Laura Heaton's blog

A weekly round-up of must-read stories, posted every Friday.  Read More »

Good intentions alone are no match for regimes and their security agents bent on silencing dissent. For protesters on the ground in a country in turmoil and for activists overseas utilizing crisis mapping and social media to raise attention to their plight, the novelty of the technology and the creativity it enables has the potential to overshadow the harm that could be done if sensitive information gets into the wrong hands.  Read More »

A weekly round-up of must-read stories, posted every Friday.  Read More »

With conflict flaring in several regions of Sudan and a political showdown with South Sudan over oil threatening to spur an even more severe economic downturn, is Sudan’s Arab Spring in the making?

Without a broader movement to back them up, the young activists who are mobilizing in the streets and on campuses face serious risks, without knowing if their sacrifices will spark the changes they seek. Girifna, one group at the forefront of the pro-democracy movement, has seen all too clearly the perils of challenging the status quo and contending with Sudan’s nefarious intelligence and security apparatus, known as NISS.  Read More »

A weekly round-up of must-read stories, posted every Friday (or on occasion, on Saturday).  Read More »

Curious to see and hear the analysts working on Enough’s policy on South Sudan and Sudan? CNN and Al Jazeera recently featured Jenn Christian and Amanda Hsiao, two of Enough’s Sudan researchers, in prominent news broadcasts.  Read More »

Did the U.N. mission in South Sudan muster all its resources to protect civilians caught up in violence in restive Jonglei state? Certainly some media reports have suggested that the civilian deaths in the midst of ongoing clashes between the Murle and the Lou Nuer have demonstrated the ineffectiveness of U.N. peacekeeping. Hilde F. Johnson, head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission, or UNMISS, sought to correct this perception and counter the scale of the killing in an oped that appeared on The New York Times website and in The International Herald Tribune.  Read More »

With attention focused on the tense Sudan-South Sudan talks in Addis Ababa this week, media coverage only paused for a moment to recognize yet another aerial bombardment of a refugee site in South Sudan.  Read More »

Judges at the International Criminal Court confirmed charges against four prominent Kenyans wanted on allegations they orchestrated violence that left an estimated 1,200 people dead after the late 2007 elections. The decision marked the “first solid step” in pursuit of justice for the victims and a crucial move in deterring violence ahead of upcoming presidential elections, said an advocate in the Kenyan capital.  Read More »

A weekly round-up of must-read stories, posted every Friday (or on occasion, on Saturday).  Read More »