Here at Enough, we often swap emails with interesting articles and feature stories that we come across in our favorite publications and on our favorite websites. We wanted to share some of these stories with you as part of our effort to keep you up to date on what you need to know in the world of anti-genocide and crimes against humanity work.
The Economist ran an interesting article about different programs and techniques being developed and used by “conflict forecasters” to predict where and why conflict will break out. One program, RiftLand, which monitors East Africa, “works by chewing its way through a range of data collected by charities, academics and government agencies, and uses these to predict where groups of people will go and with whom they may clash in times of drought or armed conflict.”
Writing for Al Jazeera English, scholar Christine Cheng reflects on the significance of the Charles Taylor trial and highlights some of the possible pitfalls in the way international justice mechanisms are developing.
Mama Hope, the group behind the popular video of people of all ages in the United States and Africa singing Paul Simon’s “You Can Call Me Al,” released a new video intent on re-imagining how the world views Africa. “African Men. Hollywood Stereotypes.” features four young Kenyan guys reflecting on how they couldn’t be more different from the “African men” of the movies.
“Brother in Arms” is a collection of photos by Kate Holt that capture life on the front lines outside Mogadishu, where A.U. peacekeepers from Uganda and Burundi fight alongside Somali soldiers and government-allied militiamen to fend off al-Shabaab. The photos of peacekeepers are interspersed by stunning everyday life shots in the Somali capital that give a true feel of the place.
During the 10 days or so that the South Sudan army held the disputed oil site of Heglig, TIME and Magnum photographer Dominic Nahr hitched a ride with soldiers to the area and captured some iconic images of the conflict flaring on the border between Sudan and South Sudan. Nahr’s photos also highlight the increasingly desperate conditions in South Kordofan, where a rebellion is flourishing but civilians face severe food shortages as a result of the government’s sweeping and indiscriminate attacks aimed at snuffing out the rebels.