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.
In The Atlantic, Bec Hamilton digs further into former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell’s decision to use the “genocide” designation to describe events in Darfur, this time with the aid of a recently declassified legal memorandum written by Powell’s legal advisor on the issue at the time.
With Congo’s election slated to take place in a few short months, Congolese and international experts in this VOA piece are questioning whether the country is logistically prepared for the polls, and warning of the potential for electoral violence to break out.
Reporters at The New York Times examine the Obama administration’s use of private contractors and other third parties to turn the tide against al-Shabaab in Somalia. The article profiles private U.S. security company Bancroft Global Development, credited by many interviewees for improving the skills of African Union troops, and the recipient of seven million dollars of U.S government money since 2010.
This photo slideshow from Foreign Policy chronicles events in Somalia in the last two decades that have captured the world’s attention, casting a look backwards to offer context for the continuing conflict and famine that plagues Somalia today. In the introductory paragraph, FP writes:
The Horn of Africa's archetypal failed state has suffered the signature geopolitical ill of every decade for half a century: post-colonial trauma and a coup in the 1960s, Cold War proxy conflict and military rule in the 1970s, famine in the 1980s, interminable civil war in the 1990s, Islamist terrorism and piracy in the 2000s.
The death of “kingmaker” Solomon Mujuru, one of the most influential behind-the-scenes power brokers in Zimbabwe’s political and military circles, may, according to the BBC’s obituary for Mujuru, shake things up in President Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party.