Conflict Areas

All signs indicate that Sudan, Africa’s largest state, will very soon split in two—either peacefully or violently. In a self-determination referendum scheduled for January 2011, the people of southern Sudan are widely expected to vote for separation from their northern neighbors.

The Lord’s Resistance Army continues to pose a severe threat to civilians in Democratic Republic of the Congo. Since the LRA began attacking civilians on Congolese soil in September of 2008 through the end of 2009, it has killed approximately 1,800 civilians.

In the absence of an effective response by the Sudanese government to the LRA, many local men and boys have taken community security into their own hands. They are part of a loose-knit, meagerly armed, local defense force called the Arrow Boys.

As the ink still dries on a preliminary deal between Sudan and Darfur’s largest rebel group, the situation at the Darfur peace talks in Doha, Qatar is changing rapidly. Here’s an update capturing what we are hearing from various sources.

In December I travelled to Walikale territory, the vast and remote region of North Kivu, scene of much of the fighting during the past year, and home to some of the region’s most lucrative mines. This is the second of two Field Dispatches looking at the crisis in eastern Congo on the ground.