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5 Stories You Might Have Missed This Week

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5 Stories You Might Have Missed This Week

Posted by Laura Heaton on February 25, 2012

5 Stories You Might Have Missed This Week

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.

Author and NPR reporter Dina Temple-Raston reviews “Intel Wars: The Secret History of the Fight Against Terror,” a new book by Matthew M. Aid. Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti—the U.S. base; hub for monitoring of African hotspots like Sudan, LRA territory, and Somalia; and launch pad for many covert U.S. military missions—is a centerpiece of Aid’s exposé, which Temple-Raston calls “a highly entertaining and interesting book that provides a full-color, detailed snapshot of how the Obama administration is using intelligence to battle terrorism and that hints about how that battle is likely to be waged in the future.”

For a group of elderly men and women in Khartoum, the recent wave of student protests and arrests in Sudan are conjuring up memories of their own political activism of 1964, when the October Revolution toppled military ruler Ibrahim Abbud. Reporting from Khartoum for The New York Times, Isma’il Kushkush captured the reflections of former student leaders on the change they brought about, and got today’s young leaders talking about how the October Revolution inspires their activism in opposition to the Bashir regime.

The U.N. secretary-general’s annual report on conflict-related sexual violence this week “named and shamed” some of the military forces, militias, and other armed forces that are the worst offenders, among them the LRA and the Congolese army. In an oped for Huffington Post, U.N. Special Representative Margot Wallström commends the move, but also uses report’s release to highlight just how prevalent the problem is. “There is a lingering myth that rape is inevitable in times of war. But if sexual violence can be planned, it can be punished; if it can be commanded, it can be condemned,” she wrote.

To accompany a new report about al-Shabaab’s targeting of children for recruitment, forced marriage, and rape, Human Rights Watch released a video of testimonies about the tactics used by al-Shabaab and militias aligned with Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government to compel children to join their ranks, where they often fight on the front line.

Longtime Middle East writer and New York Times correspondent Anthony Shadid brought to light the struggles and aspirations of many oppressed communities living under some of the world’s most ruthless dictators, often venturing to scenes where risks to his own life were high but where, to him, the story demanded attention. Shadid died last week on a reporting trip to Syria. Among the scores of commemorations written about his life and work, NPR’s re-airing of a December interview with Fresh Air’s Terry Gross stands out. In his own words, we hear Shadid’s optimism about the changes underway in the region, and his sincerity and gift for storytelling are unmistakable.

To see a collection of these links and all previous 5 Stories, check out the Enough Project's 5 Stories You May Have Missed This Week Pinterest board.