‘Ruined’ Play Brings Glimpse of Congo to D.C.
Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Ruined” has been traveling the country in recent months and has arrived at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. At Enough, we have long promoted the play and worked with Nottage and the New York cast to bring a staged reading to the Kennedy Center in 2009. We are thrilled that a full production has now opened in Washington, so that audiences here – with a concentration of policy makers and influentials – can be moved by the story ...
Rise of Militias: A South Sudan Civil War in the Making?
With less than 70 days left until southerners hoist a new national flag, the optimism in South Sudan of heralding a new beginning has been beset with the perennial problem of armed non-state actors. In Unity state, dealing with the cyclical violence since the April elections last year has become particularly foreboding for the southern government ...
New Country in the Making: Building a Map for South Sudan
Google Maps – the great site that many people use to find directions to the nearest sushi restaurant, or navigate the shortest route to grandma’s house –is becoming more global by the day. One largely under-mapped region, South Sudan, got a big boost thanks to Google’s map-a-thon on Thursday. The event, held jointly at the World Bank in Washington and at Google in Nairobi, brought together map makers with the technological know-how and Sudanese diaspora with knowledge of the local terrain. The end result was a refined, more detailed map that is approaching the most accurate map ever created of ...
South Sudan Draft Constitution Leaves Opposition Wanting More
Earlier this week, a draft of South Sudan’s transitional constitution was made public and submitted to South Sudan President Salva Kiir for his review. Once finalized, the document will serve as the guiding legal document for the new republic during its critical transitional phase. The contents of the draft, amended by an SPLM-dominated committee, have left some opposition members angry; one leader called the document a “dictatorial” move by the SPLM to maintain its monopoly on power ...
Rwanda’s Gambit to Ban Congo Conflict Minerals
The primary takeaway from Rwanda’s recent announcement that it would ban the sale of Congo conflict minerals is that since the international push for mineral certification has picked up momentum, Rwanda has been angling to paint itself as the source for conflict-free minerals in the region despite its unwillingness or inability to stop the flow of Congolese minerals across its borders ...
500 Turn Out for First Bay Area Walk Against Genocide
Two survivors of The Shoah. Survivors and descendants of victims and survivors of genocides and mass atrocities in Burma, Cambodia, Congo, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, and Sudan. Individuals usually referred to as "ordinary" citizens of diverse ethnic, socioeconomic, faith and age groups in northern California. The oldest was 90 years and the youngest was seven months of age. Some walked from their local neighborhoods; others drove hundreds of miles. All came together earlier this month for the first annual Bay Area Walk Against Genocide ...
Congo’s Murhabazi Namegabe Awarded Children’s Rights Prize
Children around the world recently had the opportunity to vote for their favorite child hero for 2011. After a “Global Vote” of 3.2 million children, Murhabazi Namegabe of the Democratic Republic of the Congo was announced as the winner of the 2011 World's Children's Prize for the Rights of the Child “for his dangerous struggle to free children forced to be child soldiers or sex slaves.” He will be presented with the award today in Sweden ...
Certifying Conflict-free Minerals in Congo: How It Could Work
In Enough’s recent reporting from Walikale, a remote, minerals rich area of eastern Congo, we’ve noted in no uncertain terms that the humanitarian, security, and economic situation there is precarious. A decade after large mineral deposits were found in the region, livelihoods have become inextricably intertwined with mining, but the benefits of Walikale’s minerals fail to trickle down to the local population. One of the most promising initiatives for formalizing the mining industry is the establishment of centres de negoce, or trading centers ...
Civil Society Groups Back Mixed Court in Congo
Impunity has plagued the Democratic Republic of Congo for decades, particularly in the east. Citizens and government officials have recently taken action to address the lack of justice for human rights violations committed in the Congo since 1990, including specific abuses described in the 2010 U.N. Mapping Report. Representatives of Congolese civil society organizations from all 10 provinces and Kinshasa, international civil society organizations, government officials, and diplomats, hosted by Human Rights Watch and the Congolese Coalition for Transitional Justice, met in Goma earlier this month to discuss the creation of a mixed court system ...
Congo’s Conflict Minerals: The Next Blood Diamonds
In a piece published today on the homepage of The Huffington Post, actor Ryan Gosling and I share some insights on the conflict in eastern Congo that we heard from survivors of sexual violence and in camps for displaced people. Ryan made this video, "Raise Hope for Congo," with footage shot during our recent trip ...
