TIME Op-ed: How to Stabilize the Central African Republic
Think the ultimate victor in the U.S. presidential race faces a tough task? The effort to unite a divided America pales in comparison to what lies ahead for Faustin Archange Touadéra, a mathematics professor by tradewho was elected president of the Central African Republic (CAR) last week. Touadéra received a strong mandate from the population, capturing 63% of the votes. The nation’s troubles are, however, far from over, and his immense to-do list might scare many heads of state into early retirement ...
St. Louis Post-Dispatch Op-ed: Voices for War and Peace in South Sudan
Alice (not her real name) was living in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, when war erupted in December 2013. As soldiers went from house to house shooting anyone they found, she witnessed the killing of seven of her relatives and her pastor. Her pastor had been gathering people together to try to protect them. But when the soldiers found him, they shot him and poured beer on him ...
Sudan Tribune Op-ed: Flour Power: Bread Crisis, a Cash Crunch, and Sudan’s Shrinking Private Sector
As economists and analysts keep their eyes on Sudan’s growing hard currency shortage and the falling value of the Sudanese pound against the U.S. dollar, many Sudanese consumers have been watching the price and availability of bread in local bakeries and the outcome of a dispute between a major flour supplier and the Sudanese government ...
Daily Beast Op-ed: From FIFA to Sudan, Let’s Make the World Unsafe for Kleptocracy
The U.S. Department of Justice has gone after the soccer federation and the government of Sudan with many of the same tools. It needs to keep ratcheting up the pressure ...
Sudan Tribune Op-ed: Sudan’s National “Monologue”
On October 10, Sudan President Omar al-Bashir launched a purported National Dialogue in Khartoum, nearly two years after he had first announced his intention to hold a forum to resolve the country’s numerous social, economic, and political issues. In the intervening period, Bashir and the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) handpicked participants, naming a congregation of mostly minor splinter parties, perhaps upward of 100 parties in all. Bashir and his ruling party determined the National Dialogue agenda unilaterally, setting up a 7+7 steering committee of seven parties allied with the government and seven opposition parties. Bashir also gave himself the ...
Foreign Policy Op-ed: The Imperfect Trial of Congo’s ‘Terminator’
As Bosco Ntaganda faces charges of war crimes at the Hague, those watching from Congo debate what comes next for their country ...
The Hill Op-ed: Time for the Senate to Confirm Gayle Smith
In this The Hill op-ed, Enough Project Founding Director John Prendergast urges the Senate to confirm Gayle Smith's nomination as USAID administrator ...
The Daily Beast Op-ed: Saving South Sudan From Kleptocracy
South Sudan’s belligerents have signed a peace deal, but it is far from certain that the brutal 20-month civil war is over. If the next steps the parties take are simply to restore the status quo that existed before the war’s eruption, the odds are wildly in favor of a return to deadly conflict. However, if the implementation of the agreement is seen as a chance to restart the construction of a viable state in the world’s newest country, dismantling the violent kleptocracy that it’s become since independence in 2011, then South Sudan has a chance for peace ...
Foreign Policy Op-ed: How to Destroy a War Economy
This op-ed originally appeared in Foreign Policy and was written by Enough Project Founding Director John Prendergast. He writes that to end the conflicts plaguing Africa, the United States needs to follow the money being made off of them — and stop it ...
Daily Beast Op-Ed: How Obama Can Stop South Sudan’s War
In this Daily Beast Op-Ed written by John Prendergast and Akshaya Kumar, sheds light on the opportunities presented during the President’s trip to Africa and immediately thereafter to press strongly for real consequences on financiers and architects of violence to support an end to the culture of impunity in South Sudan ...