Author: John Norris

Is your cell phone, I-Pod or Blackberry helping fuel the conflict in eastern Congo? It might very well be. Here is how you can find out, and what you can do to help. Working with a number of partners, we are starting a major effort on conflict minerals in eastern Congo, and this is the first step. Stay tuned ...

A devastating report from Physicians for Human Rights decribes the health situation in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is suffering from a mounting health crisis, and it is almost entirely man-made. Just as President Mugabe has long politicized the delivery of food aid, he has similarly manipulated the health system. The report asks exactly the right question: “When government policies lead directly to the shuttering of hospitals and clinics, the closing of its medical school, and the beatings of health workers, are we to consider the attendant deaths and injuries as any different from those resulting from a massacre of similar proportions?” ...

We noted the other day that Sudanese Islamist leader Hassan al-Turabi had called for Sudanese President Bashir to be handed over to the International Criminal Court. Not surprisingly, al-Turabi has now been detained for his comments. This is not the first time al-Turabi has been held by the government for voicing his views. While Bashir might hope the arrest stops fellow Sudanese from calling for his ouster, this might well be an uphill battle if the International Criminal Court issues a warrant for his arrest. Our own Omer Ismail discusses the arrest over at Voice of America ...

Amazing: The government of Sudan explains its recent aerial attacks in Darfur by saying: “The Sudanese army has bombed this area to protect the Sudanese civilians living in this area.” I am not sure how much more “protection” the people of Darfur can stand ...

I am sure that the lights were burning late in Khartoum, as they try to analyze the statements by Hillary on Darfur. In looking at both the written (pages 62-65) and oral testimony by Clinton, it seems clear that the administration is still puzzling through exactly how it will deal with Sudan, and the testimony was designed to leave all options on the table – which is what a good diplomat should do. I was certainly encouraged by Clinton’s blunt recognition that coming up with a means to “repel the militias” has been an important missing element to date. Obama ...

John Prendergast and I have a new report out today: Obama, Africa and Peace. We argue that President Obama has a unique chance to fundamentally transform relations with Africa – but only if his administration is willing to invest in diplomacy, peacemaking and other long-term investments with the continent. A smarter, more comprehensive approach to peacemaking is essential and would help the United States move beyond simply reacting to crises after the fact. You can listen to the podcast here ...

When the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court requested an arrest warrant for Sudan’s President, a lot of armchair academics in the United States predicted calamity. We argued they were wrong then; we still think they are wrong now. An important Sudanese opposition leader has just called on President Bashir to be turned over to The Hague, according to the news agency Reuters. The opposition leader, Hassan al-Turabi, is usually a hard-line figure in Sudan’s Islamist movement and used to be quite close to Bashir, before the two had a major falling out. Said Turabi of Bashir: "Politically we ...

The intrepid Lydia Polgreen writes in today’s New York Times about the growing fissure within the most important Tutsi rebel group in Congo, the CNDP. The split is between General Laurent Nkunda and Jean Bosco Ntaganda, who goes by the nom de guerre of The Terminator. No good guys to root for in this tug of war. Nkunda has repeatedly threatened to march his forces all the way to Kinshasa, and Ntaganda is wanted by the International Criminal Court. The split would seem to make peace talks even more difficult, and the dust has far from settled. I would be ...

A statement was released by Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin) on the recent attacks on civilians by the Lord’s Resistance Army: "I am horrified by the reported massacres that rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army have carried out over recent weeks in Congo and Sudan, leaving hundreds of people dead, scores of women raped, children abducted and villages ransacked. I condemn these atrocities in the strongest terms. Regional militaries have an important role to play in addressing the LRA threat, but I have long warned of the risks of rash and poorly planned military action and I am concerned the current ...

Michael Gerson also weighed in with his opinions on the LRA in Friday’s Washington Post. I give Gerson, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, credit for writing on issues like the Lord’s Resistance Army and Darfur at a time when they often don’t get a great deal of attention. Gerson is absolutely correct in making the case that Joseph Kony, head of the LRA, is as loathsome as possible, and in urging the international community to reach some resolution to the conflict. But I do worry that his account of the recent raid by the Ugandan military ...