Alistair Dawson's blog

Today, the Enough Project released its latest policy brief that discusses the implications of the government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, or SPLM-N, signing separate memoranda of understanding, or MOUs, with the Tripartite Partners—comprised of the U.N., African Union, and League of Arab States.  Read More »

Building on recent momentum in Congress to address the limitations of the U.S. military effort to capture key members of the Lord’s Resistance Army and end the group’s long history of atrocities, the Senate unanimously passed a bipartisan resolution last week, S.Res. 402, condemning the crimes against humanity and mass atrocities being committed by Joseph Kony and the LRA.  Read More »

This easy-to-read chart identifies the government of Sudan, the government of South Sudan, and the People’s Liberation Movement-North’s respective compliance, or lack thereof, with the provisions of U.N. Security Council Resolution 2046.  Read More »

Congolese President Joseph Kabila and Rwandan President Paul Kagame held a one-on-one meeting last Sunday to discuss the recent deterioration of security along the border between their two countries. The presidents, with the backing of the regional International Conference of the Great Lakes Region, or ICGLR, agreed in principal to a number of steps to resolve the crisis in eastern Congo, including the creation of a neutral international force that would patrol their borders and act as a counter force against militias operating in the area, such as the M23, the FDLR, and any other destabilizing forces.  Read More »

On June 25, a coalition of 22 human rights organizations and civil society leaders in Uganda, Congo, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and the U.S. issued a statement calling on the Ugandan government to reinstate Part II of its Amnesty Act and to promote greater accountability and reconciliation.  This provision, which was allowed to expire on May 23 while the rest of the act was renewed, has proven an effective tool in the encouragement of defections among combatants within the ranks of the infamous Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA.  Read More »

Over the past week, the M23 rebels have made major advances on strategic border towns in the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Since their rebellion from the Congolese army over three months ago, the M23 movement has grown considerably in manpower and occupied territory.  Read More »

Well before the United Nations Group of Experts released its interim report on the current situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on June 21, it had created a massive stir. Details of the investigation had been leaked, revealing that evidence had been found linking the Rwandan government to the infamous March 23 Movement, or M23.  Read More »

Today, one of the most dire refugee situations underway is in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. U.N. reports have cited that the recent outbursts of violence between the Congolese military and defector army militants loyal to General Bosco Ntaganda, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court, have sparked a mass influx in refugees fleeing the region. The Congolese civilian population has found themselves caught in the middle of the fighting and, in some cases, systematically targeted.  Threats of abduction, rape, and involuntary militia recruitment have forced civilians to flee into neighboring countries.  Read More »