Conflict Areas
Blog Series
Announcements
Archive
- February, 2012 (17)
- January, 2012 (53)
- December, 2011 (55)
- November, 2011 (69)
- October, 2011 (51)
Blog Roll
- Africa in Transition
- Africa24 Media
- Across the Aisle
- Burning Billboard
- Change.org - Human Rights
- Chris Blattman's Blog
- Condition Critical
- Congo Siasa
- From the Front Line
- Genocide Intervention Network
- Huffington Post
- ICC Observers
- IJCentral
- Impunity Watch
- In Situ
- Institute for War & Peace Reporting
- Opinio Juris
- Meskel Square
- Mia Farrow
- National Security Network Democracy Arsenal
- Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times
- Promise of Engagement
- Pulitzer Center - Untold Stories
- Resolve Uganda
- Save Darfur
- South Sudan Info
- STAND
- SudanReeves.org
- TakePart
- Think Progress
- UN Dispatch
- Voices from the Field
- Voices on Genocide Prevention
- War Crimes
- WITNESS
- Woodrow Wilson Center
- World is Witness
- Wronging Rights
Books by John Prendergast
Now the Work Begins: Following Up on Clinton’s Africa Trip
A month after Secretary Clinton’s much-watched trip to sub-Saharan Africa, she’s still receiving accolades for the no nonsense way she spoke about some of the continent’s most troubling and challenging problems, from extremism in Somalia to sexual violence in Congo. Her visits resulted in some lofty commitments from the U.S. government, so it is encouraging to see that policy makers in Washington are following up to see that the diplomatic engagement is backed up with resources.
In a statement for the Congressional Record Wednesday, Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) commended Secretary Clinton for what he called “one of the most, if not the most, ambitious trips by a Secretary of State to sub-Saharan Africa in U.S. history.” In particular, he used the opportunity to highlight Senate legislation that would tackle some of the root causes of violence in eastern Congo and neighboring countries, and called on the Obama administration to get ready to engage:
"Secretary Clinton committed to new efforts to help prevent and respond to the high levels of gender and sexual violence, while also recognizing the need to address the root causes of Congo’s crisis, including the exploitation of natural resources by armed groups. Taking action to address those underlying causes is difficult, but essential. Senators Brownback, Durbin and I have introduced legislation that would commit the United States to do more on conflict minerals, and I look forward to working with the administration in this regard. I also look forward to working with the administration to help bring an end to the increasing violence by the Lord’s Resistance Army in northeastern Congo."
As encouraging as it was to watch Secretary Clinton in action during that unprecedented trip, this kind of sustained attention from influential legislators makes one all the more optimistic about the results the attention will yield.
Photo: Secretary Clinton meets with women at the Heal Africa clinic in Goma, eastern Congo. (AP/Roberto Schmidt)
Since the FARDC (Congolese Army) soldiers are frequently adding the chaos of looting, murder and mutilating rape, in part because they are not regularly paid, we need to be predicating future aid to DR Congo on verifiable structures being put into place that ensure the Army is paid, and paid regularly, and that anyone who rapes, loots or otherwise attacks civilians is permanently expelled from the Army and barred from receiving any future wages. Soldiers who are being paid, and who have a lot to lose, will be much less likely to keep perpetrating the horrendous violence.