Blog

Today, the UN marks the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, condemning all attacks and violence against media workers and urging member states to do their utmost to prevent violence against journalists ...

On October 27th, 2016, six distinguished experts discussed how to address the crises of democracy and conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The event launched a new Enough Project comprehensive study authored by Sasha Lezhnev, "A Criminal State: Understanding and Countering Institutionalized Corruption and Violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo" ...

Enough's new comprehensive study reveals how the Democratic Republic of Congo is not a failed state—for everyone. It is a failure for the vast majority of Congolese who suffer from abysmal security, healthcare, and education services. However, it is an efficient state for ruling elites and their commercial partners who seek to extract or traffic resources at the expense of Congo’s development. Over the past 130 years, Congo has had many elements of violent kleptocracy, a system of state capture in which ruling networks and commercial partners hijack governing institutions and maintain impunity for the purpose of resource extraction and ...

In a major report released today, the Enough Project shows that the Democratic Republic of Congo is not a “failed state,” exposing a highly functioning system of violence and corruption structured to allow President Joseph Kabila and his close associates to maintain power and profit from natural resource deals at the expense of country’s development ...

If international policymakers are to have a real impact in helping Congolese reformers actually transform the system of violent kleptocracy in the Democratic Republic of Congo, they need to shift lenses. Policies should focus on creating significant consequences for those most responsible for the system of violence, corruption, and undermining of democracy. This can be done by creating new leverage using tools of financial pressure normally reserved for countering nuclear proliferation and terrorism aimed at isolating certain leaders from the international financial system, and increasing support for Congolese civil society organizations and journalists to hold the government accountable ...

The Democratic Republic of Congo is not a failed state—for everyone. It is a failure for the vast majority of Congolese who suffer from abysmal security, health care, and education services. However, it is an efficient state for ruling elites and their commercial partners who seek to extract or traffic resources at the expense of Congo’s development ...

There are two Sudans: one real and one imagined. In the imaginary Sudan, President Omar al-Bashir’s government is leading a meaningful National Dialogue that will address grievances, reconcile differences, and eventually lead to a democratic state. In this fictitious Sudan, the Sudan Armed Forces fight a just war against unappeasable rebels in the country’s south, while instability and violent conflict are largely a thing of the past in Darfur ...

In several recent publications and Congressional hearings, the Enough Project has used the term “violent kleptocracy” to describe the nature of the principal systems in place in our organization’s focus countries: Sudan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, and Somalia. Although the details and structure of the violent kleptocracy may differ in each country, the results are similar: conflict, death, impunity, democratic deficit, and wide-scale looting of state assets ...

On Thursday, October 27, in Washington DC, the Enough Project and distinguished guests will host “Combating Violent Kleptocracy in the Democratic Republic of Congo: A New Approach to Create Leverage for Democratic Change and Human Rights Protections.” ...

In a new policy brief published today, John Prendergast, Founding Director of the Enough Project, details the devastation caused by violent kleptocracies in some African states, and offers a set of innovative recommendations to dismantle those corrupt and violent systems. In the 4-page brief, “Violent Kleptocracies: How they’re destroying parts of Africa and how they can be dismantled,” Prendergast argues that existing approaches to stopping mass atrocities and ending war in Africa have not succeeded, and major new policy approaches are required ...