Enough In the Blogs

Recent remarks by the U.S. envoy to Sudan predicting credible elections have led to criticism both here and in Sudan over Washington's policy toward the African nation.

On Thursday, at a House of Representatives hearing on United States policy toward Africa, Representative Ed Royce (R-CA) challenged the US' top Africa diplomat about what our country is doing to prevent the LRA from gaining renewed support from their old patrons in the Sudanese government. A recent report by our colleagues at Enough Project alleged that a group of LRA has moved into South Darfur with protection from the Sudanese government.

The phrase “conflict minerals” is quickly becoming a much more familiar term as concerned consumers, organizations and politicians begin to raise public awareness of the role the mineral trade plays in fuelling the violence raging in the eastern provinces of the DR Congo.

As controversy over conflict gold and dirty mining escalates, ethical issues are becoming as important for gold as they are for diamonds.

n honor of Valentine’s Day I attended a benefit production of Eve Ensler’s award-winning play The Vagina Monologues. This year the V-day global campaign focus is “Stop Raping our Greatest Resource: Power to Women in the DRC.”

Do you live in Oklahoma? Or have any friends and family in the lovely Sooner State? Then you need to get on the phone and tell Senator Tom "Dr. No" Coburn to stop blocking the passage of the Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act.

My Sunday column is again from Congo, through the lens of a doctor (Denis Mukwege) and his patient (Jeanne Mukuninwa). They are both extraordinary figures, and Dr. Mukwege is sometimes mentioned — most deservedly — as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize. His Panzi Hospital is an oasis in South Kivu, just as the Heal Africa Hospital is in North Kivu.