Here at Enough, we often swap emails with interesting articles and feature stories that we come across in our favorite publications and on our favorite websites. We wanted to share some of these stories with you as part of our effort to keep you up to date on what you need to know in the world of anti-genocide and crimes against humanity work.
Congo specialist Jason Stearns explains the elements, merits, and key unknowns of the framework agreement, or “11+1 agreement,” put forth by the United Nations as the basis for ending conflict in the Kivus and instituting crucial countrywide reforms in Congo. The effort seems to be the most serious attempt at peace since the last U.N.-back talks ended in 2006, but will it overcome the “backdoor deals, opacity, and lack of follow-up” characteristic of the “many mini-peace processes since then”?
Kenya held its first-ever presidential debate this week, televised and broadcast on the radio to millions of voters, ahead of the March 4 election. One of the most contentious and highly anticipated topics was the upcoming trial of Uhuru Kenyatta, one of the frontrunners who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the last election. The Reporting Kenya website highlighted two video clips from the debate in which the candidates spar about the impact of the ICC cases.
U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan and South Sudan Princeton Lyman wrote an op-ed for The Sudan Tribune about the crucial role women should play in governance and peace building efforts within their countries and between the former civil war foes. Lyman wrote:
The conflicts in and between the two countries have had a disproportionate impact on the lives of women, and we believe that any resulting peace agreements need to be more inclusive of female participation and more effective in taking into account gender issues.
Sudanese writer Abdul Aziz Barka Sakin has had numerous confrontations with the Sudanese security organs in his years writing novels both while living in Sudan and in exile. Girifna interviewed Sakin about his work and published a Q+A that reveals the lengths to which he has gone to pursue his passion and to distribute his writing to readers.
The “I Dream of Congo” exhibit opens this week at Conway Hall in London and features photographs and writing from renowned artists and authors celebrating the optimism and resilience apparent in the region, in spite of years of conflict. Also on display are photographs and journals by women from Women for Women International’s network in Bukavu, who spent a week in December documenting their daily lives.