Dedicated Student Activists Descend on D.C. for Weekend Dedicated to Congo
Since late 2010, the Conflict-Free Campus Initiative, or CFCI, has been the leading component of the conflict-free movement—a growing constituency of consumers who demand that their electronics products contain conflict-free minerals from eastern Congo as a way of ensuring sustainable peace in the region. Last weekend, 45 student leaders in this movement, converged upon Washington, D.C., for a two-day conference to discuss the role of student activism in enacting change in Congo ...
U.N. Report Documents Election Violence in Congo: Next Steps?
Last November’s controversial Congolese presidential and legislative elections continue to make headlines, further diminishing a sense of legitimacy or credibility in the Congolese electoral process. Last week, the U.N. released a report documenting acts of serious human rights violations committed during the elections—including killings, disappearances and arbitrary detentions—by members of the Congolese defense and security forces in the nation’s capital, Kinshasa ...
Munitions Found at Site of Recent Clashes Link South Sudan’s White Army to External Support
A new Small Arms Survey report released last week cites evidence of external support of the White Army. After conducting research in Akobo, Likuongole, and the area surrounding Pibor town, Small Arms Survey found evidence of linking the White Army to weapons and ammunition identical to those used by both the SPLA and prominent rebel groups in South Sudan ...
Maryland Conflict Minerals Legislation Passes House and Senate Unanimously
Maryland’s legislation addressing the use of conflict minerals from eastern Congo in electronics products breezed through an important hurdle over the weekend, passing the House of Delegates unanimously on Saturday. The State Senate passed a similar bill by a vote of 46-0 two weeks earlier, leaving only a largely procedural reconciliation process between the House and Senate bills before a final version is sent to Governor Martin O’Malley’s desk ...
In Sudan and South Sudan, Signs of Progress but also a Need for Vigilance
Within the last two weeks, signs of progress have emerged from the two Sudans. In the context of tense negotiations between Khartoum and Juba, the developments are noteworthy but should be met with cautious optimism and vigilance by the international community ...
New Senate Bill Demands Humanitarian Access to South Kordofan and Blue Nile
Following last Wednesday’s Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing at which George Clooney and John Prendergast testified about their recent trip to the Nuba Mountains, a bipartisan group of senators introduced a resolution calling on the Sudanese government and the SPLM-North to cease hostilities and find a political solution to the conflict ongoing since June 2011 ...
Why Clooney Makes a Difference: Five Questions for Bishop Andudu
The Rt. Rev. Andudu Adam Elnail, a Nuban community leader who goes by Bishop Andudu, serves as the Anglican Bishop of Kadugli, the capital of the conflict-torn region of South Kordofan, Sudan. He recently responded to questions on Clooney's capacity to focus the attention of worldwide media and senior policymakers in Washington, D.C., on the plight of the Nuba people of South Kordofan and Blue Nile who face a campaign of indiscriminate bombardment and starvation by the Sudanese government ...
Georgia Legislature Declares April Genocide Prevention and Awareness Month
The Georgia Coalition to Prevent Genocide recently scored a victory with its advocacy when the Georgia state legislature approved a resolution making April Genocide Prevention and Awareness Month. Guest blogger and activist Melanie Nelkin shares details of the event and describes what she and fellow activists have planned for the first annual month of awareness ...
Lynn Nottage: “Why did I go to Africa to collect their stories? Because I had to”
Lynn Nottage, an American playwright who is most well-known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning play Ruined, shares why she felt compelled to bring the untold stories of women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the stage ...
Graphic Novel Depicts Impact of LRA Violence in Congo
Freelance journalist David Axe and artist Tim Hamilton have teamed up to create a non-fiction graphic novel that highlights the impact of the Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the countries where the group currently operates. Their collaboration, “Army of God,” specifically depicts the crisis which the LRA has brought upon civilians living in remote areas of the northeastern provinces by highlighting the stories of individuals who have witnessed LRA violence ...
