Activist Briefs

Activist Brief (PDF)

Operation Lightning Thunder,_¹  the joint military operation against the Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA, did not succeed in its goal of ending the LRA threat. Instead, it sparked harsh reprisals by the LRA against civilians in northeastern Congo, the site of the LRA’s current atrocities in central Africa._²  However, it would be an even greater tragedy for civilians if key states in the region and the international community lost their collective will to end the threat of the LRA for once and all. What is needed now is a second Ugandan-led operation against the LRA—with strong international backing and operational support.
 
Enough’s latest strategy paper argues that the United States should take the lead in supporting a new Ugandan-led military operation by providing solid planning, intelligence, coordination, and logistical support, as well as by taking greater responsibility for the execution and outcomes of the operation.

“The only way to finally bring an end to the LRA’s terror is by apprehending or otherwise removing those key LRA leaders responsible for ongoing atrocities, says Julia Spiegel, Enough’s Uganda-based LRA researcher and one of the paper’s co-authors.
 

The United States’ strategic role and responsibility

The Bush administration had a major role in encouraging and supporting regional military operations against the LRA, and the U.S. military was directly involved in ‘Lightning Thunder.’ The Obama administration now has a responsibility and opportunity to help finish the job, which can be successfully accomplished through a combination of political pressure and operational support for a new Uganda-led initiative to eliminate the LRA with a top-down approach.

The hard lessons of ‘Lightning Thunder’:

Cooperation between Uganda, Congo, and Southern Sudan in addressing the LRA as a shared regional threat is a major breakthrough, and should be welcomed by the international community. However, the operation failed to apprehend or remove Joseph Kony and key LRA leaders, and has only exacerbated the threat against civilians. Though the LRA is largely dispersed and on the run, more than 1,000 people have been brutally murdered and nearly 250 children have been abducted since mid-December 2008.

A few positives 
The joint operation demonstrated a level of communication and cooperation between the governments of Congo, Uganda, and southern Sudan that is unprecedented in recent history. The regional armies destroyed some of Kony’s main camps, rounded up various stores of food, ammunition and communication equipment, rescued several dozen abductees, and killed some rank-and-file fighters, but much more is needed to successfully end the reign of the LRA instead of just causing setbacks. 

What went wrong?
Although ‘Lightning Thunder’ did achieve some relative gains, several major shortcomings seriously hindered the operation’s effectiveness and must be addressed before a second military effort is undertaken. Poor operational planning, dysfunctional collaboration among the major players, and insufficient prioritization for the protection of civilians ultimately doomed the success of this operation.

Finishing the fight

The Ugandan army is the only force in the region that can quickly mobilize to finish the fight against the LRA, though a second Ugandan-led operation must obviously avoid the mistakes of ‘Lightning Thunder.’ Any future attempt must focus on prioritizing civilian protection, coordinating and streamlining the rescue of LRA abductees, and ensuring accountability for crimes against humanity. 

Although Operation Lightning Thunder has not dismantled the LRA leadership or seriously undermined the force’s ability to inflict harm, stopping the hunt now will result in more lives lost and communities destroyed in the months and years to come. Now is the time re-double and reinvigorate international and regional efforts to finally bring an end to the LRA’s devastating reign of death and destruction.

“Abandoning the mission to end the LRA now will have disastrous consequences for civilians through central Africa,” said paper co-author Noel Atama, an Enough researcher based in Congo. “Now is the time to re-double and reinvigorate international and regional efforts to finally bring an end to the LRA’s devastating reign of death and destruction.”

Endnotes

1  For more information on Operation Lightning Thunder, see Enough’s joint statement with Resolve Uganda, “No Excuses: The End of the Lord’s Resistance Army is in Sight.” return
2  For more than 20 years, the Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA, and its leader Joseph Kony have wreaked havoc on civilian communities across central Africa. What began in 1989 as a rebellion based in northern Uganda has morphed into a regional insurgency that now terrorizes civilians in southern Sudan, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Central African Republic. Learn more about the LRA on Enough’s special page. return

President Obama and Sudan: A Blueprint for Peace - Activist Brief (PDF)

From President Obama's appointment of a special envoy for Sudan to the expulsion of 16 aid groups from Darfur, the past several weeks have brought both welcome first steps and the development of a potential humanitarian disaster to the situation in Sudan. Many activists have grown understandably and increasingly frustrated given the seeming lack of urgency and relative silence from the Obama administration in addressing the looming humanitarian crisis in Darfur. As Enough has recently noted on our blog, we think a quiet approach by the Obama administration may make real sense if it is backed by genuine leverage and sustained pressure, but the clock continues to tick in camps, and the need for genuine and bold leadership from the White House has never been greater. 
 
In this report, the third in a series of open letters to President Obama, the Enough Project and our partners at the Save Darfur Coalition and the Genocide Intervention Network lay out a detailed blueprint for achieving lasting peace in Sudan. If President Obama is firm in his response to the impending humanitarian crisis, promotes international justice, and works diligently toward a viable long-term peace that includes both Darfur and a reinvigorated Comprehensive Peace Agreement, or CPA, hope remains that peace in Sudan can be achieved. From our own meetings with Special Envoy Gration and key members of the Obama administration, we believe that this administration is willing and able to make the strong and sustained efforts necessary to build an international coalition for peace.  However, these efforts will only be successful if the activist community takes action to ensure that the President himself treats the situation in Sudan as a strategic priority.

This is where you come in.

TAKE ACTION: 

• Visit http://action.savedarfur.org/campaign/jointletter_enough to send a letter to the White House supporting the policy recommendations outlined in the third open letter from the Enough Project, the Save Darfur Coalition, and the Genocide Intervention Network to President Obama spelling out a practical roadmap to end the crisis in Sudan. 
• Keep the pressure on the Obama administration by calling the White House at 1-800-GENOCIDE. Ask that Special Envoy Gration immediately get the staff and resources he needs to effectively carry out his work.
• Contact the ombudsmen at major media outlets or write a letter to the editor of your local paper to ask why no questions have been asked about Sudan at the last two Presidential press conferences. For more information on media outreach, visit http://www.enoughproject.org/take_action/newspaper.
   

FORGING A MULTILATERAL PEACE STRATEGY
A clear global consensus exists for peace in Sudan, even if there is not agreement on the best path to achieve this goal. China, the Arab League, the African Union, the European Union, and the United States all want peace, but little has been done to build the necessary infrastructure to help bring it about. What has long been missing in Sudan is America’s strategic leadership. Learning from the successful lessons which brought about the CPA in Sudan, the Obama administration must lead in constructing a multilateral strategy for peace by establishing an inclusive peace process for Darfur, re-vitalizing implementation of the CPA and the dangerously neglected Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement, and ending Sudan’s proxy war with Chad. 

BUILDING THE NECESSARY LEVERAGE
General Gration and the Obama administration must strike the right balance between incentives and pressures in order to lay the foundation for a political solution to the situation in Sudan. In broad strokes, the United States should present two options to the Government of Sudan:

Behind Door One: if the Sudanese government permits unimpeded humanitarian access, removes the indicted president, and secures peace in Darfur and the South, a clear process toward normalization will be mapped out. Almost all of the incentives for Sudan come in the form of more normal relations with much of the world: the lifting of sanctions, a return to more normal patterns of trade and diplomacy, and the other benefits that would naturally flow from Sudan achieving stability as a result of more equitable power-sharing.

Behind Door Two: if President Bashir and his party remain defiant by continuing to undermine efforts at peace for the country, a series of escalating costs will ensue, including diplomatic isolation, targeted economic sanctions an effective arms embargo, and, if necessary, eventual targeted military action.

If the benefits of Door One and the consequences of Door Two are meaningful, the chance for peace in Sudan increases dramatically. A menu of possible actions resulting in increased leverage over Sudan includes: isolating Bashir, strengthening crucial regional players, expanding economic sanctions and the arms embargo, effectively banning offensive military flights, and many more. The problem has never been about a lack of leverage, but rather the unwillingness to exert it. 

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER: BUILDING THE COALITION FOR PEACE
President Obama and members of his administration have spoken passionately about their intention to act boldly to end the crisis in Darfur and promote international efforts toward a peaceful future in Sudan. If the President himself treats the situation in Sudan as a strategic priority, sets objectives for U.S. policy, builds the necessary leverage, and invests in the diplomacy necessary to achieve an equitable and lasting solution, the administration has the chance to work for peace at a crucial juncture in Sudan’s history.

As outlined in this letter, the opportunities exist to fundamentally change the history of Sudan and bring about an era of peace and stability to a region of the world that has far too long been rife with conflict. President Obama has the tools at hand, but the anti-genocide movement also has an important role to play in order to provide the political will needed to carry out the bold course of action required. 

Take action today by sending a letter to President Obama asking for his urgent leadership to address the immediate humanitarian crisis in Darfur and to achieve long-term peace through a political solution for all of Sudan. Click here to take action by sending a letter to President Obama supporting the policy recommendations outlined in this third open letter, which maps out a practical blueprint for ending the crisis in Sudan. Continue to put pressure on President Obama by calling the White House by dialing 1-800-GENOCIDE to demand additional resources for the special envoy, and urging major press outlets to make sure that Sudan is represented and covered in the press.

Activist Brief

Demand for minerals that are key ingredients in consumer electronics products continues to fuel conflict and crimes against humanity in eastern Congo. In this latest paper from the Enough Project and our partner, the Grassroots Reconciliation Group, we describe the link between the violence in eastern Congo, the mining and trade of key minerals, and the electronics corporations that are the largest end-users of these natural resources. Building off of John Prendergast’s recent report, “Can You Hear Congo Now?,” this paper describes how a comprehensive approach must be taken to transform Congo’s mineral resources from a key source of funding curse for armed groups into an engine of empowerment for Congolese civilians who have been victims to the conflict and are dependent upon the meager livelihoods they earn in the mines.

The conflict minerals supply chain

The majority of violence in eastern Congo has been carried out in mineral-rich areas of the eastern provinces. The same armed groups that reap enormous profits from the mineral trade in eastern Congo regularly commit conscience-shocking atrocities as they jockey to control the region’s most valuable mines. Largely beyond the authority of the Congolese government, armed groups who perpetrate violence against innocent civilians control these areas and directly profit from the trade in mineral ore. The four most profitable ores produce the metals tin, tantalum and tungsten—the 3T’s— and gold, which together generate as much as $183 million annually for armed groups. These armed groups force miners to work in desperate, dangerous conditions for an average of $1-$5 a day. Without alternative sources of income, these miners and their families remain virtually enslaved to armed groups and the conflict minerals trade.

Why are current efforts falling short?

So far, efforts to address this conflict by the international community, the Congolese government and Congo’s neighboring states have been largely reactive and incommensurate to the scale of the problem. The international community spends billions of dollars on elections and peacekeeping in Congo but continue to ignore the primary economic driver of the conflict. There has been no a coherent approach to alter the incentive structures of Congo’s conflict mineral trade and its devastating impact in helping to keep Congo’s institutions weak and dysfunctional. The Congolese government lacks the capacity and political will to combat corruption and legitimize their mineral wealth, and Congo’s neighbors—including Rwanda and Uganda—have often encouraged continued instability in Congo because they also profit from the illicit trade. A renewed cooperative approach between Congo and its neighbors in establishing legitimate trading mechanisms could offer the best prospects of a long-term solution.

Toward a comprehensive strategy

The complexities surrounding this conflict prove that there is no silver bullet solution. However, if the international community and regional actors work in conjunction with the private sector to align their efforts around the common goal of a revitalized legitimate mineral trade in eastern Congo, long-term efforts could have major impact in resolving the conflict. There are four main components to a new strategy for such efforts:

1. Shining a light on the supply chain. Push electronics companies— the principal end-users of the 3T’s and gold—to change the way they practice business by working together with their suppliers to create a tracing system paired with credible monitoring of the system by independent third parties. This would provide a critical step towards demanding greater accountability for corporate behavior and transparency. With 80 percent of consumer electronics companies trading on U.S. stock markets, U.S.-based activists have some of the most powerful opportunities for leverage on this part of the supply chain.
2. Identifying and securing strategic mines. The United Nations should collaborate with the Congolese government identify key mining sites under the control of armed groups. Properly integrated Congolese security forces, supported by U.N. peacekeepers, should secure these sites and transit routes. This approach must be grounded in a more comprehensive and coherent effort to advance broad security sector reform in Congo.
3. Reforming governance. The international community should work hand in hand with the Congolese government to force the will and capacity to exercise control over mining and commerce in eastern Congo. With Congo sorely in need of international funds, there is an opportunity to press for not just commitments but demonstrable reforms to the regulation of mining, commerce, and taxation.
4. Supporting livelihoods and economic opportunities for miners. Impoverished Congolese miners and their families are dependent upon their meager incomes and have few viable economic alternatives. Efforts to end the trade in conflict minerals absolutely must be accompanied by international support for livelihoods and economic opportunities in eastern Congo. This should include legal reform, and investments in both infrastructure as well as alternative livelihoods such as agriculture and manufacturing. The sooner the illicit conflict minerals trade is eliminated; the sooner the people of Congo will actually enjoy the benefits from their own resources.

Congo’s conflict minerals problem is complex, but the roadmap to a solution exists. The four key parts of this strategy— a transparent supply chain, securing mine sites, improved governance of mining and trade, and improved livelihood options for miners— are all realistic policy goals. But efforts won’t succeed unless individual consumers in the United States and around the world step up and demand a change. By demanding transparency and accountability from the world’s largest electronics companies, consumers can fundamentally change the logic of Congo’s conflict and end the scourge of conflict minerals.

Take action now:

1. Sign Raise HOPE for Congo’s Conflict Minerals Pledge: http://www.raisehopeforcongo.org/conflictminerals_pledge
2. Call the White House comment line at (202) 456-1111 and urge President Barack Obama to appoint a Special Envoy to the Great Lakes region.
3. Call the Capitol Hill switchboard at (202) 224-3121 to connect with your legislators’ offices and urge them to join the Congressional African Great Lakes Caucus.

Activist Brief

Within the first month of the President Obama’s administration, the International Criminal Court, or ICC, is expected to issue an arrest warrant for Sudan’s President, Omar al-Bashir. If the warrant is issued, President Bashir has threatened to cut off humanitarian aid and escalate the conflict. The possibility of a further deterioration of the situation on the ground represents an immediate challenge for the Obama administration. How the United States responds to Bashir’s threats will factor greatly into what the Sudanese regime actually does in response to the ICC action and will also help shape what the international community is prepared to do.  President Obama’s response must be firm in addressing this immediate threat, but should not lose sight of the larger strategic goals that ought to be at the center of a new administration’s policy: an unyielding focus on brokering a peace deal for Darfur and the implementation of the existing Comprehensive Peace Agreement, or CPA, the 2005 agreement to end the 22-year war between northern and southern Sudan.

FOCUSING ON THE LONG TERM SOLUTION

While immediate attention must be paid to the potential negative impact of the ICC arrest warrant, President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations Susan Rice must also establish and implement a holistic strategy to bring long-lasting peace to Sudan.   Focusing on an all-Sudan solution and ensuring that U.S. policy shifts from managing Sudan’s conflict to ending it will be important in framing the overall strategy approach.

The United States must take leadership in launching an international “peace surge” for Sudan.  Leverage for bringing peace to Sudan can come from the following actions:

• Supporting for the ICC’s investigation into crimes against humanity
• Enhancing international efforts to isolate the regime economically
• Expanding the arms embargo
• Making the joint United Nations/African Union peacekeeping force more effective
• Enforcing the U.N. ban on offensive military flights over Darfur

Members of the Obama administration have spoken passionately about their intention to act boldly to end the crisis in Darfur and promote international efforts toward a peaceful future in Sudan. Now they will have the chance to do so at a crucial juncture in Sudan’s history.

TAKE ACTION:  Call the White House today by dialing 1-800-GENOCIDE (1-800- 436-6243).  Tell President Obama to appoint a special envoy as a first step in addressing the crisis in Sudan. 
 

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