Books by John Prendergast
Democratic Republic of Congo
When Secretary of State Hillary Clinton landed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, she found a nation consistently on the brink of state failure and struggling to cope with one of the world’s deadliest conflicts.
Congo’s plight has many causes:
- a colonial and Cold War legacy of violence and plunder,
- a weak and corrupt central government with perhaps the most ineffectual and abusive army in the world,
- the destabilizing presence in eastern Congo of at least 20 armed rebel groups that control lucrative mining areas (collectively these groups earn up to $185 million a year from dealing in illegal “conflict minerals”, including tin, tungsten, tantalum, and gold),
- neighboring countries (particularly Rwanda and Uganda) that exploit Congo’s weakness for their own material gain.
The human costs of the crisis in Congo are staggering:
- the worst epidemic of “rape as a weapon of war” – systematic sexual violence against women – in the world.
- the death of 5,400,000 people (according to the International Rescue Committee) since 1998, representing more than 8 percent of the Congo’s population of 66,000,000 (Every month, 45,000 more Congolese—half of them children—die from hunger, preventable disease, and other consequences of violence and displacement.)
- the forced displacement of nearly 1,500,000 people.
Eastern Congo: An Action Plan to End The World's Deadliest War
A Comprehensive Approach to Congo's Conflict Minerals
Somalia
Secretary Clinton’s meeting with Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, the President of the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG), came as the situation in that country continued to spiral downward:
- one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters continues to unfold. 3,500,000 Somalis need emergency assistance (nearly as many as in Darfur), and humanitarian access is terrible: 49 aid workers have been killed in 2008 and 2009 and scores more kidnapped.
- the TFG has thus far enjoyed only limited progress in establishing itself as a functional authority and is under intense military pressure from the Islamic extremist groups, including al shabaab. The presence of African Union peacekeepers is the only thing preventing the TFG’s collapse.
- al shabaab and other extremist groups control large swaths of south central Somalia and threaten regional and international security. Approximately 400-500 foreign jihadists (including 300-400 Somalis with foreign passports) are fighting alongside the extremists.
- piracy, kidnapping, and other forms of organized crime remain immense challenges
The Enough Project has worked with recognized international expert on Somalia, Professor Ken Menkhaus of Davidson (N.C.) University, on a series of policy reports that outline a complex situation and what must be done to resolve it.
Beyond Piracy: Next Steps to Stabilize Somalia
Somalia After the Ethiopian Occupation: First Steps to End the Conflict and Combat Extremism
