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Only in the Alice in Wonderland world of war-torn eastern Congo would the withdrawal of M23 rebels from Congo's eastern provincial capital of Goma be cause for major celebration. The truth is that the retreat is just the latest chapter in a long story involving competing mafia-like political and military alliances controlled by leaders in the capitals of Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda, all of whom justify their actions in terms of national security concerns to mask economic and political interests ...

The Enough Project has joined a coalition of human rights groups calling on President Obama to lead a coordinated U.S. response to the escalating crisis in eastern Congo. Today, the coalition sent a letter to President Obama asking him to appoint a Presidential Envoy and support the appointment of a U.N. envoy to the Great Lakes region, to support the imposition of sanctions against violators of the U.N. Arms Embargo on Congo, and to cut military assistance and suspend non-humanitarian aid to the government of Rwanda for its support of the M23 insurgency ...

The Enough Project and a coalition of international NGOs call on President Obama to lead the response on the crisis in eastern Congo and to appoint a special Presidental Envoy to support peace efforts in the region ...

A weekly round-up of must-read stories, posted every Friday ...

If you have been reading about eastern Congo lately, one name has been stealing headlines: M23. In a dramatic show of force, the Rwanda-supported rebel militia group led by ICC indictee Bosco Ntaganda took control of strategically important Goma in mid- November and then earned a place at the ongoing peace talks in Kampala by ending their 11-day occupation earlier this week. However, focusing on the M23 belies the complexity of the highly militarized politics of eastern Congo ...

One of the usual victims in the politics of personal assassination is the truth. This phenomenon holds in the current extrajudicial “trial” of Susan Rice ...

Regional peace talks on eastern Congo’s crisis due to begin today in Kampala, Uganda are not enough to resolve the protracted conflict, says the Enough Project. The regional talks—which include Congolese President Joseph Kabila, the M23 rebel movement, and a very limited number of Congolese civil society groups—must be broadened to include wider representation of civil society, political parties, and the private sector in order to address the systemic economic and political drivers of the war, according to an Enough Project policy brief ...

"Razing a village is a war crime, and the torching of now at least 26 Nuban villages, plus the systematic destruction of crops and grasslands for cattle, is a crime against humanity,” said George Clooney, Co-founder of Satellite Sentinel Project. “What we’re seeing here is a widespread campaign of village and crop burning.” ...

Today, the Enough Project joined a coalition of organizations from central Africa, the U.S., and Europe in releasing a report that assesses the implementation of the U.N. Regional Strategy developed in June to address the Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA, threat. Nearly six months later, progress to date in implementing the strategy has been minimal, and no clear plans to address the myriad challenges facing the strategy appear to be underway ...

A semblance of normal life is returning to Goma, with a few banks, shops, and schools reopening. But despite the presence of 600 policemen and a battalion of government forces who deployed to the city following M23’s withdrawal, people are still petrified that M23 might return. Ahead of talks with the Congolese government, the rebels have continued to posture by threatening to retake Goma if their demands are not met ...