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The Congo Advocacy Coalition, a group of 100 aid and human rights organizations, sent a letter last week to John Holmes, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, in advance of his visit to eastern Congo. Holmes is visiting internally displaced persons, or IDP, camps in North Kivu province as well as villages wracked by the recent spate of Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA, attacks in northeastern Congo. Today, Holmes called the LRA attacks “diabolical,” and vowed to “do everything he could to protect people in eastern Congo” from future attacks. The letter urges Holmes to ...

As Zimbabwe continues forming a unity government, most recently through the parliament’s passage of a constitutional amendment, the leaders of the world must carefully consider their response. While the opportunity to accept the African Union and South Africa’s invitation to applaud Zimbabwe’s leaders for a seemingly giant leap forward is tempting, there are too many lives at stake and too long a history of Mugabe’s broken promises for self-congratulation. One report from Thursday cites optimism among members of the Movement for Democratic Change, or MDC, about “the beginning of the end of Mr. Mugabe’s 29-year rule.” However, others note that ...

Out of Exile brings the crisis in Darfur and other parts of Sudan out of the policy realm and into the lives of people who never meant to carry the label "refugees." Decades of conflicts and persecution have driven millions from their homes in all parts of Sudan. Many thousands more have been enslaved as human spoils of war ...

In English, we often say, “The third time’s the charm.” In Sudan, just the opposite is true, with the local saying of “al-talta wagaa,” translating to, “The third attempt will fail.” It looks like the Government of Sudan is eager to find out which is true as it works with its proxy Chadian rebels in what will likely be the third attempt to take the Chadian capital of N’Djamena and oust Chad’s President Idriss Déby. Chad has experienced two coup attempts in the past three years. In Darfur, a Chadian rebel coalition led by Timane Erdimi, a relative of President ...

The Enough Project at the Center for American Progress and American University’s School of International Service will sponsor a discussion on the crisis in central Africa and the multimillion dollar trade in ‘conflict minerals’ that fuels the conflict with Joel and Benji Madden of the rock group Good Charlotte, along with John Prendergast, co-chair of Enough, on Wednesday, February 4, at 7pm ...

The Enough Project at the Center for American Progress and American University’s School of International Service will sponsor a discussion on the crisis in central Africa and the multimillion dollar trade in ‘conflict minerals’ that fuels the conflict with Joel and Benji Madden of the rock group Good Charlotte, along with John Prendergast, co-chair of Enough, on Wednesday, February 4, at 7 pm ...

As predicted by Enough, Chad’s rebels have not only banded together in a “unified insurgency” aimed at toppling Chad’s President, Idriss Déby; they have also elected a leader, Timan Erdimi, to lead the rebellion. Mahamat Nouri, another key rebel figure in Chad who stepped aside when his former rival Erdimi was elected last week as president of the new Union of the Resistance Forces had this to say about the new coalition: It's a big step. We agreed to create a new union. We are all capable of understanding each other to defend the general interests beyond the quarrels of ...

As previously discussed both here and at UN Dispatch, the challenges faced by United Nations peacekeeping missions remain immense. United Nations peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy recently spoke to the Security Council, issuing a plea to find a solution to the increasing gap between expectations and abilities of blue helmets around the world. While the council recently authorized a force of 5,000 for Chad, the UN peacekeeping department is still looking to fulfill the number of troops needed in other nations, like the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Top UN officials are sounding the alarm that UN missions simply will ...

The U.S. has demanded an immediate end to all violence in Darfur and a commitment to the peace process under Joint Chief Mediator Djibril Yipènè Bassolé. In a written statement issued late Tuesday, State Department acting spokesperson Robert Wood said: "The United States condemns the military activity carried out by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in North and South Darfur since January 22, as well as the incursion by the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) into Muhajaria and other areas of South Darfur, which resulted in an increase of violence over the last week." "This fighting and subsequent Government of ...

Associated Press is reporting General Laurent Nkunda, leader of the strongest rebel group in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, has been arrested. According to various reports, the feared Congolese rebel leader was apprehended Friday by a joint force of Rwandan and Congolese army troops in Rwanda. The BBC reported Nkunda crossed the border after resisting a joint Rwandan-Congolese operation to arrest him. His arrest removes one obstacle to peace but other rebel groups remain active. In recent weeks Nkunda’s once loyal troops had begun to splinter away from the flamboyant, but tyrannical leader. AP reported around 4,000 Rwandan troops ...