Voice of America

VOA's co-host Vincent Makori talks to Sasha Lezhnev, Executive Director of the Grassroots Reconciliation Group and co-author of the Enough Project paper on Congo's minerals. Sasha explains how the minerals are fueling conflicts in the region. He also gives the web link to address the problem at: http://www.raisehopeforcongo.org.

Watch here

The Obama administration, capping a months-long review process, Monday announced a new strategy of incentives and possible punitive actions to restore peace in Darfur and assure implementation of Sudan's north-south peace accord. Key benchmarks in the Sudanese peace process are approaching including national elections there next April.

The new policy approach was announced by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who cited a sense of urgency, and collective agreement within the Obama administration, on how to bring peace to Darfur and salvage Sudan's troubled Comprehensive Peace Accord, the CPA.

Continue reading here.

The Obama administration has announced a new strategy of incentives and possible punitive actions to restore peace in Darfur and assure implementation of Sudan's north-south peace accord. Key benchmarks in the Sudanese peace process are approaching, including national elections next April.

Watch here.

On the second day of her official trip to Africa, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Somali President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed in Nairobi, Kenya to express U.S. solidarity and support for the besieged transitional government in Mogadishu.

In their first face-to-face meeting, Secretary Clinton and President Sharif met behind closed doors for more than two hours at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi.

Keep reading.

As committees in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives prepare to hold hearings this week on U.S. policy toward Sudan, a newly released strategy paper argues that conflict resolution efforts in Chad are essential to achieving an end to the Sudan crisis.

In its findings, the Enough Project says there has to be a strategy to deal with Chad’s authoritarian governance and state weakness that it indicates have kept the country and the region unstable. Enough Project policy adviser Omer Ismail says that without an end to the constant cross-border volley of attacks against each others' regimes, a durable, comprehensive peace for the region cannot be achieved.

Continue reading here.

To listen to the MP3, click here.

An important ruling is expected Wednesday on a disputed border region in Sudan.  The ruling from the Abyei Arbitration Tribunal could determine the boundaries of the oil-rich Abyei region and directly affect the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).  The CPA ended a long civil war between northern and southern Sudan.

Monday, the ENOUGH Project issued a new strategy paper on Abyei.  Colin Thomas-Jensen, policy advisor and co-author of the paper, spoke to VOA about why he considers Abyei the next big test for Sudan.

Keep reading.

Members of the U.S. Congress are urging President Obama to take further steps to address the situation in Darfur. Lawmakers joined Darfur activist and actress Mia Farrow and others at a news conference on Capitol Hill.

Acting on doctor's orders earlier this month, the 64-year-old actress ended a 12-day-long liquids-only hunger strike to protest the expulsion by Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of more than a dozen humanitarian aid agencies from Darfur.

Continue reading here.

 A new report makes recommendations on what the international community should do to help bring peace to Somalia. Beyond Piracy: Next Steps to Stabilize Somalia is published by the Enough Project, part of Center for American Progress in Washington.

The report finds piracy to be the "lowest order of threat" to Somalia, the region and the United States. Davidson College political science professor Ken Menkhaus is one of the authors. 

One week after international donors pledged more than $200 million, primarily toward security needs of a new government in Somalia, UN officials are expected to address the humanitarian response to Somalia’s refugee crisis. In London Friday, they will discuss what is needed inside the country and in surrounding areas to promote stability and improve conditions for more than 260-thousand residents who have fled to overcrowded camps in northeastern Kenya.  Colin Thomas-Jensen, the Africa advocacy and research manager for the Washington-based Enough Project, points out that much of the international donor support pledged last week at the donor conference in Brussels, Belgium will go toward strengthening African Union (AU) peacekeepers in Somalia, but that the rest of the donated funds should be disbursed very carefully. 

Continue reading here.

A pledge by donor nations last week to provide more than $200 million to enhance security in Somalia is being hailed by some, criticized by others. Analysts in the United States say the international community is narrowly focused on trying to stabilize Somalia without fully considering its complex and shifting politics.  

At the donor conference last week in Brussels, Somalia received a pledge of more than $213 million from the international community, which has been growing increasingly concerned about the rampant piracy off the Somali coast and the threat of radical Islamists turning Somalia into a terrorist haven.

Continue reading here.