Special Topics

Yesterday at Senator Hillary Clinton’s secretary of state confirmation hearings, Senator Barbara Boxer of California made a strong case for the importance of making women’s issues a central element of United States foreign policy. Boxer showed photographs of Afghan women and schoolgirls who were burned in acid attacks by the Taliban. She also mentioned the work of New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof in bringing attention to the violent crimes against women in Afghanistan and to the plight of sex slaves in Cambodia. Boxer said that the awareness-building work of Kristof and others is essential because “no women or girl ...

I am sure that the lights were burning late in Khartoum, as they try to analyze the statements by Hillary on Darfur. In looking at both the written (pages 62-65) and oral testimony by Clinton, it seems clear that the administration is still puzzling through exactly how it will deal with Sudan, and the testimony was designed to leave all options on the table – which is what a good diplomat should do. I was certainly encouraged by Clinton’s blunt recognition that coming up with a means to “repel the militias” has been an important missing element to date. Obama ...

John Prendergast and I have a new report out today: Obama, Africa and Peace. We argue that President Obama has a unique chance to fundamentally transform relations with Africa – but only if his administration is willing to invest in diplomacy, peacemaking and other long-term investments with the continent. A smarter, more comprehensive approach to peacemaking is essential and would help the United States move beyond simply reacting to crises after the fact. You can listen to the podcast here ...

This morning’s confirmation hearing of Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee showed us the first window into how the new administration will approach the issue of Darfur and preventing mass atrocities in general. To quote Clinton: “There is a great need for us to sound the alarm again about Darfur. It is a terrible humanitarian crisis compounded by a corrupt and very cruel regime in Khartoum." Clinton also indicated the Obama team hoped to bolster the United Nations/African Union force and was also looking at measures including “no fly zones, other sanctions and sanctuaries” in ...

When the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court requested an arrest warrant for Sudan’s President, a lot of armchair academics in the United States predicted calamity. We argued they were wrong then; we still think they are wrong now. An important Sudanese opposition leader has just called on President Bashir to be turned over to The Hague, according to the news agency Reuters. The opposition leader, Hassan al-Turabi, is usually a hard-line figure in Sudan’s Islamist movement and used to be quite close to Bashir, before the two had a major falling out. Said Turabi of Bashir: "Politically we ...

The Enough Project announces the Not on Our Watch free, live broadcast to churches around the country that subscribe to the Church Communication Network, a nationwide satellite broadcast network. Darfur Christian Action, a campaign of the Enough Project, and the Church Communication Network (CCN) will present this special live broadcast Sunday evening, March 29, 2009, featuring Enough Project Co-chair John Prendergast and Reverend Michael Slaughter, Ginghamsburg Church. The Not on Our Watch Broadcast is free to sites with CCN satellite dishes! If your church does not have CCN satellite equipment, find out how you can bring event to your church ...

Julia Spiegel, Enough’s field consultant who resides in Uganda, was there for the recent military campaign against the rebel group, the Lord’s Resistance Army, in the forested border region of Congo known as Garamba. Julia has recounted her experiences and analyzed the policy situation in a blogginheads.tv video dialogue, known as a “diavlog”, with UN Dispatch blogger Mark Leon Goldberg. Blogginheads pioneered the diavlog format, which the Huffington Post has termed a “lovably wonky political webcam-debate blog.” ...

The intrepid Lydia Polgreen writes in today’s New York Times about the growing fissure within the most important Tutsi rebel group in Congo, the CNDP. The split is between General Laurent Nkunda and Jean Bosco Ntaganda, who goes by the nom de guerre of The Terminator. No good guys to root for in this tug of war. Nkunda has repeatedly threatened to march his forces all the way to Kinshasa, and Ntaganda is wanted by the International Criminal Court. The split would seem to make peace talks even more difficult, and the dust has far from settled. I would be ...

Three papers—the Washington Times, South Africa’s Business Day, and the Sydney Morning Herald—feature op-eds on the same theme: President-elect Barack Obama’s personal connection to Africa, and the enormous opportunity the Obama administration will have to dramatically redefine U.S. relations with the continent. In the Washington Times op-ed, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade had stirring words on the potential for a new relationship between the U.S. and Africa: Thus, your looming presidency has helped resurrect the American Dream on our continent as an African dream. Africans everywhere have gained renewed confidence in themselves and the capacity of their nations to change. And ...

The Council on Foreign Relations can be a fantastic source of insight and analysis (such as Anthony Gambino’s recent report on Congo). But the results of their September 2008 survey of CFR’s staff on their preventive priorities suggest that Africa remains a distant afterthought for most members of that august institution. Although Sudan and Congo topped the list of conflicts “likely to bring severe, large-scale costs to civilian populations,” not a single conflict in Africa made their list of wars with the greatest potential impact on U.S. interests. This is rather remarkable given continent’s pivotal role as a source of ...