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.
Congo expert Jason Stearns, writing for Foreign Policy, discusses the role that U.S. activism has played in finally bringing the decades-long conflict in eastern Congo to light:
Minerals were not the initial cause of the Congolese conflict in 1996 — state collapse, the Rwandan genocide, and local power struggles had more to do with that. But those looking for silver bullets to solve the conflict will never find them. Perfect should not be the enemy of the good, and minerals are a good place to start.
In a Kansas courtroom this week, jurors heard testimony about the alleged crimes of Lazare Kobagaya during the genocide in Rwanda. A naturalized U.S. citizen, Kobagaya is now being charged with lying to immigration officials about his whereabouts and involvement in the 1994 violence, The New York Times reports. The case is one to watch because a number of individuals suspected of committing crimes during the Rwandan genocide now live in the United States. But, as the article points out:
The Justice Department has successfully prosecuted more than 100 Nazi war criminals on charges similar to those leveled at Mr. Kobagaya, though this is the first time federal prosecutors have presented evidence about the Rwandan genocide in a criminal trial.
Here are 20 stories for the price of one. Enough Said reader Carl Andrews flagged this recent posting on an online education website: “20 Unbelievable Human Rights Talks on TED."
Fed up with having their communities preyed on by the FDLR, some people in eastern Congo are taking repatriation efforts into their own hands, Radio Netherlands reports. From Goma, Anneke Vebraeken describes the work that two young men, Fidel and Oleko, have undertaken – despite the risks – to personally track down militia members and urge them to return to Rwanda.
Author Adam Hochschild is making the interviewing rounds with the release of his newest book, To End All Wars. This week, Democracy Now host Amy Goodman took the opportunity to talk to Hochschild about Congo as well, specifically about how its history and legacy of colonialism, which he exposed so memorably in King Leopold’s Ghost, is playing out in the country today.