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The Satellite Sentinel Project has identified an apparent convoy of Sudan Armed Forces vehicles and towed artillery, stretching over two kilometers and consistent with an infantry unit of at least regiment size -- equal to approximately 1,000 troops -- in Kadugli, capital of Sudan's conflict-ridden border region of South Kordofan. The apparent convoy is pointed north, although its origin, destination and total length remain unknown ...

Lisa Shannon’s plan was to be in Paris for her 30th birthday. Instead, she caught strep throat and had to cancel her trip. About a week before her birthday, she wound up sprawled on her couch watching the "Oprah Show," where she learned about the conflict in Congo. In her report, journalist Lisa Ling called Congo “the worst place on earth . . . and the most ignored.” Lisa was dumbfounded. The deadliest war since World War II had been raging for more than 10 years. The same guys responsible for the Rwandan genocide were still out there killing people, ...

A weekly round-up of must-read stories, posted every Friday (or on occasion, on Saturday) ...

Attack aircraft and helicopter gunships are within flying range of recently targeted areas in South Kordofan, according to the latest satellite images analyzed by Satellite Sentinel Project, or SSP. New fighting positions, constructed after clashes first erupted in the volatile border state in early June, were also spotted in satellite images of Dilling, a town in the northern part of the state ...

The Satellite Sentinel Project (SSP) has released imagery revealing that the Government of Sudan has positioned four vehicles consistent with multiple-rocket launcher (MRL) systems at a recently reinforced base within 65 kilometers of the tense border region of South Kordofan. The rocket launchers, consistent with BM-21 Grads, have a range of 20 kilometers and are capable of launching a hail of 40 rockets in a single volley ...

“Don’t you just want to bring them home?” I’m often asked that when people see pictures and videos of me with children in the Darfuri refugee camps. I do bring them home with me, in so many ways. They are what keep me going every day in this often-depressing work. As any father would say, I love them all, but Guisma has a special place in my heart, and now you have a chance to Bring Guisma Home ...

For over a year, students at the university level have been the leading voice in the movement for conflict-free products. Since Stanford University passed a proxy voting resolution in spring of 2010, four other universities, the most recent being the Ohio University Honors Tutorial College, have issued statements calling on electronics companies to clean up their supply chains, and over 50 schools across the nation are participating in the Conflict-Free Campus Initiative. Now high school students have joined the movement, using their power as individual consumers and collective communities to change the demand for conflict-free products and change the equation ...

The Satellite Sentinel Project (SSP) has documented visual evidence corroborating published reports that the Government of Sudan has bombarded ten towns and villages in the Nuba Mountains region of South Kordofan. Satellite imagery and photographs of attack aircraft corroborate multiple reports of a campaign of shelling and aerial bombing by Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) which has allegedly displaced tens of thousands of civilians since June 7 ...

This post originally appeared on Care2.com: Under Secretary of State, Robert Hormats, recently said the issue of conflict minerals in the Congo is “one of the greatest moral issues of our time … and one that requires bold, resolute, and moral action by the U.S.” As citizens and consumers we have never been closer to helping reduce violence in eastern Congo. Now we need the Obama Administration to be a leader in the final charge ...

A sharp divide over the resumption of diamond sales from Zimbabwe has left members of the Kimberley Process struggling to keep the process intact. Last Thursday following a week-long meeting, the Democratic Republic of Congo, or DRC, (the rotating chair of the Kimberley Process) announced that diamond exports from Zimbabwe would resume, leaving members grappling with fundamental questions about legitimacy, corruption, and credibility. At the heart of the issue is the debate over how, in the face of egregious humans rights abuses perpetrated by the Zimbabwean security apparatus, exports from the controversial Marange fields of Zimbabwe can resume, and how ...