Enough Said

GOMA, North Kivu Province, Congo -- North Kivu province is split into two administrative regions. The Petit Nord in the south and the Grand Nord in the north. Most of the violence that you read about in North Kivu happens in the Petit Nord, where the poorly integrated Congolese army, the FDLR, and other militias prey upon civilians. I traveled recently to Grand Nord—to a town called Beni near the Ugandan border—to better understand the security situation there and the threats facing civilians.

Since the formal end of the regional war that ripped through eastern Congo from 1998 to 2002, Beni has been hit by bouts of violence, but has avoided the chronic instability that plagues areas farther south. Although the security situation in Beni is relatively calm, armed groups there do create instability which leads to abuses against civilians. A Ugandan rebel group called ADF-NALU is a particular concern.

ADF-NALU is actually a pair of Ugandan rebel groups that have been in the Grand Nord since the late 1980s: the Allied Democratic Forces and the National Army for the Liberation of Uganda. Although incapable of anything more than sporadic small attacks inside Uganda, the presence of ADF-NALU has served to justify frequent Ugandan military intervention in eastern Congo. As recently as December 2009, between 550 and 600 Ugandan soldiers entered Congolese territory to, according to Uganda, conduct operations against ADF-NALU. However, there was no confrontation between the Ugandan army and the rebels, and many locals suspected a hidden agenda.

The Ugandan Army systematically looted eastern Congo during the war and sponsored some of the nastiest militias in an already brutal war. Unsurprisingly, many locals remain deeply suspicious of Uganda. Meanwhile, the 1000 or so ADF-NALU rebels—half of them Congolese—are more interested in protecting their commercial interests in eastern Congo than anything else. Removing the ADF-NALU would remove a pretext for Ugandan intervention (though, of course, the Lord’s Resistance Army is still present farther north) and increase stability here. The United Nations peacekeeping force in Congo has been supporting talks between the Ugandan government and the rebels, and the United States and others should support that process.

Operation Amani Leo, the Congolese government’s latest military operation against Rwandan FDLR rebels and other militias operating in North and South Kivu, has not affected Beni as much as other areas. However, the FDLR are moving northwards as they are pushed out of their strongholds in Petit Nord. An influx of FDLR and the deployment of more Congolese forces to Beni would be a disaster for the local population. Congolese forces stationed in Beni already commit abuses against civilians, and United Nations peacekeepers there should be working with the Congolese army to reduce abuses and prioritize civilian protection.

Technorati Tags: Eastern Congo

An interesting piece on Bloomberg today featured U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan Scott Gration discussing the ongoing Darfur peace talks in the context of upcoming national elections scheduled for April. As Gration put it, “We have this little window where we really need to get the framework solidified,” said Gration.

Gration is correct that the national election will demand a great deal of time and attention from both the international community and the Sudanese government, and that there are “going to be a lot of things that are keeping us from focusing on Darfur.” Key international actors will also be increasingly eager to put Darfur on a back burner as we get closer to the independence referendum for South Sudan in January 2011.

Yet previous attempts to reach a peace deal for Darfur suggest that the most important thing is to strike a comprehensive peace agreement that can be practically implemented and effectively monitored. This remains a far more important over-arching goal than trying to shoe horn in an agreement before the April election or trying to throw a quick deal together that will not stand the test of time. A lasting peace for Darfur involves lots of complicated issues: refugee and displaced returns, compensation for victims; accountability, what to do with rebel weapons and government militias, power-sharing, and more. It is important to remember that at the end of the day, elections are part of the peace process – not the other way around.

We hope to have some more insights into the ongoing talks between the government of Sudan and the Justice and Equality Movement in the next several days, so stay tuned.

Technorati Tags: Advocacy Darfur and Southern Sudan Genocide Peace

After 262 hours protesting on the streets of Oklahoma City, activists focused on ending the senseless violence perpetrated by the Lord’s Resistance Army claimed a victory yesterday when Senator Coburn (R-OK) signaled he would remove his hold on a popular, bipartisan bill.

The Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act of 2009 (S. 1067) calls on the Obama administration to devise a strategy for addressing the 24-year insurgency led by Joseph Kony, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The legislation also request that a modest amount of funding be allocated to rehabilitating child soldiers from the LRA ranks and rebuilding communities in northern Uganda. Senator Coburn, who has made it his policy to oppose legislation that raises the national deficit, objected to this final piece, which amounted to $40 million (the equivalent of 25 cents per U.S. taxpayer).

Senator Coburn spoke to activists and Resolve Uganda yesterday afternoon to formalize a compromise proposed by two of the bill’s leading co-sponsors, Senator Feingold (D-WI) and Senator Inhofe (R-OK).

In Capitol Hill-speak, the bill’s authorization of appropriations was replaced with Sense of Congress language, which basically conveys the message to the Senate Appropriations committee that the Senate strongly recommends allocating the requested funding. While this written request doesn’t bind the Appropriations Committee to provide the funds, backing from the bill’s 64 co-sponsors (more than any other piece of legislation on sub-Saharan Africa since 1973) makes the priority clear.

The bill will now be sent to the Senate floor for final passage, so barring any unforeseen objections from other senators, expect another victory for the anti-LRA movement in the next day or two.

The Hold Out campaign in Oklahoma City, led by Resolve Uganda and Invisible Children, lasted 11 days, generating lots of local news coverage and thousands of phone calls to the senator’s office. Check out the local news coverage of the victory:
 

Technorati Tags: Advocacy Darfur and Southern Sudan Eastern Congo Northern Uganda Prevention Protection Punishment War Crimes

JUBA, Southern Sudan—East African leaders from seven nations convened in Nairobi, Kenya this week at an extraordinary summit of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, or IGAD, to focus on the challenges facing Sudan in the coming months, including implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and Sudan’s nationwide elections, set to occur next month.

Sudanese civil society activists and opposition politicians have protested the lack of freedom in the electoral process, neighboring governments (namely Eritrea and Egypt) have called for postponement of the polls, and international advocacy groups have declared nearly uniformly that the current political and security climate in Sudan cannot and will not permit free and fair elections. The IGAD summit is a crucial indicator of where Sudan’s neighbors stand, and yesterday’s statements shed light on the position of southern Sudan in the tense run-up to the polls.

Salva Kiir, president of the Government of Southern Sudan and first vice president of the Republic of Sudan, was unequivocal:

The people of southern Sudan attach more importance to the referendum than the elections. For them the right of self-determination is one of their biggest political achievements in the CPA and they will defend it at any cost.

President Kiir also sought to de-link the two major political processes set to occur in the next 10 months: “The conduct of the elections is not a pre-requisite to the conduct of the referendum,” he told the IGAD members.

IGAD has not held a meeting on Sudan since the CPA—which IGAD helped negotiate—was signed in 2005. For this reason, it may be too late for the regional body to seriously assist the Sudanese parties in efforts to make good on the promise of the CPA; it’s an understatement to say that the “democratic transformation of Sudan” called for in the CPA cannot happen overnight. The process needed to start immediately following the signing of the CPA, and yet regional attention and support for the agreement is only coming together at the eleventh hour. The event envisioned as a key exercise in the democratization process is now occurring—after two lengthy delays—in the shadow of the southern referendum, which, as the South’s leader declared yesterday, is undoubtedly the main event for one of the two Sudanese parties to the CPA.

Meanwhile, U.S. Special Envoy Scott Gration noted in an AP interview from Nairobi that while Sudan’s elections won’t be perfect, they “could still ‘reflect the will of the people.’”

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The United Nations Mission in the Congo, known by its French acronym MONUC, is once again facing public criticism. An article in today’s Washington Post shows how MONUC’s support for the Congolese army’s operations against rebel groups in eastern Congo continues to support some of the army’s most abusive commanders.

The U.N. faced withering criticism last year for its support role in operation Kimia II, which led to more than 1,000 civilians killed and 900,000 displaced. Pressure from human rights groups and activists was instrumental in forcing the U.N. to include greater safeguards to prevent support for abusive units.

As of this past November, senior MONUC officials, including its head Alan Doss, have been adamant that they are doing their due diligence in hand-picking which Congolese army commanders to support and blacklisting those responsible for attacks on civilians. But as the stark testimonies in today’s article by the Post’s Stephanie McCrummen reveal, things are not exactly going according to plan.

McCrummen follows the story of a Congolese army lieutenant colonel named Innocent Zimurinda. In October, Zimurinda’s name appeared on a list of problematic army commanders (beginning on page 276) compiled by the U.N. group of experts, tying him to massacres, executions, gang rapes, and recruitment of child soldiers. Yet, according to Zimurinda and his officers, U.N. support continued through December and January. “Anytime we ask [MONUC] to supply us, they supply,” one of Zimurinda’s officers told McCrummen.

A MONUC spokesman acknowledged that while the U.N.’s support to Zimurinda officially ended in November, provisions “in the pipeline” may have continued to flow to his units while the U.N. sorted out legal issues related to the case. In a rare interview with the Washington Post, Zimurinda commented on his ties to MONUC: "We cannot say we are happy with the level of support,” he said. “But anyway, we want to say 'thank you' to the U.N."

The support to Zimurinda is occurring within the context of operation Amani Leo, the new name for joint Congolese/United Nations military operations against the rebel group Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, or FDLR. According to MONUC, Amani Leo (Swahili for “peace today”) puts much greater emphasis on civilian protection than the maligned Kimia II. Yet despite the rebranding, little change has been seen on the ground. Military operations supported by the U.N. continue to endanger civilian lives and FARDC commanders, like Zimurinda, with known abuses in the past continue to operate.

Last week, 50 Congolese human rights and civil society organizations and Human Rights Watch logged a complaint about Colonel Zimurinda with General Amuli Bahigwa, the top ranking Congolese army commander for operations in the eastern region. The four-page complaint detailed abuses committed by troops under Zimurinda’s command since 2007 and called for an immediate investigation into the allegations. Responding to a question in a press conference last week, likely spurred on by the organizations’ complaint, Under-Secretary for Peacekeeping Operations Alain Le Roy said:

“We have made clear to the Congolese Government officials…that MONUC does not support units with which Mr. Zimulinda is involved; in the same manner, Mr. Bosco Ntanganda [sic] is not in the chain of command of operations we support.”

Amid the many questions raised in McCrummen’s piece today – in particular, Zimurinda’s evasion of a question about backing from Rwanda raises red flags – what’s clear is that a thorough investigation into Zimurinda’s ties is overdue. The U.N. Group of Experts already laid the foundation; it shouldn’t require being called out by the Washington Post to motivate Congolese authorities to follow up.

Photo: Mugunga camp in North Kivu province (Enough/Laura Heaton)

Technorati Tags: Conflict Minerals Eastern Congo Prevention Protection Punishment Sexual Violence United Nations Violence Against Women War Crimes

Across 18 countries, at 103 events, women and men gathered to commemorate International Women’s Day yesterday as part of the Join Me on the Bridge global event sponsored by Women for Women International. Enough’s RAISE Hope for Congo campaign partnered with Women for Women International for the Washington, D.C. event.

We met yesterday at noon at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial and marched across the Memorial Bridge toward the Lincoln Memorial. With bright blue sky as a backdrop, participants held high their posters and banners calling for “Equal Rights Now” and “End Rape Against Congo Women.” Among the more than 100 people who turned out, the crowd included students from local universities, women who sponsor survivors through Women for Women International’s Congo network, and a group of Congolese women from Belgium who are visiting D.C. (they've launched their own advocacy organization, Collectif des Femmes Congolaises pour la Paix et la Justice). I spoke to a woman from Iraq who recently resettled in the United States and is looking for ways to stay connected to women at home. An inspiring young woman from Washington, D.C., told me about her own experience with domestic violence. “If we don’t take action, if I don’t take action, the perpetrators win,” she said.

In Rwanda, Congo, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, and New York City, similar conversations were undoubtedly taking place between participants connected by their shared passion to help end global violence against women. Now the key is for all of us to spread the word.

Throughout the month of March, Enough’s RAISE Hope for Congo campaign is coordinating its own activities and highlighting other ways to get involved in the movement through partner organizations. Visit our International Women’s Day special page for details.

Technorati Tags: Advocacy Darfur and Southern Sudan Eastern Congo Prevention Violence Against Women

The weather isn’t the only thing heating up in Washington. The Conflict Minerals Trade Act, or H.R. 4128, continues to gain support as another six representatives recently signed on.

Rep Bobby L. Rush (D-IL)
Rep Lloyd Doggett (D-TX)
Rep Mike Capuano (D-MA)
Rep Sam Farr (D-CA)
Rep David Price (D-NC)

Introduced by Congressmen Jim McDermott (D-WA) and Frank Wolf (R-VA), H.R. 4128 would create a system of audits and import declarations that would help stop the import of conflict minerals or goods with conflict minerals into the United States.

Because these minerals are financing the world’s deadliest conflict since World War II, this legislation offers activists a unique approach to stemming the rape, torture, and murder rampant in eastern Congo. You can take action today by calling the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and urging your member to support the Conflict Minerals Trade Act, or H.R. 4128.

To learn more about the multi-million dollar minerals trade in Congo, which all of us as electronics users help perpetuate, and find out more about actions you can take, visit our conflict minerals special page.

Technorati Tags: Advocacy Conflict Minerals Eastern Congo Prevention Sexual Violence Violence Against Women

UPDATE: A large, energetic crowd turned out today for Washington, D.C.'s Join Me on the Bridge event. All over the world, women and men commemorated International Women's Day by gathering on bridges to send the message that we must join together and work collectively to end global violence against women. Here are some photos from our event on D.C.'s Memorial Bridge, with more to come tomorrow.

9:30 a.m. -- It’s a beautiful morning in Washington, D.C., with temperatures predicted to be near 60˚ by the time we gather on Memorial Bridge to celebrate International Women’s Day today at noon. Join Me on the Bridge is a global event organized by Women for Women International to honor the resilience of millions of women survivors of war around the world.

Enough’s RAISE Hope for Congo campaign teamed up with Women for Women International to host the D.C. event, which will highlight the victories and the challenges women face in Congo. Featured speakers will include:

Sylvie Maunga Mbanga, Congolese human rights lawyer
Jimmie Briggs, Executive Director, Man Up Campaign: Stop Violence Against Women 
Candice Knezevic, RAISE Hope for Congo Campaign Manager, Enough Project
Andrée Simon, President and COO, Women for Women International
Seema Jalan, Director of Global Development Policy, Women Thrive Worldwide

We’ll meet at noon at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial at the end of Memorial Drive on the Virginia side of the bridge (Click here for a map and more details.) The closest metro stop is Arlington Cemetery on the blue line. We will walk across the Memorial Bridge to the Watergate Steps at the base of the Lincoln Memorial, where our speakers will provide remarks. The event should finish around 1:30.

Please come and walk in solidarity with women around the world. If there isn’t a Bridge event taking place near you, here are some ideas of other ways to commemorate International Women’s Day. We’ll update this space this afternoon with photos from the event.

Technorati Tags: Advocacy Conflict Minerals Darfur and Southern Sudan Eastern Congo Peace Prevention Sexual Violence Violence Against Women

Water is life. This is a common adage in many African societies, particularly among those groups (such as the Tuaregs of the West African Sahel) for whom access to water is extremely difficult. From my experiences in East and West Africa, I’ve found that another phrase also holds true in many places: “politics is life.” As a current resident of Juba, the capital of southern Sudan, I have noticed that politics infiltrates many aspects of life, and that my own enjoyment of “talking politics” is shared by many fellow Juba residents, from elderly men reading newspapers to younger men arguing over a game of cards at a neighborhood bar. (Sudanese women tend to be less often seen discussing politics in public).

Although I can’t claim to understand many of the boisterous conversations I overhear in local languages such as Dinka and Bari and in “Juba Arabic” –  the lingua franca of Juba’s melting pot population from North and South Sudan and many other East African countries –  I do imagine that many of them revolve around the latest political hot topics in Sudan, such as the issue of “independent candidates” contesting in elections in the South.

Politics is life in Juba, because politics is inextricably linked to the fate of southern Sudan – which will be determined, its people hope, in a free and fair self-determination referendum in January 2011. Politics in Sudan is unpredictable, which is why tensions surrounding political exercises such as the April elections and next year’s southern referendum have the potential to ignite into violence before, during, or after these key milestones called for in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that in 2005 brought to a close the bloody civil war between North and South.

As the campaign season heats up, I’ve been asking fellow Juba residents over the past week how they feel about the elections and the politicians competing for their votes. What follows is my own highly unscientific sampling of popular opinion, based on conversations with friends, strangers, and people I happen to be interviewing for my ongoing elections-related research:

“Yes, the campaigning is there but look at it…It is just about telling people, ‘do this, do that,’ not consulting with them.”

“Vision and Mission [the slogan of Salva Kiir, incumbent candidate for the Government of Southern Sudan presidency]…what does this mean? I am not convinced.”

“Freedom means what? It means choosing. That is what the southern Sudanese have the right to do.”

“Yassir [Arman, SPLM candidate for the national presidency] is not experienced enough. I don’t think he can be president of Sudan.”

“SPLM [the ruling party in the South] has a very arrogant culture. These leaders are not living in the reality of this situation today. Things have changed [since the war].” 

“‘New Sudan,’ it failed. It means what?”

“I am more optimistic than I used to be. People are calm, also they are accepting the mistakes of their politicians [in the South]…but maybe this is because [other politicians] want to avoid the blame for their own mistakes.”

"I think Omar needs to continue [as President of Sudan] until we [the South] leave them [the North] in 2011. The politics of that one of the SPLM [Yassir Arman] are confusing."

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Arrests and intimidation of civil society leaders in both North and South Sudan last week underscored the continued stifling of opposition and civil society groups during the country’s crucial campaigning stage, with a little over a month left before elections.

Southern security personnel raided two radio stations in Juba on Wednesday, threatening and arresting the general manager of Liberty FM and director of Bakhita, a Catholic radio station. According to a Reuters interview, the armed men who entered the premises of Liberty FM said they were South Sudanese police. One station manager who was taken to a police station was told: “You are producing bad programs that bring hatred of the people.” The station manager said Liberty FM had aired an interview with an independent candidate running for the governor seat in Central Equatoria state.

The raid on Bakhita Radio led to a strongly-worded response from the Catholic Archdiocese of Juba which condemned the act: “The Catholic Church and Bakhita Radio have no political affiliation and take no sides with any political party. We will not accept church personnel and institutions to be treated as criminals.”

The Association for Media Development in South Sudan says the harassment is indicative of a structural problem in the South’s campaign environment—the lack of media laws in place. The press release said:

As we speak, the draft South Sudan Media Laws are still sitting in the Southern Sudan Assembly awaiting enactment. Meanwhile, we conduct elections campaigns in an environment where the media is still playing a game of football without clear rules, a Russian Roulette game where journalists have no idea which opinion expressed contains the next bullet, worse still for not knowing from whom in particular the whistle is coming.

Similar practices are taking place in the North, where new rules recently published by the elections commission have created a highly restrictive environment for campaigning by opposition parties. One new rule requires parties to give 72 hours notice for rallies held even within party premises.

On Thursday, security forces broke up a voter education campaign in Khartoum held by civil society group Girifna. According to the Africa Center for Justice and Peace Studies, three members of the organization were arrested and charged for “public noisiness.” The day before, Sudanese state radio blocked Umma party presidential candidate Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi from airing his 20-minute radio broadcast because of points in his speech that were seen as “inciting prejudices and hatred against the state,” including a reference to incumbent president Omar al-Bashir’s ICC arrest warrant.

With so many instances of political oppression, it’s hard to be optimistic about the prospect for free and fair elections in Sudan. One clear first step is for government to enact equitable electoral legislation that will help create an environment in which opposition politics can survive. In the final weeks before polling begins, U.S. and E.U. monitors must also ensure that they are not simply assessing the elections themselves, but evaluating whether the larger human and political rights context is in place for elections to even have a chance.

Technorati Tags: Darfur and Southern Sudan Peace Prevention Protection Sudan Now