Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 6, 2012

Contact: Tracy Fehr, tfehr@enoughproject.org, +1 937-902-9587

ADDIS ABABA –Yesterday, representatives from Sudan and South Sudan recommenced negotiations following a week-long break for high-level political consultations in Juba and Khartoum. As the August 2 deadline imposed by the African Union and U.N. for the conclusion of the negotiation process approaches, one thing is certain: time is running short and the only viable mechanism for consolidating peace and security between the two Sudans remains the conclusion of a comprehensive agreement inclusive of all outstanding North-South issues, according to a new Enough Project report.

The report reviews conversations that took place during the last round of negotiations and examines the recent pace of the overall negotiation process. It also questions whether it is possible for the two countries to reach a comprehensive agreement—inclusive of all outstanding issues, namely, security-related matters, the definition and demarcation of the north-south border, financial and oil issues, citizenship, and the final status of the Abyei area—before August 2.

"For there to be any hope of the two parties concluding a comprehensive agreement ahead of the August 2 deadline, negotiations on all outstanding North-South issues must immediately recommence alongside continued discussions concerning the demilitarized border zone and the mechanism for determining the final definition of the North-South border," said Jenn Christian, author of the report and Enough Project Sudan Policy Analyst. "Letting the August 2 deadline lapse without the conclusion of a comprehensive agreement risks the creation of greater insecurity and uncertainty along the north-south border, while leaving unresolved issues critical to the two Sudans' economic viability. Khartoum and Juba, with the support of the international community, must act immediately to ensure that this scenario does not occur."

In addition to the North-South negotiations, the report calls for a North-North negotiation track between the Sudanese government and the Sudan Revolutionary Front, or SRF. It argues that it is difficult to see the conclusion of a sustainable, comprehensive North-South agreement without the commencement of measurable gains within a second North-North track, which should focus on a ceasefire agreement between Sudan government forces and the Sudan Revolutionary Front, unrestricted access for humanitarian aid, and transitional political arrangements paving the way for all-inclusive democratic elections.

Read the Full Dispatch: A Comprehensive Agreement for the Two Sudans? Is It Possible?

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Enough is a project of the Center for American Progress to end genocide and crimes against humanity. Founded in 2007, the Enough Project 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.

Joint Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Jonathan Hutson, Enough Project, jhutson@enoughproject.org, +1-202-386-1618

Patrick Loum, Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative, lumatrick@gmail.com, +256-772-929-641

Kenneth Oketta, Ker Kwaro Acholi, kerkwaroacholi@gmail.com, +256-772-590-233

Human Rights Groups, African Civic Leaders Urge Uganda to Reinstate LRA Amnesty, Promote Accountability

WASHINGTON and GULU – On June 25, a coalition of 22 civil society organizations and leaders in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and the United States issued a statement urging the Government of Uganda to reinstate amnesty and promote accountability for Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA, rebels. Since the enactment of the Act in 2000, more than 26,000 former Ugandan rebels have received amnesty, of which approximately 13,000 are former LRA rebels.

On May 23, the Ugandan Minister of Internal Affairs announced the lapse of a key provision of the country’s Amnesty Act. Part II of the Act, which provided for the granting of amnesty to former rebels, was allowed to expire while the rest of the Act was renewed for 12 months.

"There is a critical window now to finally end the 25 year-long LRA war, and a key step on the path to peace is to encourage LRA combatants to lay down their arms," said John Bradshaw, Enough Project Executive Director. "The Obama administration should urge the Ugandan government to refrain from prosecuting any LRA fighters not indicted by the International Criminal Court and consider granting them amnesty provided they go through a truth-telling transitional justice process."

More than 30,000 LRA combatants have been abducted as children and forced against their will to fight and commit horrific atrocities.

"We want the Amnesty Act in place until a comprehensive law is in place for the transitional justice system to work," said Kenneth Oketta, Prime Minister for Ker Kwaro Acholi, a northern Ugandan cultural organization. "Abductees are still in captivity."

Although the LRA is no longer in Uganda, the group has continued to perpetrate grave human rights violations against civilians and pose a threat to stability in the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic, or CAR.

"We have messages being aired in DRC, CAR and South Sudan where we are asking the rebels to take advantage of the Amnesty Act and come home," said Archbishop John Baptist Odama of the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative. "Removing amnesty will completely undermine these efforts."

The communique also calls for the adoption of additional procedures to promote greater accountability and reconciliation. The Ugandan government is obligated to promote reconciliation within the nation under the Ugandan constitution, Part III of the Amnesty Act, and the peace agreement relating to accountability and reconciliation signed by the government and the LRA.

Read the full statement.

Accompanying Background PDF on the Amnesty Act.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Tracy Fehr, tfehr@enoughproject.org, +1 937-902-9587

ABYEI TOWN, Abyei -- The withdrawal of Sudan Armed Forces, or SAF, from Abyei town in early June has paved the way for potential large-scale returns of the estimated 110,000 mostly Ngok Dinka population who were displaced from the disputed, oil-producing region of Abyei in the May 2011 Sudan government incursion.

Humanitarian aid workers report that approximately 1,250 people have returned to Abyei town, and project that some 30,000 Ngok Dinka will return over the next few months. This anticipated influx of civilians, according to a new Enough Project report, underscores the urgency for leaders in Sudan and South Sudan to reach a final solution on the status of Abyei and for humanitarian assistance to be in place.

“The same political tensions that have already resulted in two large-scale attacks on the civilian population in Abyei continue to exist, and will continue to threaten the safety and security of the now returning civilians until a decision on Abyei's final status is reached," said Amanda Hsiao, the report’s author and Enough Project field researcher. The report, "Field Dispatch: Abyei in Flux," is based on field research conducted in Abyei earlier this month, and includes an accompanying photo slideshow.

The Ethiopian U.N. peacekeeping force that was deployed to defuse the tensions surrounding the May crisis has since stabilized the Abyei area, despite the traditionally volatile migration season and larger Sudan-South Sudan tensions along the border, according to the report. Reconciliation of the deeply strained relations between the Misseriya and Ngok Dinka communities at the grassroots will also be critical for sustaining peace in Abyei going forward. 

International pressure in the form of the U.N. Security Council Resolution 2046 and the African Union roadmap has ignited some momentum in negotiations between Sudan and South Sudan, but the two countries remain at an impasse over a number of key issues, including over Abyei. An estimated 100 Sudanese oil police remain within the Abyei area.

"The long overdue withdrawal of Sudan government forces from Abyei town will permit civilians finally to return home and the reconstruction of the devastated area to begin," Hsiao said. "Until a decision is reached between Juba and Khartoum, the international community should help establish the necessary political, security, and humanitarian arrangements to ensure stability is maintained and humanitarian needs of the population are met in the interim."

During the May 2011 incursion, Sudan government forces engaged in indiscriminate bombardment and widespread razing and looting of civilian properties, documented by the Enough Project and the Satellite Sentinel Project.

Read the full report: “Field Dispatch: Abyei in Flux”

View a slideshow of images from Abyei. Photos are available for media use. Please credit Amanda Hsiao/Enough Project.

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Enough is a project of the Center for American Progress to end genocide and crimes against humanity. Founded in 2007, the Enough Project 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.

Joint Press Release (PDF Version)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:

Jana Morgan, Global Witness, Jmorgan@globalwitness.org, +1-703-795-8542

Jonathan Hutson, Enough Project, jhutson@enoughproject.org, +1-202-386-1618

Industry should follow the positive steps taken by Microsoft, General Electric (GE) and Motorola Solutions

WASHINGTON, DC and LONDON -- Human rights groups in the US and the UK are calling on leading electronics and automotive companies to make public statements against the position taken by the US Chamber of Commerce (the Chamber) on conflict minerals, or cut ties with the organization.  The Chamber has made threats to overturn a key section of the Dodd-Frank Act designed to curb the deadly trade in conflict minerals from eastern Congo. The rights groups are calling on companies including Acer, AT&T, Canon, Dell, Ford, HP, IBM, Intel, Motorola Mobility, Panasonic, RIM (Blackberry), Verizon and Xerox to take this action.

The call comes in the weeks after Microsoft, General Electric and Motorola Solutions broke from the Chamber’s position, announcing they do not support its stance against Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which aims to break the link between the global trade in minerals and violence in eastern DRC.

“Human rights advocates applaud Microsoft, GE and Motorola Solutions for taking a stand on this life-or-death issue,” said Sasha Lezhnev, Senior Policy Analyst at the Enough Project.  “Other leading electronics, automotive, and jewelry companies must now follow their lead.”

In May, the UK-based Business and Human Rights Resource Centre wrote to prominent electronics and automotive companies and asked them to clarify their positions on Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Act. Microsoft took a leadership position when it stated, “Microsoft has expressed support for the SEC’s prompt action on this rulemaking and we do not support or fund the Chamber’s lobbying against the proposed rules.”  General Electric, meanwhile, responded that “the views and positions expressed by the Chamber are its own, and not GE’s.”  Motorola Solutions stated that “The views and positions expressed by the Chamber on conflict minerals are not our own.”

Other electronics companies, notably AT&T, Dell, HP, IBM, Intel, Motorola Mobility and Verizon, responded but declined to answer the question about the discrepancy between their public positions as companies in supporting action to tackle conflict minerals and their involvement with the Chamber and the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). Ford and Xerox declined to respond at all.

“Leading companies at the center of the international debate on conflict minerals appear to be trying to have their cake and eat it too,” said Jana Morgan of Global Witness. “They can’t pledge support for efforts to stamp out the trade in conflict minerals in Congo, while simultaneously supporting the Chamber; an association employing lobbyists to gut the law. These companies must disassociate themselves from the Chamber of Commerce’s position on conflict minerals.”

“Consumers have made it plain to companies that they want conflict-free products to come to market, and stand ready to reward those companies that are doing their utmost to achieve that goal,” said Fred Kramer, Executive Director of Jewish World Watch. “Those same consumers will be sorely disappointed to learn that otherwise proactive companies are at the same time hedging their bets by quietly supporting the Chamber.”

Notes to editors:

1. The following organizations have signed on to this statement: The Conflict Free Campus Initiative, Congo Action Now, Earthworks, The Enough Project, Global Witness, Jewish World Watch, and STAND.

2. The trade in conflict minerals from eastern Congo provides financing to armed groups that have terrorized the region’s civilian population for over a decade, fueling the world’s deadliest war since World War II, with over 5.4 million people dead. In response, Congress included a provision in the Dodd Frank Act – Section 1502 – which requires companies that use tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold to carry out due diligence on their supply chains and report publicly on the steps they have taken.

3.  Electronics industry associations, the Electronics Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC) and the Global E-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI), as well as other leading companies, have publicly supported measures to deal with conflict minerals.  However, lobbyists such as the US Chamber of Commerce and NAM have fought to weaken Section 1502, and the Chamber has said it is considering legal action to block it. Some members of EICC and GeSI, as well as other major firms involved in efforts to address the conflict minerals trade, are also members or funders of the US Chamber of Commerce, and in some cases NAM. 

4. The Enough Project has urged companies and the Chamber to support section 1502 since October 2011, with the Step Up for 1502 campaign which led to thousands of consumers writing on the Facebook walls of Dell, Panasonic, Acer, Canon, and the US Chamber. Global Witness wrote a commentary on the issue in May 2012 and the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre invited businesses concerned to respond with their comments.

5. Links between leading companies and the US Chamber of Commerce and National Association of Manufacturers:

• Dell is a member of the US Chamber of Commerce.
• From 2008-2010 Intel is reported to have donated over US$750,000 to the Chamber of Commerce and approximately US$535,000 to the National Association of Manufacturers.[1]
• IBM is on the Board of the Chamber of Commerce, on the Board of the Chamber’s Business Civic Leadership Center (BCLC) and the Board of the Chamber’s Institute for a Competitive Workforce (ICW).
• Verizon is on the Board of the Chamber of Commerce and the Board of the National Association of Manufacturers.
• HP was previously on the Board of the National Association of Manufacturers.[2]
• Motorola Mobility is on the Board of the Chamber’s Business Civic Leadership Center (BCLC).
• Over the last three years Microsoft has contributed almost US$425,000 to the US Chamber of Commerce.[3]
• General Electric is a member of the Chamber of Commerce.
• From 2007-2009 Xerox donated US$190,000 to the Chamber of Commerce and is a member of the board.[4]
• AT&T is on the Board of both the Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers.
• Ford is on the Board of the National Association of Manufacturers and is a member of the Chamber of Commerce.

ENOUGH PROJECT PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 22, 2012

Contact: Jonathan Hutson, jhutson@enoughproject.org, +1-202-386-1618

Coalition of Human Rights Groups Call for Full Disclosure of Evidence Linking Rwanda to Congo Rebellion

Washington – The Enough Project joined a coalition of human rights organizations, which includes Open Society Foundation and Humanity United, urging the U.S. government to pressure the U.N. Security Council to release all of the U.N. Group of Expert’s most recent findings related to Congo. The coalition sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday expressing concern that the publication of a crucial annex linking the government of Rwanda to the M23 mutiny in Congo was being postponed for political reasons.

Recent news reports state that the U.S. government has been a main proponent of holding back the complete report’s publication, despite strong protests from the Congolese government. In the letter, the human rights groups stated that any decision by the U.S. government to block or delay the full publication of the information would indicate that the U.S.’s commitment to prevent atrocities wherever they are committed, as affirmed by President Obama as recently as April, is wavering. The groups call for full disclosure of the report and its annex, which would represent an important contribution to peace in eastern Congo.

Read the full letter.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Jonathan Hutson, jhutson@enoughproject.org, +1-202-386-1618

WASHINGTON – Evidence of Rwandan support to the M23 rebellion in eastern Congo continues to surface while the release of the results of a recent investigation conducted by the U.N. Group of Experts on Congo linking Rwanda to the rebellion is being held up by wrangling within the U.N. Security Council. A new Enough Project report released today calls on the U.S. to ensure that the recent investigation into these allegations conducted by the Group of Experts is published in full and the implications for U.S. policy—including U.S. aid—fully examined.

The Enough Project report, “Rwanda’s Long Shadow:  U.S.-Rwandan Relations and a Path Forward in Eastern Congo,” seeks to broadly contextualize Rwandan involvement in eastern Congo and the implications for U.S. policy in the region.

The Enough Project calls on the U.S. and U.N. Security Council to ensure that the Group of Experts report is published immediately to help ascertain the extent of the government of Rwanda's involvement in the M23 rebellion in eastern Congo led by international war criminal Bosco Ntaganda. The government of Rwanda has a history of negatively intervening in eastern Congo, and will continue to do so to protect its own economic and security interests if action is not taken. 

“As a partner for peace in the Great Lakes Region, it is imperative that the U.S. be a leader in addressing the allegations leveled against Rwanda,” said Aaron Hall, author of the report and Associate Director of Research at the Enough Project. “The ongoing environment of impunity and humanitarian crisis in eastern Congo demand that the Security Council takes full consideration of all available information. The role of Rwandan intervention can no longer be dismissed or discussed with vagaries. There must be accountability.”   

Thus far, the government of Rwanda has intervened in Congolese affairs with little to no repercussion and resulting in further instability. It is time for the U.S. and the international community to send Rwanda a clear message that violating international law and breaching Congolese national sovereignty is no longer acceptable. 

Sasha Lezhnev, Enough Project Senior Policy Analyst, said, “Given the seriousness of the allegations that Rwanda has been supporting one of the main rebellions causing this violence in Congo, the M23, any and all evidence must be brought to light immediately. The U.S., U.K. and other Security Council members should give robust, high-level support and further staff to the U.N. Group of Experts’ critical investigation."

Read the full report: “Rwanda’s Long Shadow: U.S.-Rwandan Relations and a Path Forward in Eastern Congo”

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Enough is a project of the Center for American Progress to end genocide and crimes against humanity. Founded in 2007, the Enough Project 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.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As the U.N. Security Council reassesses the mandate for the world’s second largest peacekeeping operation, the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or MONUSCO, it must address the serious gap in the implementation of its civilian protection strategy. MONUSCO’s next mandate, due for renewal on June 30, 2012, must allow the mission to deploy an early warning human rights monitoring service, improve patrols to go out into communities, and create rapid reaction Joint Protection Teams, according to a new Enough Project brief.

Enough Project Senior Policy Analyst Sasha Lezhnev said:

“The world’s second largest peacekeeping mission is failing to protect civilians and angering Congolese people on the ground. Because MONUSCO takes days to deploy to villages that have been attacked, people are left vulnerable, and massacres such as the May 13 killing of 37 people in Kamananga are the result. Unless there are serious changes, taxpayers’ money is wasted on these efforts. MONUSCO is too fixed in its bases to provide adequate protection. The U.S., France, and the U.K. need to give MONUSCO a wake-up call and ensure it deploys an early warning service inside vulnerable communities. Last year, the early warning system was cut. The result? Locals rioted after a massacre and left seven peacekeepers seriously injured. That is not protection.”

Enough Researcher Fidel Bafilemba said:

“Overall, the failure of the UN to deal with the FDLR rebellion, as a major factor in regional instability, allows for the eastern Congo crisis to fester. The optimal longer term change in MONUSCO’s mandate would be to empower and support it, in coordination with the region, to end the FDLR threat along the lines of the ‘Artemis’ model, when French peacekeepers adopted a more robust stance in Ituri.”

The brief calls on the U.N. Security Council to have MONUSCO deploy an early warning human rights monitoring service based in vulnerable communities to report incidents in real time as they happen. The service should be well resourced and include at least 10 people for each of the 16 territories in the Kivus, including the UNHCR Protection Monitors program and the Community Liaison Assistance Program.

The briefing also emphasizes that patrols should venture into the most vulnerable communities, instead of the current strategy of staying on the main roads where militia fighters are least likely to operate. It also stresses that the MONUSCO Joint Protection Teams should be sent to communities immediately following a reported incident.

Read the Enough Project brief, “MONUSCO—Protection of Civilians: Three Recommended Improvements,” URL: http://www.enoughproject.org/publications/monusco%E2%80%94protection-civilians-three-recommended-improvements

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Enough is a project of the Center for American Progress to end genocide and crimes against humanity. Founded in 2007, the Enough Project 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.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: press@enoughproject.org

Mobile: (+1) 937-902-9587

Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo and Washington, D.C. -- Recent reports by Human Rights Watch and the United Nations have uncovered a scandal in central Africa: that Rwanda has allegedly been aiding and abetting the M-23 rebellion in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo with recruits, weapons, and ammunition. If proven true, these allegations are in violation of several international laws and agreements.

In response to these allegations, the Enough Project released this statement:

The Enough Project calls on the United States and United Kingdom, which have been Rwanda’s most prominent allies and robust international donors, to recognize the recent reports’ allegations and immediately launch a transparent international investigation into Rwanda’s involvement in the conflict in eastern Congo. Based on the outcomes of that investigation, the U.S, U.K., and other donors should review their current policy on aid structures and support to Kigali to send a clear signal that manipulation of security and political structures in eastern Congo is unacceptable.

This should be combined with a new focus on how to bring the Rwandan Hutu militia FDLR to an end, thus removing Rwanda's main stated reason for its continuing security interest in eastern Congo.

For years, the U.S. and other donor countries have overlooked Rwanda's interventions in eastern Congo, focusing instead on positive gains in development policy and economic growth within Rwanda without asking questions about how those economic gains have been generated. However, these most recent allegations of Rwanda's efforts to maintain a foothold in the Kivus cannot be ignored.  

Yesterday’s statement from the U.S. Department of State on the situation in eastern Congo fails to address the gravity of the allegations against Rwanda. Further, the statement shows no indication of the U.S. taking additional steps to investigate, despite the hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. taxpayer-funded initiatives to mitigate the conflict and ongoing humanitarian crisis in eastern Congo.

Read the full blog post published by the Enough Project Team.

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Enough is a project of the Center for American Progress to end genocide and crimes against humanity. Founded in 2007, the Enough Project 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.