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.
Reporting from a cattle camp in Lakes state, reporter Maggie Fick provides commentary on the political elements of intra-south violence through the personal experience of one young cattle herder. “Cattle raiding is nothing new in Southern Sudan, but the adage here goes that now that cattle herders are using AK-47s instead of spears, the local violence has become deadly,” Fick writes. The government’s solution to the problem is disarmament, but without being able to fill the security void, forcibly taking people’s guns away has boosted tension.
A team of journalists with the Institute for War and Peace Reporting examined traditional justice mechanisms in Darfur and the prospects for using local justice to diffuse some of the deep and widespread tensions built up over the past seven years.
In a Q&A featured this week on the Africa Monitor blog, reporter Jina Moore got in touch with one of the founders of The Clarity Project, a boutique jewelry company that sells fairly sourced products and is “dedicated to improving the quality of life for miners and their families.” The company’s three founders have taught themselves the trade, with the help of some expert mentors, and the business is beginning to take off. “At its heart, this is activism,” they say.
It’s the year of 50-year independence anniversaries in Africa – and of feature stories reflecting on this point. Here’s the latest, this time from NPR’s Weekend Edition. Host Liane Hansen spoke to former Times reporter Howard French and NPR’s West Africa bureau chief Ofeibea Quist-Arcton about trends on the continent since 1960 and about what the 50 years might bring.
The much-anticipated report from the U.N. mapping exercise in Congo is due today, though the newsiest parts are already well known (and potential backlash hopefully averted, though Uganda is now making threats similar to Rwanda’s). In anticipation of the release, Congo blogger Jason Stearns takes up the question of what happens next.