Author: John Prendergast

This is the third installment in a series of open letters to President Obama spelling out a practical roadmap to end the crisis in Sudan. Co-authored by Enough, the Save Darfur Coalition, and the Genocide Intervention Network, the letter outlines a blueprint to achieve President Obama’s objective of a comprehensive peace for all of Sudan, a goal shared widely throughout the international community ...

Last weekend, tens of thousands of young people gathered in cities around the world to stand in solidarity with the tens of thousands of children that have been abducted by the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army, or LRA. I had the honor of addressing the throngs of attendees in our nation's capital at this event organized by the dynamic Invisible Children organization. I shared the stage with a Ugandan parliamentarian, some young entertainers, and Invisible Children co-Founder Bobby Bailey. The actor Val Kilmer accompanied me in support of the child soldiers still trapped in the LRA. On Monday, while I was ...

A couple weeks ago my colleagues Omer Ismail, John Bagwell, and I visited an extraordinary church in the middle of an Ohio corn field, Ginghamsburg Church, right outside of Dayton. Rev. Mike Slaughter, the remarkable lead pastor there, hosted a memorable and inspiring evening focusing on what Christians can do to help end the suffering in Darfur. In what is considered one of the fastest dying cities in the country because of massive job losses due to plant closures, more than one thousand people turned out on that Sunday night to learn more about how they could help their brothers ...

(CNN) -- In addition to Iraq and Afghanistan, President Obama has inherited another military challenge started by his predecessor. This off-the-radar drama is unfolding under the forest canopy of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its consequences could end up becoming deadlier than the two better-known cases, unless the Obama administration demonstrates the leadership of which it is capable. With U.S. planning and logistical support, central African governments have recently joined forces to hit two very large hornet's nests. These military offensives have not achieved their purported objectives, but they have already had severe impacts on the civilians caught in ...

The time has come to expose a sinister reality: Our insatiable demand for electronics products such as cell phones and laptops is helping fuel waves of sexual violence in a place that most of us will never go, affecting people most of us will never meet. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is the scene of the deadliest conflict globally since World War II. There are few other conflicts in the world where the link between our consumer appetites and mass human suffering is so direct ...

Yesterday, Enough Senior Advisor Omer Ismail and I had the privilege of meeting with President Obama and his new Sudan special envoy, General Scott Gration. General Gration is a thoughtful, committed public servant whose tenure as envoy could be very successful if the president gives him the right policy and tools he needs to succeed. We discussed with the president that what has been missing in U.S. policy for some time now is a strategic vision aimed at ENDING the cycle of war and famine in Darfur rather than simply managing the genocidal consequences. This requires the U.S. to commit ...

I recently had the honor of working with the producer, writer, and cast of NBC's top-rated show, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. We worked together on an episode that will air tonight, Tuesday, March 31, at 10 pm on NBC. The back story involves forcibly conscripted child soldiers from Northern Uganda, and the legacies of war and trauma of abuse in the context of child soldierhood and sexual slavery. Neal Baer, the executive producer of the show, was determined to ensure that the issue of child soldiers would be portrayed sensitively and accurately. And Mariska Hargitay and Chris Meloni, ...

The Obama administration offers a fresh opportunity for the United States to meaningfully engage in an effort to bring peace to Sudan at a time when the stakes have never been higher. Nevertheless, policymakers still need the collective voice of activists to keep the conflict high on their agendas and to generate public support for making tough decisions. We explore the impressive accomplishments of Sudan activists to date; the windows of opportunity for peace in Sudan; and what you can do. The bottom line: thoughtful, persistent activism makes a difference. The genocide in Darfur won’t end overnight, and there are ...

East and central Africa is battered by an arch of chronic conflict that stretches from Somalia to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Congo and Sudan alone account for nearly eight million deaths due to the legacy of war in the past two decades. Although the United States has provided billions of dollars in humanitarian aid, support for peacekeeping missions, and electoral assistance, this aid has not yet succeeded in altering the dynamics that have kept this region dangerously destabilized ...

The precarious peace between northern and southern Sudan stands at a crucial crossroads. Intended by its architects as the cornerstone of peace in a country fractured by conflict, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, or CPA, has been hamstrung by the National Congress Party’s intransigence, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement’s growing pains, and the international community’s neglect ...