Author: Alissa Orlando

The Small Arms Survey, an independent Swiss research group, released a report suggesting that the Sudanese government is arming David Yau Yau’s militia in Jonglei state, South Sudan. This supplements former allegations by the U.N. peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, or UNMISS, and the government of South Sudan that Sudan is supplying arms to the Yau Yau rebellion to destabilize the region. Despite the recent normalization of bilateral relations between Sudan and South Sudan, South Sudan’s Government Spokesman Barnaba Marial Benjamin accused Sudan of supporting Yau Yau’s rebellion to increase insecurity in Pibor Town, Jonglei. As Pibor borders Ethiopia, this ...

On April 11, the Group of Eight, or G8, a forum of the world’s wealthiest countries, pledged to spend $35.4 million on preventing rape and sexual violence from being used as a weapon of war. The new fund will also benefit initiatives that put women and women's rights front and center in conflict resolution and devote resources to deterring and investigating wartime sexual atrocities and bringing the perpetrators responsible to justice. The U.S. will contribute $10 million to the new fund, which is spearheaded by British Foreign Minister William Hague and film star and U.N. Special Envoy Angelina Jolie. This ...

On Wednesday, March 13, the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative, or ABA ROLI, hosted a conference on emerging issues in the rule of law. Panelists from ABA ROLI, international development organizations, the U.S. government, and U.N. agencies covered topics including the effects of the “youth bulge” – when populations are comprised of a large share of children and young adults – on democracy and governance promotion, human rights accountability for extractive industries, NGO’s use of technology to fight corruption, and structural gender-based discrimination in health care systems. Audio highlights from the day can be accessed here ...

Leaders and envoys of 11 African nations signed the Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework for the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Great Lakes in Addis Ababa last weekend, making a series of commitments ...

With operations by the Lord’s Resistance Army spanning several countries and swaths of dense jungle, hunting down the rebels requires excellent real-time intelligence—something long deficient in the efforts to bring the LRA to an end. In a new issue brief published by the Enough Project, LRA analyst. Ashley Benner, offers six reasons why intelligence about the LRA is difficult to collect and suggests six ways that the U.S. could address this challenge ...

A series of agreements signed between Sudan and South Sudan in September represent the start, rather than the end, of the bilateral peace process. A new briefing paper by the Enough Project includes a detailed chart that identifies which bodies are responsible for addressing which outstanding issues between the two countries ...

For months, the two Sudans have been facing off along their contested border. In September, they agreed to establish a buffer zone, 10 km north and south of the agreed upon center line, to separate their armed forces and reduce tension in the region. In the past week, both the governments of Sudan and South Sudan finally reported that their troops have withdrawn on their respective sides of the center line and will withdraw from the Safe Demilitarized Border Zone, or SDBZ ...