With M23 on the run, DRC has golden opportunity for peace
November 5, 2013 5 min. read

Mouvement du 23-Mars (M23) rebels fled their stronghold in Bunaguna, a small town in the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on the border with Uganda, the rebel movement’s political leader, Bertrand Bisimwa, called for a ceasefire to end all hostilities. While fighting is ongoing, as Congolese government troops (FARDC) continue to […]

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Africa Showing Zero Tolerance for Organized Terror
May 24, 2013 5 min. read

Nigeria increased its offensive last week against the insurgence group Boko Haram in an attempt to reclaim the northwest region where the rebel group has attempted to carve out an Islamic state for the last four years. The conflict has left more than 3,000 people dead and thousands living in a state of fear as […]

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U.N. offensive operation in DRC a long time coming
April 11, 2013 5 min. read

  In March, the United Nations Security Council came to a uaminous and monumental decision by approving an intervention brigade through Resolution 2098, which permits the use of offensive tactics against the M23 rebels and other  militia groups operating in the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The U.N. continues to maintain its […]

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The Day the Terminator Walked into the Embassy
March 20, 2013 4 min. read

After nearly two decades of conflict, the Democratic Republic of the Congo makes a regular appearance in international news. The most recent chapter of the story is the conflict between the Congolese government and the M23 rebel group which started in April 2012. The back and forth fighting since then displaced more than 300,000 people […]

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The Congo and Why Obama Should Repudiate Clinton Policies
March 20, 2013 18 min. read

by S.N. Sangmpam One item that dominated American politics after President Obama’s re-election was the opposition by Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham to Susan Rice, the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., as Obama’s presumptive nominee for Secretary of State.  They opposed her on the ground that she misled the public about the attack […]

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Regional Peace to Settle Violence in the DRC Shows Progress? Not so Fast
February 28, 2013 7 min. read

On Sunday, February 24, 2013, a regional peace accord was agreed upon in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, by 11 African nations from both the Great Lakes region and Southern Africa in an attempt to finally end two decades of conflict that have plagued most sections of the war-riddled country, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), particularly its mineral-rich eastern provinces. Appropriately labeled […]

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Solving Problems Internally Provides Positive Outlook for Africa
January 4, 2013 4 min. read

“We must start from the simple premise that Africa’s future is up to Africans.” This simple sentence came from a speech given by U.S. President Barack Obama in Ghana in 2009. Never has this premise rung more true than right now. As Africa faces imminent threats in several regional situations, the trend seems to be […]

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Name changes, killing continues
December 28, 2012 6 min. read

It was Zaire then. As I sat along the shore of Lake Tanganyika in Bujumbura, Burundi,   I marveled at the moment. Baby hippos splashed playfully in the water as their adults looked carefully from across the way. The sun set with purples and yellows and pinks, in rays shooting up to the sky in sharp […]

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Peace in the DRC Not Feasible until Tensions between Tutsis and Hutus are Resolved
December 21, 2012 5 min. read

As peace talks commenced almost a week ago in Kampala, Uganda, the prospects of a lasting agreement between the rebel group M23 and the central government in Kinshasa seemed more of a ‘pipe dream’ then an actuality. The Democratic Republic of Congo has been down this road a multitude of times in the last 15 years with […]

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New War in Eastern DRC: A Snapshot at U.N. Ineffectiveness in Settling Conflict
November 27, 2012 6 min. read

On November 20th, the M23 rebels entered Goma, the capital of the North Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) — positioned on the border of Rwanda and the shores of Lake Kivu. By seizing the city with a population of one million people, the rebels struck their biggest blow since they mutinied […]

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Government in Kinshasa Also to Blame for Ongoing Violence in the DRC
November 15, 2012 5 min. read

  Fighting resumed today between the M23 rebels — now calling themselves the Congolese Revolutionary Army — and government troops just outside of Goma in the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), ending a two-month ceasefire for the conflict that began in April of this year. While much of the attention […]

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Can the U.N. Security Council Reform?
October 22, 2012 6 min. read

As the rebellion in Syria languishes on with little attention from the international community, a confidential report authored by the U.N. Security Council’s Group of Experts was leaked to Reuters. This is not the first time such a “leak” has occurred, which implicates the credibility of the Group of Experts or the U.N. itself. The […]

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