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Lord’s Resistance Army Finds Safe Haven in Darfur

Submitted by Zack Brisson on March 11, 2010 - 10:44am.
in
Date: 
Mar 11, 2010

 MEDIA CONTACTS: 


Eileen White Read, 202.641.0779

eread@enoughproject.org

 

STATEMENT: Lord’s Resistance Army Finds Safe Haven in Darfur

KAMPALA, UGANDA/ JUBA, SUDAN/ WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Enough Project at the Center for American Progress today released the following statement:

The Enough Project confirms that a contingent of the deadly Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA, has taken refuge in areas of south Darfur, Sudan, controlled by the Government of Sudan. The possibility of rekindled collaboration between LRA leader Joseph Kony and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir—both wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court, or ICC—should alarm policymakers and demands urgent international investigation and response.

The LRA originated in northern Uganda during the late 1980s. In addition to committing widespread atrocities in Uganda, throughout the 1990s and early 2000s the LRAserved as a proxy for the Sudanese government in its war with the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, or SPLA, in southern Sudan. In 2005, Kony publicly stated that the Bashir government supported the LRA as a proxy force to destabilize the south, a charge that Khartoum continues to deny despite considerable evidence to the contrary.

"The Khartoum regime's principal tool of war during its 21-year reign has been support for marauding militias such as the Janjaweed, the Murahaliin, and the Lord's Resistance Army,” said Enough Co-founder John Prendergast. “Facing no consequences for this destructive method of governing, it is unsurprising that the regime is again providing safe haven for the LRA. Absent a cost for this, we will likely see the LRA unleashed again later this year to destabilize the referendum in southern Sudan."

With material support from Khartoum, the LRA quickly became one of the deadliest militias in Africa, known for gruesome mutilations of civilians and abduction of children to serve as fighters and sex slaves. Following failed peace talks from 2006 to 2008, the LRA morphed into a full blown regional insurgency with fighters in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, or CAR, and southern Sudan.

In late 2009, Enough received credible information that an LRA reconnaissance team was seeking to make contact with the Sudanese army at their base in Kafia Kingi, near south Darfur’s border with CAR. In recent months, Ugandan forces have pursued the LRA into Congo, CAR, and southern Sudan, but are restricted from crossing Sudan’s disputed north-south border. 

Now, based on months of field research and interviews with government and United Nations officials in several countries, Enough can confirm that LRA units have reached south Darfur.

“This is a very disturbing development. The move by the Government of Sudan to provide the LRA with safe haven demands a firm, rapid, and well-coordinated response from the United States and its partners in the international community,” said John Norris, Enough’s Executive Director. “A failure to bring clear and consistent pressure on President Bashir and his allies for this latest outrage will only encourage the Sudanese government to commit further abuses, with a terrible cost for civilians on the ground.”

Also today, Enough released a strategy paper by field researcher Ledio Cakaj detailing the continuing threat posed by the LRA to civilians in northeastern Congo. The report, “Between a Rock and a Hard Place: LRA Attacks and Congolese Army Abuses in Northeastern Congo,” argues that much greater efforts must be made to protect civilians from a resurgent LRA and the predatory Congolese army.

 

Read the report on http://www.enoughproject.org/publications/lra-army-abuses-congo

###

 

Enough is a project of the Center for American Progress to end genocide and crimes against humanity. Founded in 2007, Enough focuses on crises in Sudan, eastern Congo, and areas of Africa affected by the Lord’s Resistance Army. Enough’s strategy papers and briefings provide sharp field analysis and targeted policy recommendations based on a “3P” crisis response strategy: promoting durable peace, providing civilian protection, and punishing perpetrators of atrocities. Enough works with concerned citizens, advocates, and policy makers to prevent, mitigate, and resolve these crises. For more information, please visit www.enoughproject.org. 

 

STATEMENT: Lord’s Resistance Army Finds Safe Haven in Darfur

Submitted by Patrick Furey on March 10, 2010 - 11:02am.
in
Date: 
Mar 10, 2010

 

MEDIA CONTACTS: 
Eileen White Read, 202.641.0779
eread@enoughproject.org
 

 

 
STATEMENT: Lord’s Resistance Army Finds Safe Haven in Darfur
KAMPALA, UGANDA/ JUBA, SUDAN/ WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Enough Project at the Center for American Progress today released the following statement:
 
The Enough Project confirms that a contingent of the deadly Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA, has taken refuge in areas of south Darfur, Sudan, controlled by the Government of Sudan. The possibility of rekindled collaboration between LRA leader Joseph Kony and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir—both wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court, or ICC—should alarm policymakers and demands urgent international investigation and response.
 
The LRA originated in northern Uganda during the late 1980s. In addition to committing widespread atrocities in Uganda, throughout the 1990s and early 2000s the LRA served as a proxy for the Sudanese government in its war with the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, or SPLA, in southern Sudan. In 2005, Kony publicly stated that the Bashir government supported the LRA as a proxy force to destabilize the south, a charge that Khartoum continues to deny despite considerable evidence to the contrary.
 
"The Khartoum regime's principal tool of war during its 21-year reign has been support for marauding militias such as the Janjaweed, the Murahaliin, and the Lord's Resistance Army,” said Enough Co-founder John Prendergast. “Facing no consequences for this destructive method of governing, it is unsurprising that the regime is again providing safe haven for the LRA. Absent a cost for this, we will likely see the LRA unleashed again later this year to destabilize the referendum in southern Sudan."
 
With material support from Khartoum, the LRA quickly became one of the deadliest militias in Africa, known for gruesome mutilations of civilians and abduction of children to serve as fighters and sex slaves. Following failed peace talks from 2006 to 2008, the LRA morphed into a full blown regional insurgency with fighters in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, or CAR, and southern Sudan.
 
In late 2009, Enough received credible information that an LRA reconnaissance team was seeking to make contact with the Sudanese army at their base in Kafia Kingi, near south Darfur’s border with CAR. In recent months, Ugandan forces have pursued the LRA into Congo, CAR, and southern Sudan, but are restricted from crossing Sudan’s disputed north-south border. 
 
Now, based on months of field research and interviews with government and United Nations officials in several countries, Enough can confirm that LRA units have reached south Darfur.
 
“This is a very disturbing development. The move by the Government of Sudan to provide the LRA with safe haven demands a firm, rapid, and well-coordinated response from the United States and its partners in the international community,” said John Norris, Enough’s Executive Director. “A failure to bring clear and consistent pressure on President Bashir and his allies for this latest outrage will only encourage the Sudanese government to commit further abuses, with a terrible cost for civilians on the ground.”
                 
Also today, Enough released a strategy paper by field researcher Ledio Cakaj detailing the continuing threat posed by theLRA to civilians in northeastern Congo. The report, “Between a Rock and a Hard Place: LRA Attacks and Congolese Army Abuses in Northeastern Congo,” argues that much greater efforts must be made to protect civilians from a resurgent LRAand the predatory Congolese army.
 
Read the report on www.enoughproject.org.
 
###
 

Enough is a project of the Center for American Progress to end genocide and crimes against humanity. Founded in 2007, Enough focuses on crises in Sudan, eastern Congo, and areas of Africa affected by the Lord’s Resistance Army. Enough’s strategy papers and briefings provide sharp field analysis and targeted policy recommendations based on a “3P” crisis response strategy: promoting durable peace, providing civilian protection, and punishing perpetrators of atrocities. Enough works with concerned citizens, advocates, and policy makers to prevent, mitigate, and resolve these crises. For more information, please visit www.enoughproject.org. 

 

 

SUDAN REPORT: A Peace Process Play-by-Play

Submitted by Patrick Furey on February 25, 2010 - 4:20pm.
in
Date: 
Feb 25, 2010

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 25, 2010

MEDIA CONTACT: 
Eileen White Read, 202.641.0779
eread@enoughproject.org
 

SUDAN REPORT: A Peace Process Play-by-Play
 
READ the report.
 
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Enough Project at the Center for American Progress today released a new report, “A Peace Process Play-by-Play,” highlighting the risks and potential rewards of the preliminary peace agreement reached between the government of Sudan and the rebel group Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). The report gives particular consideration to the strategic concerns of key players to the talks.
 
John Norris, Executive Director of the Enough Project, noted, “Everyone wants to see these peace talks succeed, but the list of failed agreements in Sudan is long, so enthusiasm must be tempered with realism. It is essential that any deal include practical arrangements to monitor the implementation of these agreements and take appropriate actions when violations occur. It is also vital that agreements reflect the input and interests of Darfuri civil society, not just the views of military commanders. Whether the tactical interests of those at the negotiations can be converted into a viable and comprehensive peace for Darfur remains an open question at this hour.”
 
John Prendergast, Co-founder of the Enough Project, commented, "The emerging process is driven by President Bashir's quest for legitimacy through the upcoming elections, by the end of support from Chad to Darfur's rebels, and by a desire to end the divisions among the Islamists in northern Sudan as they prepare for the possible independence of the South. These motivations do not ensure long-term peace, but rather threaten to undermine the needs of the Darfuri displaced and to increase the prospects for a return to North-South war as Darfur is temporarily muzzled."
 
READ the report.
 
###
 

Enough is a project of the Center for American Progress to end genocide and crimes against humanity. Founded in 2007, Enough focuses on crises in Sudan, eastern Congo, Somalia, and areas affected by the Lord’s Resistance Army. Enough’s strategy papers and briefings provide sharp field analysis and targeted policy recommendations based on a “3P” crisis response strategy: promoting durable peace, providing civilian protection, and punishing perpetrators of atrocities. Enough works with concerned citizens, advocates, and policy makers to prevent, mitigate, and resolve these crises. For more information, please visit www.enoughproject.org.

 

STATEMENTS: Reaction to International Criminal Court Decision on Genocide and Bashir

Submitted by Patrick Furey on February 3, 2010 - 12:49pm.
in
Date: 
Feb 3, 2010

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 3, 2010
 
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Eileen White Read, 202.641.0779
 
Mame Annan-Brown, 202.559.7409
annan-brown@genocideintervention.net
STATEMENTS: Reaction to International Criminal Court Decision on Genocide and Bashir

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Enough Project and the Genocide Intervention Network today released a statement concerning the decision by the International Criminal Court, or ICC, which re-opens the possibility of Genocide charges against Sudan’s President Bashir.
Sam Bell, Executive Director of the Genocide Intervention Network commented, “Today's decision is technical and addresses a narrow, but potentially far-reaching, question about the threshold the prosecutor is required to meet in bringing genocide charges. No matter what ultimately comes of the genocide charge as it works it way back through the pre-trial chamber, President Bashir is already wanted for multiple counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. In the interests of peace and justice, he should be apprehended and tried."
 
John Norris, Executive Director of the Enough Project at the Center  for American Progress, noted “The finding of the Appeal Chamber is sound, and makes it far more likely that President Bashir will eventually face a warrant for genocide in addition to the existing warrants for war crimes and crimes against humanity. As much as Bashir, his partners in the regime and some international diplomats would like the issue of genocide to go quietly away, today’s ruling is again a powerful reminder that we will not achieve lasting peace in Sudan without justice and accountability. We also hope that this well-reasoned ruling helps build additional support within the Obama Administration for resigning the Rome Statute.”
 
###
 
Enough is a project of the Center for American Progress to end genocide and crimes against humanity. Founded in 2007, Enough focuses on crises in Sudan, eastern Congo, and areas of Africa affected by the Lord’s Resistance Army. Enough’s strategy papers and briefings provide sharp field analysis and targeted policy recommendations based on a “3P” crisis response strategy: promoting durable peace, providing civilian protection, and punishing perpetrators of atrocities. Enough works with concerned citizens, advocates, and policy makers to prevent, mitigate, and resolve these crises. For more information, please visit www.enoughproject.org.
 
About Genocide Intervention Network – Genocide Intervention Network empowers individuals and communities with the tools to prevent and stop genocide. Currently focused on conflicts in Sudan, Burma and Democratic Republic of Congo, among other areas of concern, Genocide Intervention Network envisions a world in which the global community is willing and able to protect civilians from genocide and mass atrocities.  The organization is building a permanent anti-genocide constituency, mobilizing the political will to prevent and stop genocide. For more information, please visit www.genocideintervention.net

 

STATEMENT: The Obama Administration Expresses Concern About Arms Flow in Sudan

Submitted by Will McElhinny on January 27, 2010 - 3:33pm.
in
Date: 
Jan 27, 2010
Author: 
Eileen White Read

MEDIA CONTACT:
Eileen White Read, 202.641.0779
eread@enoughproject.org

 

 

STATEMENT: The Obama Administration Expresses Concern About Arms Flow in Sudan

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Enough Project today released statements concerning the Obama administration’s apparent concern about the flow of illegal arms to South Sudan:

John Norris, Executive Director of the Enough Project, noted "It seems significant that the National Security Council deputies held their first quarterly review of Sudan policy and the situation on the ground on January 22. Four days later, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, warned of the increased flow of weaponry into South Sudan while noting ‘a higher degree of sophistication and lethality of the weapons’ being seen in clashes. This strong message from Ambassador Rice suggests that the Obama administration, as reflected in the deliberations of the deputies, is increasingly concerned about the ominous situation on the ground in Sudan ahead of national elections scheduled for April of this year and an independence referendum slated for January 2011.” In her comments, Ambassador Rice observed that the Obama administration believes that some of these weapons are coming from North Sudan, and that heightening tensions were causing weapons to flow into Sudan from ‘all directions.’

John Prendergast, Co-founder of the Enough Project, added, “Sudan’s National Congress Party has followed a similar pattern since it came to power in 1989: arms are delivered to ethnic-based militias in order to divide and destroy areas from which armed opposition springs. The Khartoum regime did this through janjaweed militias in Darfur, and did it for a decade and a half in the South until the war ended there in 2005.”

The Enough Project has warned over the last six months that increasingly sophisticated attacks by the same ethnic-based militias that were used by the National Congress Party in the South during the war is a cause for great alarm. Even without a smoking gun to confirm a pattern of support from the NCP, circumstantial evidence is significant. The Enough Project has also expressed concerned about possible arms deliveries to other southern-based militias by the Government of Southern Sudan, as well as the Government of Southern Sudan’s poorly managed disarmament campaign which has also helped fuel local clashes.

A public ad campaign by the Sudan Now campaign of which Enough is part, highlighted the importance of the deputies meeting last week in setting a new course for Sudan policy and responding to the increasingly serious situation on the ground in Sudan.

 
###

 

Enough is a project of the Center for American Progress to end genocide and crimes against humanity. Founded in 2007, Enough focuses on crises in Sudan, eastern Congo, and areas of Africa affected by the Lord’s Resistance Army. Enough’s strategy papers and briefings provide sharp field analysis and targeted policy recommendations based on a “3P” crisis response strategy: promoting durable peace, providing civilian protection, and punishing perpetrators of atrocities. Enough works with concerned citizens, advocates, and policy makers to prevent, mitigate, and resolve these crises. For more information, please visit www.enoughproject.org.  

OPEN LETTER: Truth and Consequences for Sudan Now

Submitted by Patrick Furey on January 21, 2010 - 4:09pm.
in
Date: 
Jan 21, 2010
For Immediate Release
January 21, 2010
Contact
Eileen White Read, 202.641.0779
eread@enoughproject.org
 

OPEN LETTER: Truth and Consequences for Sudan Now

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week senior U.S. Government officials will meet to review Sudan policy. In an open letter to President Barack Obama's deputies, the Enough Project makes the case that Sudan is dangerously close to sliding back to war and recommends a course of action marked by much deeper diplomatic engagement, backed by more assiduous efforts to build a multilateral coalition of countries willing to impose consequences on those undermining the path to peace in Sudan.
The letter is signed by Enough’s Co-founder, John Prendergast, and Policy Advisor Omer Ismail.
Enough is a project to end genocide and crimes against humanity at the Center for American Progress.

Earlier this week, Enough and eight other Sudan advocacy groups called upon the Obama administration to apply firm benchmarks to Sudan to prevent much broader conflict in a major policy paper. Click here to read the paper. In addition, Sudan Now, a coalition of Sudan advocacy groups, ran a new advertisement in the Washington Post. Click here to view the ads.

The following is the text of the letter:

TRUTH AND CONSEQUENCES FOR SUDAN NOW:
AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA’S DEPUTIES

 
JANUARY 20, 2010
 
To:               
Tom Donilon, National Security Council
Jim Steinberg, Department of State
Stuart Levey, Department of Treasury
Michèle Flournoy, Department of Defense
Erica Barks-Ruggles, United States Mission to the United Nations
 
From:              
John Prendergast, Co-founder, The Enough Project
Omer Ismail, Senior Advisor, The Enough Project
 
At the first quarterly review of Sudan policy by the Deputies Committee, you will likely sense two very different assessments of what is happening in Sudan today. This divergence of opinion has major implications for your policy recommendations and decisions. One version of Sudan’s current reality will highlight recent agreements on the referendum law, high rates of voter registration, and the lack of village burnings and cross-border adventurism in Darfur as demonstrations of tangible progress in Sudan.
 
The reality on the ground in Sudan speaks in starkly different terms. The dangerous status quo in Darfur remains unchanged in some key aspects: millions of people are left in squalid camps, unable to return home because government-supported militias occupy their land and make travel very dangerous. Women face high levels of sexual violence in Darfur, aid is erratic, and progress in the Darfur peace process remains painfully limited.
 
More broadly, the April national election in Sudan – an election for which the Unites States has provided tens of millions of dollars in technical assistance – is in the process of being stolen by an indicted war criminal who will use the ballot to “legitimize” his rule. The conditions to make the national election free and fair simply do not exist, and will not exist, by April, and there may well be sharp questions as to why the United States heavily bankrolled an election so obviously flawed.
 
Most urgently and ominously, there are abundant indicators that Sudan is on a dangerous road back to full-scale North-South war as violence increases and key elements of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) have been left completely unimplemented. The international community’s position toward Sudan at this vital time reflects neither consensus nor coherence. Officials from both North and South speak of not wanting war, but are intensively preparing for it. Local clashes in South Sudan are escalating, against an historical backdrop of extensive support to southern Sudanese militias by the ruling party in Khartoum designed to undermine southern unity. The heavy lift of diplomacy needed to assure that Sudan’s referendum is peaceful and well managed simply remains largely undone, with no full-time, on-the-ground diplomatic teams from the U.S. engaging the regional actors on either the North-South issues or the Darfur process.
 
To prevent a full-scale war from erupting in Sudan in the coming year, the Deputies should recommend to their superiors and President Obama a course of action marked by much deeper diplomatic engagement, backed by more assiduous efforts to build a multilateral coalition of countries willing to impose consequences on those undermining the path to peace in Sudan.  On the occasion of this first quarterly policy review, we urge you to consider three main actions:
 
1)    The Deputies should recommend that diplomatic efforts begin immediately in New York and in capitals to pull together a coalition of countries willing to pressure the parties multilaterally to take the steps necessary for peace. Those officials and parties undermining peace should face specific and clear consequences. At this juncture, that would also involve withdrawing further U.S. financial support for the April election, expanding and more effectively implementing the current arms embargo, identifying specific officials who are undermining peace and targeting them with aggressive asset freezes and travel bans, and denying the Khartoum regime any form of multilateral debt relief until peace agreements have been far more effectively implemented.
 
2)    The Deputies should recommend that the U.S. immediately deploy a small team of diplomats to be based in Sudan and the surrounding region to work full-time on the peace processes for Darfur and the CPA. Trips by the envoy, no matter how frequent, are no substitute for on-the-ground, around-the-clock diplomacy. The team should include senior diplomats with real experience in peace processes and existing familiarity with Sudan.
 
3)    The Deputies should recommend a ministerial level meeting among North American and European diplomats on Sudan at the earliest possible juncture. The lack of a common position on the multiplicity of profound issues facing Sudan over the coming year – including serious post-referendum issues – must be addressed.
 
We want to personally thank you for all of the work that you continue to do to advance U.S. national interests and the cause of peace in Sudan, and thank you for your consideration.
 
John Prendergast             
Omer Ismail 
####

Enough is a project of the Center for American Progress to end genocide and crimes against humanity. Founded in 2007, Enough focuses on crises in Sudan, Chad, eastern Congo, northern Uganda, Somalia, and Zimbabwe. Enough’s strategy papers and briefings provide sharp field analysis and targeted policy recommendations based on a “3P” crisis response strategy: promoting durable peace, providing civilian protection, and punishing perpetrators of atrocities. Enough works with concerned citizens, advocates, and policy makers to prevent, mitigate, and resolve these crises. For more information, please visit www.enoughproject.org; media contact: Eileen White Read, 202.641.0779, eread@enoughproject.org

 

STRATEGY PAPER: Obama Administration Needs To Hold Sudan Accountable To Clear Benchmarks

Submitted by Patrick Furey on January 19, 2010 - 11:24am.
in
Date: 
Jan 19, 2010
Enough Project  Humanity United  Human Rights Watch  Save Darfur
 Genocide InterventionPhysicians for Human RightsAmerican Jewish World Servicei-ActInvestors Against Genocide

For Immediate Release
January 19, 2010

Media Contacts
Eileen White Read, 202.641.0779
eread@enoughproject.org
Mike Boyer, 650.587.2030
mboyer@humanityunited.org
Joshua Berkman, 202.792.2893
ischwab@ajws.org 
Mame Annan-Brown, 202.558.7409
annan-brown@genocideintervention.net
Georgette Gagnon, 212.216.1223
gagnong@hrw.org
Gabriel Stauring, 310.415.2863
gabriel@stopgenocidenow.org
Susan Morgan, 617.797.0451
susan@paxcommunications.org
Ben Greenberg, 617.301.4200
bgreenberg@phrusa.org
Emily Diamond-Falk, 202.525.8153
emily@savedarfur.org
 
STRATEGY PAPER: Obama Administration Needs To Hold Sudan Accountable To Clear Benchmarks

Read the strategy paper. 

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In its Sudan policy review completed in mid-October 2009, the Obama administration indicated it would regularly assess the progress of peace in Sudan—or lack thereof. However, the administration has not publicly disclosed precisely what benchmarks it is applying to assess progress in Sudan, even as it begins its official review process this month and as tensions increase with the coming April national elections, and with the January 2011 referendum on independence for Southern Sudan rapidly approaching.

To help bring transparency to the process by which United States ensures strict adherence to unambiguous benchmarks, and apply the appropriate pressures and incentives accordingly, a coalition of nine Sudan advocacy groups has today released a strategy paper aiming to provide these benchmarks for the administration - guidance for how officials, concerned citizens, and others in the international community can assess genuine progress toward a lasting peace in Sudan.
 
The nine-member coalition includes the Enough Project at the Center for American Progress, Humanity United, American Jewish World Service, Genocide Intervention Network, Human Rights Watch, iACT/Stop Genocide Now, Investors Against Genocide, Physicians for Human Rights, and the Save Darfur Coalition.
 
The benchmarks are designed to hold the Obama administration to its promise to set and enforce clear and pre-determined benchmarks of progress for the government of Sudan. The relative progress toward or away from these benchmarks would then determine the pressures and incentives—so-called “carrots” and “sticks”—that would be brought to bear in 2010, a moment the Obama Administration itself said, “can either lead to steady improvements in the lives of the Sudanese people or degenerate into even more violent conflict and state failure.”
 
“This is an important moment for the Deputies who are charged with leading the administration review to take a hard look at the real facts on the ground in Sudan,” said John Norris, Executive Director of the Enough Project. “There are many worrying indicators that suggest a much broader conflict could break out in Sudan over the course of the next year, and U.S. policy needs to be directed with great urgency toward preventing that from happening." 
 
“We are at the beginning of a critical year for the future of Sudan,” noted Jerry Fowler, President of the Save Darfur Coalition. “It is of the utmost importance that the administration evaluates progress in Sudan based on the facts on the ground; facts which are stark.  2.7 million internally displaced persons in Darfur; over 4 million dependent on humanitarian aid; increasing violence and instability in South Sudan; and April elections which will take place in an environment of fear and intimidation. These facts underscore the urgency with which the administration must quickly conclude that the status quo remains unacceptable and that increased high-level engagement to build an international coalition for peace in Sudan is necessary.”
 
READ the strategy paper
###
 
Enough is a project of the Center for American Progress to end genocide and crimes against humanity. Founded in 2007, Enough focuses on crises in Sudan, eastern Congo, northern Uganda, and Somalia. Enough’s strategy papers and briefings provide sharp field analysis and targeted policy recommendations based on a “3P” crisis response strategy: promoting durable peace, providing civilian protection, and punishing perpetrators of atrocities. Enough works with concerned citizens, advocates, and policy makers to prevent, mitigate, and resolve these crises. For more information, please visit www.enoughproject.org.

Humanity United is a philanthropic organization committed to building a world where mass atrocities and modern-day slavery are no longer possible. By helping to build permanent constituencies to end atrocities and slavery, supporting efforts that empower affected communities, and addressing the root causes of conflict and injustice, Humanity United seeks to help restore human dignity in places where it has been lost and to help create a lasting global peace. To learn more, visit http://www.HumanityUnited.org.
 
American Jewish World Service (AJWS) is an international development organization motivated by Judaism's imperative to pursue justice. AJWS is dedicated to alleviating poverty, hunger and disease among the people of the developing world regardless of race, religion or nationality. Through grants to grassroots organizations, volunteer service, advocacy and education, AJWS fosters civil society, sustainable development and human rights for all people, while promoting the values and responsibilities of global citizenship within the Jewish community. Visit www.ajws.org.
 
Genocide Intervention Network empowers individuals and communities with the tools to prevent and stop genocide. Currently focused on conflicts in Sudan, Burma and Democratic Republic of Congo, among other areas of concern, Genocide Intervention Network envisions a world in which the global community is willing and able to protect civilians from genocide and mass atrocities.  The organization is building a permanent anti-genocide constituency, mobilizing the political will to prevent and stop genocide. For more information, please visit www.genocideintervention.net.
Human Rights Watch is one of the world’s leading independent organizations dedicated to defending and protecting human rights. By focusing international attention where human rights are violated, we give voice to the oppressed and hold oppressors accountable for their crimes. Our rigorous, objective investigations and strategic, targeted advocacy build intense pressure for action and raise the cost of human rights abuse. For 30 years, Human Rights Watch has worked tenaciously to lay the legal and moral groundwork for deep-rooted change and has fought to bring greater justice and security to people around the world. Visit www.hrw.org

i-ACT/Stop Genocide Now seeks to empower individuals within communities, institutions, and governments to take personal responsibility to act on behalf of those affected by genocide, mass atrocities, and crimes against humanity.  i-ACT is a global team dedicated to putting a face on the numbers of dead, dying, and displaced while creating mutually enriching relationships between those in danger and those willing and able to act, fostering a new culture of participation.  For more information, please visit www.stopgenocidenow.org

 
Investors Against Genocide is a non-profit organization dedicated to convincing mutual fund and other investment firms to change their investing strategy so as to avoid complicity in genocide. The organization works with individuals, companies, organizations, financial institutions, the press, and government agencies to build awareness and to create financial, public relations, and regulatory pressure for investment firms to change. The ultimate goals are that the Government of Sudan ends its deadly genocide in Darfur and that investment firms avoid investing in genocide. For more information, visit www.investorsagainstgenocide.org.
 
Physicians for Human Rights was founded in 1986 on the idea that health professionals, with their specialized skills, ethical duties, and credible voices, are uniquely positioned to investigate the health consequences of human rights violations and work to stop them. We are headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and maintain an office in Washington, DC. We are a non-profit, non-sectarian organization funded through private foundations and by individual donors. Membership is open to all, not just health professionals. PHR shared the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize. Visit www.physiciansforhumanrights.org.
 
The Save Darfur Coalition – an alliance of more than 180 faith-based, advocacy and human rights organizations – raises public awareness about the ongoing genocide in Darfur and mobilizes a unified response to the atrocities that threaten the lives of people throughout the Darfur region. The coalition’s member organizations represent 130 million people of all ages, races, religions and political affiliations united together to help the people of Darfur. For more information on the coalition, please visit www.SaveDarfur.org. 

 

 

Dark Clouds Hover Over Sudan CPA Anniversary

Submitted by Patrick Furey on January 8, 2010 - 3:27pm.
in
Date: 
Jan 8, 2010
For Immediate Release
January 8, 2010
Contact
Emily Diamond-Falk, 202.525.8153
emily@savedarfur.org
Eileen White Read, 202.641.0779
eread@enoughproject.org
Joshua Berkman, 212.792.2893
ischwab@ajws.org
 

Dark Clouds Hover Over Sudan CPA Anniversary
Movement Leaders Respond After Secretary Clinton and General Gration’s Remarks

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The coming year represents a volatile time for the people of Sudan, with countrywide elections scheduled for April 2010, and a referendum on the secession of southern Sudan in January 2011. The Administration must work with international partners to hold the parties, especially Khartoum, accountable for lack of progress.

Save Darfur Coalition, American Jewish World Service and the Enough Project and the Center for America Progress respond:

Jerry Fowler – President, Save Darfur Coalition
“It’s important that Secretary Clinton acknowledged that basic freedoms necessary for fair elections do not exist in Sudan. But she and the US government need to accept the implication of that: with only about 90 days until they occur, the elections simply can’t be credible. It’s clear that the ruling NCP is hoping that fraudulent elections will legitimize its rule. The US must not let that happen.”

 

Ruth Messinger – President, American Jewish World Service
“The milestone that prompted today’s statement is not an anniversary to commemorate, but a wake up call. At the five-year mark, several critical benchmarks that will shape the future for millions of Sudanese remain unmet. We expect Secretary Clinton’s continued personal engagement and leadership during this crucial time in Sudan.”

 

John Prendergast – Co-Founder, Enough Project at the Center for American Progress
"U.S. officials are sending mixed messages on the degree to which they support democracy and human rights in Sudan. The security laws on the books today give no chance for democratic elections and human rights protections. It is of particular concern that the administration appears to not be willing to see the upsurge in violence in southern Sudan as partially a product of new arms being delivered to ethnic-based militias. These actions need to be condemned and planning needs to begin for multilateral consequences for stealing an election and pursuing a one way path to renewed national war."

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About the coalition: The Save Darfur Coalition – an alliance of more than 180 faith-based, advocacy and human rights organizations – raises public awareness about the ongoing genocide in Darfur and mobilizes a unified response to the atrocities that threaten the lives of people throughout the Darfur region. The coalition’s member organizations represent 130 million people of all ages, races, religions and political affiliations united together to help the people of Darfur. For more information on the coalition, please visit www.SaveDarfur.org.

About American Jewish World Service: American Jewish World Service (AJWS) is an international development organization motivated by Judaism's imperative to pursue justice. AJWS is dedicated to alleviating poverty, hunger and disease among the people of the developing world regardless of race, religion or nationality. Through grants to grassroots organizations, volunteer service, advocacy and education, AJWS fosters civil society, sustainable development and human rights for all people, while promoting the values and responsibilities of global citizenship within the Jewish community.

About Enough: Enough is a project of the Center for American Progress to end genocide and crimes against humanity. Founded in 2007, Enough focuses on crises in Sudan, Chad, eastern Congo, northern Uganda, Somalia, and Zimbabwe. Enough’s strategy papers and briefings provide sharp field analysis and targeted policy recommendations based on a “3P” crisis response strategy: promoting durable peace, providing civilian protection, and punishing perpetrators of atrocities. Enough works with concerned citizens, advocates, and policy makers to prevent, mitigate, and resolve these crises. For more information, please visit www.enoughproject.org/.

Obama Needs to Make Sudan a Priority in 2010

Submitted by Patrick Furey on January 8, 2010 - 1:08pm.
in
Date: 
Jan 8, 2010

      

For Immediate Release
January 8, 2010
Contact
Eileen White Read, 202.641.0779
eread@enoughproject.org
 

Obama Needs to Make Sudan a Priority in 2010:
Fifth Anniversary of Peace Agreement Highlights Urgent Requirement for High-Level Engagement

The signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, or CPA, five years ago was a monumental achievement by the Sudanese parties and by the international community. The CPA ended more than two decades of civil war between Sudan's North and South and set forth a roadmap and timetable for the democratic transformation of the country.

However, five years after the peace was signed, the notion of democratic transformation of Sudan has been abandoned by the ruling National Congress Party and the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement, and the potential for a return to all-out war before or after the 2011 self-determination referendum for southern Sudan is more real than ever.

Without high-level engagement by the Obama administration and its international partners, including robust use of pressures and incentives necessary to alter the current calculations of the parties -- the kind of engagement that yielded the signing of the CPA -- the international community must prepare to accept the consequences of a destabilized and volatile Sudan for years to come.

"The time has come to impose multilateral consequences for actions and decisions that will lead Sudan back to full-scale war," says Enough Co-founder John Prendergast. "President Obama must make the difficult choices to begin ratcheting up pressure, particularly on the ruling NCP, and to build a coalition of countries willing to join the United States in pressuring the parties for peace. Without demonstrating that kind of multilateral resolve, a return to war is inevitable. There must be a cost to war-mongering."

"The international community cannot afford to look the other way as Sudan faces a year fraught with flashpoints that threaten to derail the peace agreement," argues Enough's Juba-based field researcher Maggie Fick. "The people of Sudan have lost confidence in the CPA as a vehicle for a peaceful and democratic future in Sudan, and neither side is working in good faith toward this future."

"The Obama administration has helped secure a number of agreements between the NCP and the SPLM in recent months, but there remains an incredible amount of work that still needs to be done; time is painfully short, and the international community is far from achieving a unified approach to Sudan. That makes for a very dangerous recipe in the days ahead, and the international community must recognize the enormous risks they will take on in Sudan and in the region absent internationally coordinated pressure on all sides to adhere to their commitments," says Enough Executive Director John Norris. "The United States must follow through on its benchmarks-based approach to assessing the progress of the Sudanese parties in their implementation of the CPA and adopt a much more aggressive peacemaking effort in Darfur."

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Enough is a project of the Center for American Progress to end genocide and crimes against humanity. Founded in 2007, Enough focuses on crises in Sudan, Chad, eastern Congo, northern Uganda, Somalia, and Zimbabwe. Enough’s strategy papers and briefings provide sharp field analysis and targeted policy recommendations based on a “3P” crisis response strategy: promoting durable peace, providing civilian protection, and punishing perpetrators of atrocities. Enough works with concerned citizens, advocates, and policy makers to prevent, mitigate, and resolve these crises. The RAISE Hope for Congo campaign aims to build a permanent and diverse constituency of activists advocating for effective change in eastern Congo, including an end to the long-running conflict and the resulting sexual violence against women and girls, and reforms to reduce trade by rebel groups in conflict minerals. To schedule an interview, please contact Eileen White Read at eread@enoughproject.org; phone 202 641 0779.

STRATEGY PAPER: Stealing an Election in Slow Motion: Time for Real Consequences

Submitted by Zack Brisson on December 21, 2009 - 3:08pm.
in
Date: 
Dec 21, 2009

 

For Immediate Release
December 21, 2009
Contact
Eileen White Read, 202.641.0779
eread@enoughproject.org
 
Read the strategy paper. 

Sudan’s national elections scheduled for April 2010 will be neither free nor fair absent significant international pressure on the ruling National Congress Party, or NCP, to change the electoral landscape. The Enough Project's latest strategy paper, "Stealing an election in Slow Motion: Time for Real Consequences," argues that the Obama administration must immediately impose consequences on the NCP and be prepared not to recognize the outcome if elections are held in the current climate of violence and political intimidation.
"The first step in ramping up meaningful pressure would be for the U.S. to suspend its support for anything but the local election monitors who will help determine the credibility--or lack thereof--of the process ," said John Prendergast, Enough's founder and the report's author. "Business as usual has to end.  There should be no veneer of legitimacy for a process that lacks any credibility."
The recent crackdown by the NCP on senior opposition politicians and the use of tear-gas on pro-democracy protesters demonstrates in no uncertain terms that the basic requirements of credible elections have not been met.  “The U.S. and other donors to the electoral process need to stand up and conclude that the Emperor is as naked as he ever was, and blow the whistle now on this deadly charade,” says Prendergast.
Credible elections in Darfur are impossible given rampant insecurity and attacks on civilians and the displacement of the majority of Darfur’s population, and elections in the South could intensify inter-communal and political tensions. “A stolen election would be the beginning of the end for the Comprehensive Peace Agreement," argues Prendergast.  "The NCP will almost certainly exploit what it would quickly claim was newfound 'democratic legitimacy' to prevent southern Sudanese from holding the self-determination referendum scheduled for 2011. If that happens, it would be fanciful to think that anything short of full-scale national war would result.”
"If nothing changes before April, U.S. taxpayers will have spent nearly $100 million to support the election of an indicted war-criminal and legitimize the iron-fisted rule of one of the world’s most oppressive regimes," says Enough Executive Director John Norris. "In this context, it is time to alter course in bold and specific ways in order to avert what could be the deadliest conflagration in Sudan’s war-torn post-colonial history."
Read the strategy paper. 
Visit the Enough Project’s blog, Enough Said, for updates on this issue.

Follow The Enough Project on Twitter: http://twitter.com/enoughproject.
Enough is a project of the Center for American Progress to end genocide and crimes against humanity. Founded in 2007, Enough focuses on crises in Sudan, Chad, eastern Congo, northern Uganda, Somalia, and Zimbabwe. Enough’s strategy papers and briefings provide sharp field analysis and targeted policy recommendations based on a “3P” crisis response strategy: promoting durable peace, providing civilian protection, and punishing perpetrators of atrocities. Enough works with concerned citizens, advocates, and policy makers to prevent, mitigate, and resolve these crises. The RAISE Hope for Congo campaign aims to build a permanent and diverse constituency of activists advocating for effective change in eastern Congo, including an end to the long-running conflict and the resulting sexual violence against women and girls, and reforms to reduce trade by rebel groups in conflict minerals. To schedule an interview, please contact Eileen White Read at eread@enoughproject.org; phone 202 641 0779.
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