Author: Laura Heaton

Here at Enough, we often swap emails with interesting articles and feature stories that we come across in our favorite publications and on our favorite websites. We wanted to share some of these stories with you as part of our effort to keep you up to date on what you need to know in the world of anti-genocide and crimes against humanity work. News out of Sri Lanka this week was dire, as the Sri Lankan government launched what many predict will be a final attack against the Tamil Tigers. The BBC’s Alastair Lawson filed a report that outlines the ...

Enough’s David Sullivan faced off against Harrison Mitchell and Nicolas Garrett of Resource Consulting Services (RCS) in an online debate this week about the links between violence and the mineral trade in eastern Congo. The two articles published by Reuters AlertNet offer a solid summary of the arguments surrounding calls for a more transparent system for the mineral trade. Be sure to read the posts for the full effect. Knowing that I’m probably spoiling the ending, here are a few thoughts that the articles bring to mind. In many ways, the positions each post advocated were two sides of the ...

The Obama administration announced the appointment of another special envoy this week, bringing the tally of special advisors and envoys up to seven. Congratulations to Ambassador Richard Morningstar for being appointed the new Special Envoy for Eurasian Energy. But I have to admit that, here at Enough, we were rooting for a different envoy this round. Africa’s Great Lakes region is in desperate need of the kind of attention that a high-level U.S. envoy would bring. Eastern Congo holds the unenviable distinction of being the world’s most destructive conflict since World War II, with a death toll of 5.4 million ...

If you missed the "Honor the Past, Act Now for Darfur" genocide commemoration last weekend in front of the White House, tune in here to watch Enough Co-Founder John Prendergast's remarks at the event: John Prendergast from Genocide Prevention Month on Vimeo ...

Don't miss Enough Co-Founder John Prendergast's article, co-authored with U.S. Institute of Peace Vice President David Smock, on today's Huffington Post: Somalia has become the poster child for transnational threats emanating from Africa. By sea, pirates much more dangerous than their predecessors from centuries past prowl the Indian Ocean and Red Sea waterways and extort tens of millions of dollars in ransom. By land, extremist militias connected to al-Qaeda units ensure that Somalia remains anarchic and the only country in the world without a functioning central government. Until recently, this seemed to matter little to most Americans, as our only ...

An article in Roll Call yesterday looked at the work being done to finalize a Senate bill that would legislate layers of transparency into the global minerals trade. The article heralded conflict minerals as the next big thing in a corporate social responsibility trend set by “Kathie Lee Gifford’s clothing line, Nike shoes, Pakistani soccer balls, Uzbek cotton and diamonds from Sierra Leone.” As the article noted, “This is not a new concept; the electronics industry in the United States and Europe has a code of conduct and large coalitions that promote a transparent supply chain.” But as our recent ...

Violence over the weekend in southern Sudan's Jonglei province left 177 people dead, with a final toll expected to reach 300, according to a local official. Reuters reported that armed men from the Murle tribe attacked villages inhabited by the rival group Lou Nuer. A local official interviewed about the attacks over the weekend said that 16 villages were razed and many children drowned in a river as they tried to escape the gunmen. The oil-rich Jonglei region has seen a spate of ethnic violence in recent weeks, a trend that is particularly troubling as Sudan looks ahead to national ...

Here at Enough, we often swap emails with interesting articles and feature stories that we come across in our favorite publications and on our favorite websites. We wanted to share some of these stories with you as part of our effort to keep you up to date on what you need to know in the world of anti-genocide and crimes against humanity work. This Newsweek article looks at U.S.-Ethiopia relations and discusses how close ties forged during the Bush administration have “only made matters worse” for security in the Horn of Africa. Particularly timely given all the attention directed at ...

As further clashes with pirates played out off the coast of Somalia, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke with definite air of resolve this week about America's response. “The United States does not make concessions or ransom payments to pirates,” Clinton said, emphasizing each word. The State Department has developed a new four-point plan for combating maritime hijackings, which Secretary Clinton rolled out yesterday, providing some (rather basic) details to supplement President Obama's recent (ambiguous) commitment to “halt the rise of piracy.” Firstly, the administration will send an envoy to the Somali peacekeeping and development meeting in Brussels this month, ...

As we mentioned last week, a team from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum is traveling in Africa's Great Lakes region and sending excellent material from the meetings and events they're attending. They recently visited a demobilization camp in Rwanda and spoke with former members of the FDLR, a Rwandan rebel group that's been based in eastern Congo since 1994, after many in its leadership helped carry out the Rwandan genocide. Now, some of those who weren't responsible for atrocities related to the genocide are returning home. Here's a recent post by Michael Abramowitz on World Is Witness. Here at the ...