to use all means available to physically beat his opponents into submission. As the international community considers its response to the complex crisis in Zimbabwe, its first order of business must be to stop the violence.
Read our Activist Brief for a summary of the current situation in Zimbabwe, the current options for policymakers, and what you can do to help urge leaders to address the violence and the political crisis.
This paper presents a new strategy to bring an end to the LRA threat in northern Uganda and the surrounding region: the peace strategy must shift from one that relies solely on negotiations to one that develops leverage through military planning, tries to press Kony to make a choice about his future, and pushes forward a development and security strategy that enables northern Ugandans to return voluntarily.
Read our Activist Brief for a brief summary of Enough’s recommendations for a new approach to ending the Lord’s Resistance Army threat in northern Uganda.
It has been almost 15 years since Somali militias shot down two U.S. Black Hawk helicopters over the capital Mogadishu and killed 18 American servicemen in a battle that also killed more than 1,000 Somalis. Since that fateful day in 1993, which had followed decades of American involvement that contributed directly to Somalia’s brokenness, the United States has largely turned its back on the fate of the Somali people. U.S. involvement has been rooted in counter-terrorism efforts in which the suffering of the Somali people has barely been factored beyond the sending of humanitarian band-aids to cover gaping human rights wounds.
Read our Activist Brief to learn more about the history of U.S. engagement in Somalia, better understand the crucial crossroad where Somalia finds itself, and how the international community should apply Enough’s 3P strategy for crisis response.
A recent agreement between Chad and Sudan might appear to be good news for a part of the world that has been sliding toward chaos. However, these quarrelsome neighbors have signed four peace accords in the past two years, and in each instance fighting broke out shortly thereafter. A deeper regional crisis is looming, and the international community must finally demonstrate coordinated leadership to help end this proxy war.
The Comprehensive Peace Agreement, or CPA, Sudan’s unique, ground-breaking political deal that formally ended 21 years of war between the Khartoum government and the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement, or SPLM, is lurching toward breakdown. There are many reasons for this, despite the fact that both sides show clear signs of wishing to avoid outright military confrontation. The principal reason, however, remains Khartoum’s failure to implement the CPA’s Abyei Protocol.
The Comprehensive Peace Agreement, or CPA, Sudan’s unique, ground-breaking political deal that formally ended 21 years of war between the Khartoum government and the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement, or SPLM, is lurching toward breakdown. A principal reason remains Khartoum’s failure to implement the CPA’s Abyei Protocol. Read our Activist Brief to learn more about the critical region of Abyei, the key players involved in the Abyei issue, and what the U.S. should be doing to prevent the breakdown of the CPA and promote peace in Sudan.
U.S.-led efforts in recent weeks to end the crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo—the epicenter of the deadliest war since World War II with 5.4 million dead and counting—have yielded a ceasefire, but the conflict is not over. The international community must follow through on recent progress with a comprehensive peace strategy for eastern Congo.
Congolese women and girls in particular bear the vicious brunt of the crisis in eastern Congo, the epicenter of the deadliest war since World War II with 5.4 million dead and counting. Read our Activist Brief to learn more about the current situation and what a comprehensive strategy for peace in Congo must entail.
Thank you very much for the opportunity to brief the Caucus on this important and too often neglected topic. Before I begin, I, along with all of my colleagues at ENOUGH, would like to extend our condolences to the family and friends of Congressman Tom Lantos. Congressman Lantos was a tireless advocate for human rights. His passing is a loss not only to those of us working on these issues, but to all of the disenfranchised and oppressed people in the world who have been touched by his leadership and vision.
In the fight to eliminate genocide and crimes against humanity, the world has recently seen the birth of two essential pillars in that foundation: the International Criminal Court and the doctrine of the "Responsibility to Protect," however, the doctrine is currently failing in Darfur, Congo, and Uganda. What does R2P mean in real life, rather than in some fancy UN document?
In the fight to eliminate genocide and crimes against humanity, the world has recently seen the birth of two essential pillars in that foundation: the International Criminal Court and the doctrine of the "Responsibility to Protect," however, the doctrine is currently failing in Darfur, Congo, and Uganda. What does R2P mean in real life, rather than in some fancy UN document?
In the fight to eliminate genocide and crimes against humanity, the world has recently seen the birth of two essential pillars in that foundation: the International Criminal Court and the doctrine of the "Responsibility to Protect," however, the doctrine is currently failing in Darfur, Congo, and Uganda. What does R2P mean in real life, rather than in some fancy UN document?
Chadian rebels’ lightning strike on the capital N’Djamena in late January and early February is the latest and most dramatic consequence of two combustible situations that remain on collision course: Sudan’s destabilizing policies and Chad’s internal political crisis. For the enormous danger that this political crisis poses—to international efforts to halt violence in Darfur, to long-term regional stability, and to civilians ensnared by warfare—the world is remarkably ill-equipped to address it.
The lightning rebel strike on Chad’s capital, N’Djamena, in late January and early February is the latest and most dramatic consequence of two combustible situations: Sudan’s destabilizing regional policies and Chad’s internal political crisis. Read our Activist Brief for a summary of the current situation in Chad and the key players involved.
Perhaps no area is more volatile and carries more implications for Sudan’s future than the oil rich region of Abyei—Sudan’s “Kashmir”—astride the boundary between North and South. If the political crisis regarding Abyei is not addressed, there is little potential for peace in the entire country.
Perhaps no area is more volatile and carries more serious implications for Sudan’s future than the oil-rich region of Abyei—Sudan’s “Kashmir”—that straddles the boundary between north and south Sudan. If the political crisis over Abyei is not addressed, there is little potential for peace in the entire country. There remains time to remedy the situation, however, and U.S. leadership is crucial. Read our Activist Brief to learn more about Abyei, U.S. policy imperatives toward this crucial region, and what you can do to make a difference.
The establishment of strong democratic institutions and processes in Sudan is a prerequisite for peace in Darfur and throughout the country. There are three major electoral milestones critical to the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement over the next three years: 1) the population census in April 2008; 2) the national elections by July 2009; and 3) a self-determination referendum for Southern Sudan by March 2011.
The establishment of strong democratic institutions and processes in Sudan are a prerequisite for peace in Darfur and throughout the country. There are three major electoral milestones critical to the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement over the next three years. Read our Activist Brief for a short summary of the report and learn what you can do.
Disorder within the Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA, leadership provides an opportunity for negotiators to pursue the conclusion of a deal with LRA leader Joseph Kony. The time to strike—diplomatically—is now.
Disorder within the Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA, leadership provides an opportunity for negotiators to pursue the conclusion of a deal with LRA leader Joseph Kony. The time to strike diplomatically is now. Read our Activist Brief for a summary of the report and to learn how you can take action now to encourage the U.S. to seize the opportunity to make a deal with Kony and end Africa’s longest-running war.
Significant progress has been made in finally getting the policies right toward Sudan, mostly because of pressure from activists and the U.S. Congress. If these policies are pursued with additional vigor, we have a real chance at ending the continuing cycles of violence in Sudan.
The international community must devote significant resources, set clear objectives, and build the leverage necessary to achieve a peace agreement for Darfur and the full implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, or CPA. Another failed peace process for Darfur and an unraveling of the CPA could plunge the Sudan into unprecedented misery.
Failed implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement risks a return to widespread and destructive civil war throughout all of Sudan. The solution to the Darfur crisis and conflict in the South is the same: a democratic transformation of Sudan.
If the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, or CPA, fails, Sudan risks an imminent return to widespread and destructive civil war. The solutions to the Darfur crisis and conflict in the south are the same: the democratic transformation of Sudan. Read our Activist Brief for a short summary of the report and for more information on the key actors and the current situation in Sudan.
An escalation of violence and attacks on civilians in Eastern Chad is imminent. It is urgent to speed up the deployment of the European Union protection force and mount a robust diplomatic campaign that addresses the multiple layers of conflict fueling the violence. <br />
Successful peace talks in Juba require an agreement about how to deal with unpredictable Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA, leader Joseph Kony and his top deputies—all indicted by the International Criminal Court, or ICC, for crimes against humanity. Peace with justice for the LRA leadership is ideal, but serious obstacles remain.
Successful peace talks in Juba require an agreement about how to deal with unpredictable Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA, leader Joseph Kony and his top deputies. Much of the LRA’s senior leadership has been indicted by the International Criminal Court, or ICC, for crimes against humanity. Achieving peace while ensuring accountability for the LRA’s numerous crimes is ideal. Serious obstacles remain to achieving either justice or peace. Read our Activist Brief for more information on how you can encourage your elected officials to take a stand in Juba.
Serious obstacles threaten to derail the rapid deployment of the joint United Nations African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur, or UNAMID. Swift deployment is critical to providing protection for vulnerable civilians, bolstering the peace process, and countering obstructionism from Khartoum.
Dissension, disarray, deaths, and defections within the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA, leadership provide a major opportunity for negotiators to pursue a deal with LRA leader Joseph Kony, while simultaneously concluding peace negotiations being held in Juba, south Sudan. LRA defections complicate efforts to finish the hard work of negotiations, and the deteriorating Comprehensive Peace Agreement, or CPA, in south Sudan threatens to destabilize the region further.
Between 1996 and 2002, the two massive wars fought in the Democratic Republic of the Congo were arguably the world's deadliest since World War II. With almost no international fanfare, eastern Congo is on the brink of its third major war in the last decade, and almost nothing is being done to stop it.
The two massive wars fought in the Democratic Republic of the Congo between 1996 and 2002 were arguably the world's deadliest since the second World War. With almost no international fanfare, eastern Congo is on the brink of its third major war in the last decade, and little is being done to stop it. The U.S. government can help Congo escape the conflict and secure U.S. interests there (and across the continent) by taking a greater role in diplomacy to resolve the crisis in the east. As is the case with Darfur and northern Uganda, U.S. citizens who care about ending crimes against humanity must be the catalyst pressing policymakers to take action.
News reports suggest that internecine violence in Sudan has transitioned from genocide to anarchy. However, the promotion of anarchy and inter-communal (or, popularly, "inter-tribal") fighting is part and parcel of Khartoum’s genocidal counter-insurgency campaign.
The peace process for northern Uganda is faltering. The weak and isolated Lord’s Resistance Army may be primarily interested in using broad agreements on principles as a cover to buy time, build strength, and gain undue legitimacy by re-branding themselves as representatives of marginalized northern Ugandans. The United States has a crucial role to play in helping to create the conditions for peace.
The peace process for northern Uganda is faltering. The weak and isolated Lord’s Resistance Army may be primarily interested in using broad agreements on principles as a cover to buy time, build strength, and gain undue legitimacy by re-branding themselves as representatives of marginalized northern Ugandans. The United States has a crucial role to play in helping to create the conditions for peace.
Half a million internally displaced persons, refugees, and other conflict-affected civilians are vulnerable to the steadily escalating violence in eastern Chad. The regional contagion that is Darfur -- which is fueling instability throughout the region -- requires a comprehensive strategy, of which a crucial component is protecting civilians in neighboring countries.
Half a million internally displaced persons, refugees, and other conflict-affected civilians are vulnerable to the steadily escalating violence in eastern Chad. The regional contagion that is Darfur -- which is fueling instability throughout the region -- requires a comprehensive strategy, of which a crucial component is protecting civilians in neighboring countries.
Military enforcement of a stand alone no-fly zone is not a policy panacea for ending the death and destruction in Darfur, and would likely make matters worse. The focus instead must center on increasing pressure on all parties to move forward in the peace process and on the government, in particular, to facilitate the unconditional and rapid deployment of the hybrid force.<br /><br />
Military enforcement of a stand alone no-fly zone is not a policy panacea for ending the death and destruction in Darfur, and would likely make matters worse. The focus instead must center on increasing pressure on all parties to move forward in the peace process and on the government, in particular, to facilitate the unconditional and rapid deployment of the hybrid force.
Several critical factors will determine whether the proposed peacekeeping mission will achieve success and finally fulfill the international community’s responsibility to protect civilians in Darfur: mandate, management, manpower, mobility, methodology, and money.<br />
For widely divergent reasons, the three countries with the most leverage in Sudan -- the United States, France, and China -- all have a vested interest in and desire to help bring peace and stability in Darfur. Perhaps the single most influential action that could be taken now to end the horrors in Darfur would be for those three countries to convene an informal “troika” similar to the “troika” that helped end the North-South war in Sudan.
There is an unprecedented opportunity now to build on the positive momentum generated by the resumption of the Juba peace process and extension of the cessation of hostilities agreement. Urgent efforts are required by the Ugandan government and the international community to construct an overall peace strategy that has a chance to end this recurring nightmare once and for all.
Absent political pressure from concerned American citizens and credible leadership and clear demands from the U.S. Congress, it is unlikely that the Bush administration will significantly step up its involvement in support of peace in northern Uganda.
President Bush’s announcement today that his administration will begin implementing a set of punitive measures -- its oft-threatened “Plan B” -- against the Sudanese Government could have marked a real turning point in U.S. policy to end what the president calls genocide. Unfortunately, it doesn't.
The U.S. has issued so many hollow threats over the past three years that senior National Congress Party, or NCP, officials will dismiss even a clear and direct warning from the President of the United States. President Bush must immediately end the dangerous state of impunity that fuels continued state sponsored violence in Darfur by punishing those same NCP officials.<br />
The Government of Sudan has repeatedly ignored threats issued by the Bush administration and the United Nations Security Council. It is clear that the regime does not take these threats seriously, and will continue to flout international opinion until there are specific and escalating costs to its actions.
Though it has garnered the concern and condemnation of governments worldwide and triggered unprecedented grassroots activism in the United States, the crisis in Darfur continues to intensify. In response to what both the legislative and executive branches of the U.S. government have repeatedly called genocide, the gulf between rhetoric and action on the part of the Bush administration is profound.
