Rwanda’s Long Shadow: U.S.-Rwandan Relations and a Path Forward in Eastern Congo
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 ...
Taking the Terminator: Congo’s Golden Opportunity to Deliver a Warlord to Justice
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 ...
Gov. O’Malley Signs Maryland’s Conflict Minerals Bill
On May 2, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley signed into law the Maryland State Procurement and Congo Conflict Minerals Bill, making Maryland the second state to pass such legislation ...
Congo’s President Kabila Calls for Arrest of Bosco Ntaganda
President Joseph Kabila said today that Congolese authorities would arrest the now fugitive former rebel leader turned Congolese army general and ICC indicted war criminal Bosco Ntaganda. “I want to arrest Bosco Ntaganda because the whole population wants peace,” said President Kabila from the town of Goma in eastern Congo’s North Kivu province ...
The International Contact Group and Steps toward Stability in the Great Lakes
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 ...
Coalition of Human Rights Groups and Advocates Calls for International Action on Congo Elections
The Enough Project along with a coalition of human rights advocates and conflict analysis NGOs—including Eastern Congo Initiative, Humanity United, International Crisis Group, Open Society Foundations, Eastern Congo Initiative Fellow Anthony W. Gambino, Hoover Institution Visiting Fellow Mvemba Phezo Dizolele, and Congo analyst and author Jason Stearns—released a statement yesterday expressing concern over the lack of response from the U.S. government and other donor nations in dealing with the growing crisis of legitimacy in the Congo over recent elections ...
U.S. Congo Policy: Matching Deeds to Words to End the World’s Deadliest War
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 ...
US Conflict Mineral Law Opens the Door to Peace in the DRC
By Aaron Hall and Bahati Jacques This post originally appeared on African Arguments: In recent weeks a debate has emerged over the merits of the conflict minerals provision in the Dodd-Frank Act. Critics of the legislation assert that the provision and those groups supporting it are responsible for causing damage to the people and communities of eastern Congo. Specifically, David Aronson's New York Times op-ed ‘How congress devastated Congo’ – which argues that the US law is responsible for the suffering of eastern Congolese mining communities – is irresponsibly oversimplified ...
How Warlords and Washington Lobbyists Undermine Stability in Eastern Congo
This post originally appeared on Global Post: What do corrupted Congolese warlords and Washington lobbyists have in common? They’ve joined forces to become the biggest obstacle to development and stability in eastern Congo ...
Rift in Kimberley Process Provides Lessons for Conflict Mineral Certification
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A sharp divide over the resumption of diamond sales from Zimbabwe has left members of the Kimberley Process struggling to keep the process intact. Last Thursday following a week-long meeting, the Democratic Republic of Congo, or DRC, (the rotating chair of the Kimberley Process) announced that diamond exports from Zimbabwe would resume, leaving members grappling with fundamental questions about legitimacy, corruption, and credibility. At the heart of the issue is the debate over how, in the face of egregious humans rights abuses perpetrated by the Zimbabwean security apparatus, exports from the controversial Marange fields of Zimbabwe can resume, and how ...
