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Standing Up Against Censorship

Zack Brisson — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:46:50 +0000

Today is World Day Against Cyber Censorship. In a world of anonymous commenting, pirated movies, and 4chan, some may ask, what is cyber censorship? It manifests itself in a variety of forms, and this week The New York Times and others highlighted the removal of certain censorships that prohibited technology companies from exporting their products and services to Sudan, Iran, and Cuba.

If you happened to catch the news stories, you would have seen this couched as the "lifting of certain sanctions" against these countries. The removal of such sanctions ostensibly allowed tech companies like Microsoft, Yahoo, and Twitter to begin offering locally customized versions of their services in these markets.

It would be logical to assume then that a person going online in one of these countries would have previously been unable to access Hotmail or send their latest Tweet off into the cloud. However, this is not actually the case and that should come as no surprise to anyone who recalls the State Department asking Twitter to delay scheduled maintenance last summer during the Iranian election. The nature of the internet is such that if an online product is publicly available on the web, anyone can access it from any location. That is, as long as their government or internet service provider does not censor the content, in the more palpable form of "cyber censorship" that many of us initially conjure up when we hear the term.

On World Day Against Cyber Censorship, it's important for us to see beyond these more obvious forms of cyber censorship and also examine subtler manifestations that are evidenced in such moves by the U.S. government. By previously barring consumer web companies from customizing their already accessible online products for these regions, the U.S. government was implicitly depriving these citizens of the means of expression that could prove so valuable. While the Obama administration has now realized the national security gains to be had from relaxing certain censorship, we should not forget that this happened only after these tools had been mainstream for years and could have been more effectively used in a variety of conflict zones had they been tailored to the local region when it mattered.

This reality is only more heartbreaking on the eve of the highly controversial Sudanese election. With less than a month before polling begins, it's unlikely that these platforms and services will be optimized for the small percentage of Sudanese civilians that could actually make use of them. Because of the quiet American cyber-censorship that has existed for years, activists and civil society members in Sudan will not have access to highly developed and optimized tools that could aid their efforts to form an effective democracy.

On World Day Against Cyber Censorship, let's call for an end to the notion that any government, for any reason, can or should restrict the right of global citizens to communicate and access information. For whatever reason, to whatever end, access to communication tools are a fundamental human right.

5 Best Stories You Might Have Missed This Week

Laura Heaton — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:25:51 +0000

Here at Enough, we often swap emails with interesting articles and feature stories that we come across in our favorite publications and on our favorite websites. We wanted to share some of these stories with you as part of our effort to keep you up to date on what you need to know in the world of anti-genocide and crimes against humanity work.

The International Rescue Committee created this short and catchy video to urge people to sign a petition calling on Congress to pass the International Violence Against Women Act. It’s very shareable, so pass it around in honor of International Women’s Day/Month.

Reporting from the Liberian capital of Monrovia, Doreen Carvajal of the New York Times highlighted the U.N. peacekeeping mission’s innovative approach to nation building in a post-conflict setting. At 14 percent, women peacekeepers in the Liberia mission represent the largest proportion of women in missions worldwide. Professor Gerard DeGroot, who has done extensive research on the influence of women in the military, explained the rationale:

“When female soldiers are present, the situation is closer to real life, and as a result the men tend to behave. Any conflict where you have an all-male army, it’s like a holiday from reality. If you inject women into that situation, they do have a civilizing effect.”

This State Department apology, covered by Foreign Policy, to the Libyan president is pretty funny. Mr. Crowley, we knew what you meant, but now that you mention it, your assessment of President Qaddafi’s performance at the U.N. General Assembly wasn’t so diplomatic.

Geoffrey York of the Globe and Mail blog Africa Diary offers an interesting discussion of the recent grenade attacks in Kigali, Rwanda through an interview with journalist Didas Gasana of the embattled weekly Umuseso. York describes one theory of the journalist:

Although he cannot prove it, [Gasana] believes there is a possibility that the grenade attacks were orchestrated by state intelligence agencies to justify a crackdown on electoral politics. It’s an uncomfortable question, but without the independent media in Rwanda there would be nobody to raise such questions.

Colum Lynch’s second edition of his new daily round-up over at Foreign Policy’s U.N. blog highlights a number of stories relevant to Enough, including coverage of the U.N.’s commemoration of International Women’s Day, Special Envoy Gration’s (distressing) suggestion that parties need to hustle through the Darfur peace process before full-time focus must be dedicated to Sudan’s elections, and a real zinger about my boss from the outgoing Sudanese ambassador to the U.N.

News Clips—Southern Sudan Edition

Maggie Fick — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:47:45 +0000

A definite advantage to being based in Juba for a researcher like me is having access to Sudanese news publications on a daily basis. There are a number of northern Sudanese papers available online in Arabic, in addition to a few popular online Sudan news sources in English (Sudantribune.com and Gurtong.net are good places to start, and see the blog Roving Bandit for some more links to mainly southern-focused sites).

However, the most widely read southern Sudanese papers are not available online. Reading these papers provides an excellent glimpse into the issues that southerners think are important. From op-eds to general news articles, papers like The Citizen (which is printed in Khartoum and flown down to Juba daily, because there is not yet a functioning printing press in Juba) present a southern perspective that is well worth paying attention to. Here are some clips from some local English language daily papers from the past week:

‘We as women, we are happy that [the] Government gave 25% [through the women’s party list procedure passed in the South Sudan Legislative Assembly]. However, still there are opportunities of upgrading it to 50% as long as the attainment of total peace is concerned in Southern Sudan and Sudan in general,’ said Mrs. Jennifer Babel, Chairlady for Women Union in Central Equatoria.
-- “Women call for peace building through gender equity,” (Juba Post, March 11-15)

…raising the problem of the Nile water with countries that share the water should be approached in a quiet and rational manner that takes into account the interest of all parties without discrimination and under the principle that negotiations are the best avenue no matter how great the problems are.
-- “The Nile Water predicament,” (The Ciitzen, March 8)

[In Central Equatoria] 50% in Juba expected Kiir to win because, according to them, power, the army and everything is in the hands of SPLM [the ruling party in the South]. The also believed that Kiir would be President of GoSS with or without elections.
--Selected results from public opinion poll conducted by Vision Center for Public Opinion Studies on prospects of candidates for the Presidency of the GoSS [360 people were polled in Upper Nile, Western Bahr-al-Ghazal, Jonglei and Central Equatoria states] (The Citizen, March 3)

Some people and political parties are continuously calling for the delay of the coming elections for more preparation and for the participation of the Darfur region. I also ask why not delay the elections if there is the possibility of the participation of Darfur! I also prefer the delay of the elections, but there needs doubling [of] the political efforts to solve the Darfur crisis during that period.
--“New Dawn” column by Ahmed Adam titled “Current political issues,” (Khartoum Monitor, March 6)

A magazine called The Parliamentarian provides yet another perspective. Its Editor-in-Chief is Dr. Julia Aker Duany, a respected southern Sudanese scholar and current under-secretary of the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs in the Government of Southern Sudan. In her “Editor’s Notes” from the January edition of the magazine, Dr. Duany writes:

One item that I can unequivocally state is that in the Sudan there is never a dull moment…Unlike all of the political punditry online, local, and international media have stated, Sudan has not fallen back into a chaotic war, residing into the depths of a failed state. We are not perfect, by any means, but we are managing our delicate relationship in this experiment called the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

As the elections approach and the campaign season continues at full swing, I’ll try to post clips from local papers from time to time to highlight the array of opinions from southern Sudanese media on the polls.

Photo: Journalist Nhial Deng at the Juba office of the newspaper The Citizen (Enough/Laura Heaton)

Sudan Is Still Up to No Good

John Norris — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:11:12 +0000

This post originally appeared today on Foreign Policy.

The Lord's Resistance Army has come to Darfur, Sudan, and that is not good news for anyone. The Lord's Resistance Army is a vicious militia led by self-proclaimed messiah Joseph Kony, and though he does not appear to be with the contingent that has moved into Darfur, Kony is widely and rightly regarded as one of the most heinous war criminals still on the loose in the entire world.

The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has long operated as a hybrid between a cult and a rebel army. Kony and the LRA originally sprang up in northern Uganda and waged a brutal campaign trying to overthrow that country's government. Millions of Ugandans fled the fighting, and the LRA engaged in virtually every depravity known in warfare. The LRA's ranks have been swelled with kidnapped child soldiers, girls are regularly treated as sex slaves, and innocent civilians are maimed and killed in a fashion too brutal to describe.

In recent years, Kony and his forces have fallen on harder times, though their brutality has not diminished. Dislodged from northern Uganda, Kony and his troops first fled into northeastern Congo and
then the Central African Republic. However, the Ugandan army -- with quiet assistance from the United States -- has remained in dogged pursuit of Kony and his forces. The LRA is a relatively small force these days, probably numbering less than 1,000 hard-core fighters who remain loyal to Kony, but it is still causing mayhem and suffering well disproportionate to its size. Kony and his men have killed around 2,000 civilians in the last year and driven another 450,000 from their homes. Although the Ugandan offensive against Kony has suffered some significant missteps along the way, it has put increasing pressure on the LRA.

Just this week, the Enough Project learned from multiple, credible sources in the field that elements of the LRA had crossed into Darfur. These forces appear to be seeking safe haven under the protection of the Sudanese military, and Sudan's notorious president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, has been a longtime LRA patron, so this does not come as a surprise. Clearly, Kony and his deputies believe that Sudan is one of the few places left where the Ugandan army will not pursue them, and they are likely increasingly desperate.

The even larger story is what all of this says about Sudan and Bashir at a time when U.S. diplomacy has been geared to striking a new tone in the relationship. Although Bashir has been eager to portray himself as willing to repair relations with the world after last year's International Criminal Court indictment, and the United States in particular, giving safe haven to the LRA is yet another slap at Darfuris, at Washington, and at fundamental human decency. The evidence clearly suggests that advance LRA scouts coordinated with Sudanese armed forces well in advance of the LRA's arrival in Darfur, and it seems implausible that local Sudanese armed forces commanders would welcome the group in Darfur without seeking approval from Khartoum, including Bashir. There are also suggestions that the LRA has received direct logistical support from the Sudanese army since arriving in Darfur.

Click here to continue reading.

Photo: Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir

Field Dispatch: The Arrow Boys of Southern Sudan

Laura Heaton — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:00:59 +0000

During our recent trip through southern Sudan, focused on capturing individual stories that help illustrate the challenges people there currently face, Enough’s South Sudan researcher Maggie Fick and I were intrigued by a relatively new actor in the fight against the Lord’s Resistance Army near Sudan’s border with Congo and the Central African Republic – a local defense force known as the Arrow Boys.

While the loose-knit, meagerly armed group may not seem like a good match to the ruthless fighters of the LRA, many people we met – from civilians displaced by LRA attacks, local and state government representatives, church officials, and aid workers – say the Arrow Boys play an indispensable role in protecting civilians in the region. In an Enough Field Dispatch published today, we examine the need for the Arrow Boys and the strategies they use, and we discuss the concerns that quickly arise when a new armed group emerges in a volatile corner of Sudan.

Here’s a glimpse:

The regional leader of the Arrow Boys, who asked for his name not to be used for security reasons, explained that after watching the LRA ravage their communities, southern Sudanese men and boys decided to respond.

“Very many people have died, and many others have had to flee their homes. […] We came with the mind of how to provide security for those that are here and end that threat [of the LRA],” he said.

“When I saw that kind of killing—they could crash the heads of your sons and daughters so they can’t even be recognized—it pained my heart,” said the leader of one group of Arrow Boys. “It depends on the heart. Any boy can be an Arrow Boy,” he said.

Click here to read the full dispatch.

Senate Passes LRA Bill, As LRA Finds Safe Haven in Sudan

Laura Heaton — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:31:13 +0000

The Senate bill aimed at devising a strategy for stopping the brutal, 24-year insurgency by the Lord’s Resistance Army passed last night with a record 65 co-sponsors. After weeks of uncertainty when Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn (R) put a hold on the bill, the victory for anti-LRA activists – a contingent of whom camped out in front of Coburn’s office for 11 days – is particularly poignant.

In a statement issued by lead co-sponsors and longtime champions on the LRA issue, Senators Feingold (D-WI), Brownback (R-KS), and Inhofe (R-OK) noted the delay in passing the bill but were enthusiastic about the outcome. Feingold said:

“The passage of this bill sends a message that the United States will no longer stand by and watch the Lord’s Resistance Army terrorize innocent civilians across central Africa, kidnap thousands of children and force them to become child soldiers. This legislation also sends a clear signal that the United States is committed to working with regional stakeholders to change the conditions that have allowed this war to persist for so long."

Brownback expressed his gratitude to Senate colleagues for appreciating the importance and urgency of the bill, and Inhofe called last night’s affirmative vote a “victory for the countless lives destroyed at the hands of [LRA leader] Joseph Kony.”

But even as Enough, along with advocacy partners Resolve Uganda and Invisible Children, celebrate this progress in Congress, new alarming reports have emerged that a dangerous contingent of the LRA has made its way to Darfur. Based on field research and analysis, Enough confirmed today that a group of LRA fighters have found safe haven in areas of Darfur controlled by the Sudanese government. This development – signaling renewed collusion between Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and LRA leader Joseph Kony, both wanted war criminals – demands investigation by U.S. policymakers and the international community.

Enough Co-founder John Prendergast reacted to the news in a press release issued this morning:

"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."

Amid news of the passage of the Senate LRA bill and revelations about the insurgency spreading to Darfur, Enough’s LRA researcher Ledio Cakaj published his latest report documenting abuses by both the LRA and the Congolese army on civilians in northeastern Congo. It’s a damning look at how civilians bear the brunt of the violence from both sides, while the U.N. mission remains relatively futile when it comes to protecting civilians. The report is a sobering reminder of what’s likely in store for the already traumatized people of Darfur as the LRA continues its march north. It is also a compelling case for why last night’s passage of the Senate LRA bill couldn’t have come soon enough. Now we must focus attention on pushing the companion bill through the House.

North Kivu: An Update from the “Great North”

Olivia Caeymaex — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:29:00 +0000

GOMA, North Kivu Province, Congo -- North Kivu province is split into two administrative regions. The Petit Nord in the south and the Grand Nord in the north. Most of the violence that you read about in North Kivu happens in the Petit Nord, where the poorly integrated Congolese army, the FDLR, and other militias prey upon civilians. I traveled recently to Grand Nord—to a town called Beni near the Ugandan border—to better understand the security situation there and the threats facing civilians.

Since the formal end of the regional war that ripped through eastern Congo from 1998 to 2002, Beni has been hit by bouts of violence, but has avoided the chronic instability that plagues areas farther south. Although the security situation in Beni is relatively calm, armed groups there do create instability which leads to abuses against civilians. A Ugandan rebel group called ADF-NALU is a particular concern.

ADF-NALU is actually a pair of Ugandan rebel groups that have been in the Grand Nord since the late 1980s: the Allied Democratic Forces and the National Army for the Liberation of Uganda. Although incapable of anything more than sporadic small attacks inside Uganda, the presence of ADF-NALU has served to justify frequent Ugandan military intervention in eastern Congo. As recently as December 2009, between 550 and 600 Ugandan soldiers entered Congolese territory to, according to Uganda, conduct operations against ADF-NALU. However, there was no confrontation between the Ugandan army and the rebels, and many locals suspected a hidden agenda.

The Ugandan Army systematically looted eastern Congo during the war and sponsored some of the nastiest militias in an already brutal war. Unsurprisingly, many locals remain deeply suspicious of Uganda. Meanwhile, the 1000 or so ADF-NALU rebels—half of them Congolese—are more interested in protecting their commercial interests in eastern Congo than anything else. Removing the ADF-NALU would remove a pretext for Ugandan intervention (though, of course, the Lord’s Resistance Army is still present farther north) and increase stability here. The United Nations peacekeeping force in Congo has been supporting talks between the Ugandan government and the rebels, and the United States and others should support that process.

Operation Amani Leo, the Congolese government’s latest military operation against Rwandan FDLR rebels and other militias operating in North and South Kivu, has not affected Beni as much as other areas. However, the FDLR are moving northwards as they are pushed out of their strongholds in Petit Nord. An influx of FDLR and the deployment of more Congolese forces to Beni would be a disaster for the local population. Congolese forces stationed in Beni already commit abuses against civilians, and United Nations peacekeepers there should be working with the Congolese army to reduce abuses and prioritize civilian protection.

Worth Doing Darfur Right

John Norris — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:24:50 +0000

An interesting piece on Bloomberg today featured U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan Scott Gration discussing the ongoing Darfur peace talks in the context of upcoming national elections scheduled for April. As Gration put it, “We have this little window where we really need to get the framework solidified,” said Gration.

Gration is correct that the national election will demand a great deal of time and attention from both the international community and the Sudanese government, and that there are “going to be a lot of things that are keeping us from focusing on Darfur.” Key international actors will also be increasingly eager to put Darfur on a back burner as we get closer to the independence referendum for South Sudan in January 2011.

Yet previous attempts to reach a peace deal for Darfur suggest that the most important thing is to strike a comprehensive peace agreement that can be practically implemented and effectively monitored. This remains a far more important over-arching goal than trying to shoe horn in an agreement before the April election or trying to throw a quick deal together that will not stand the test of time. A lasting peace for Darfur involves lots of complicated issues: refugee and displaced returns, compensation for victims; accountability, what to do with rebel weapons and government militias, power-sharing, and more. It is important to remember that at the end of the day, elections are part of the peace process – not the other way around.

We hope to have some more insights into the ongoing talks between the government of Sudan and the Justice and Equality Movement in the next several days, so stay tuned.

Anti-LRA Activists Celebrate as Senator Lifts Hold on Bill

Laura Heaton — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:58:29 +0000

After 262 hours protesting on the streets of Oklahoma City, activists focused on ending the senseless violence perpetrated by the Lord’s Resistance Army claimed a victory yesterday when Senator Coburn (R-OK) signaled he would remove his hold on a popular, bipartisan bill.

The Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act of 2009 (S. 1067) calls on the Obama administration to devise a strategy for addressing the 24-year insurgency led by Joseph Kony, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The legislation also request that a modest amount of funding be allocated to rehabilitating child soldiers from the LRA ranks and rebuilding communities in northern Uganda. Senator Coburn, who has made it his policy to oppose legislation that raises the national deficit, objected to this final piece, which amounted to $40 million (the equivalent of 25 cents per U.S. taxpayer).

Senator Coburn spoke to activists and Resolve Uganda yesterday afternoon to formalize a compromise proposed by two of the bill’s leading co-sponsors, Senator Feingold (D-WI) and Senator Inhofe (R-OK).

In Capitol Hill-speak, the bill’s authorization of appropriations was replaced with Sense of Congress language, which basically conveys the message to the Senate Appropriations committee that the Senate strongly recommends allocating the requested funding. While this written request doesn’t bind the Appropriations Committee to provide the funds, backing from the bill’s 64 co-sponsors (more than any other piece of legislation on sub-Saharan Africa since 1973) makes the priority clear.

The bill will now be sent to the Senate floor for final passage, so barring any unforeseen objections from other senators, expect another victory for the anti-LRA movement in the next day or two.

The Hold Out campaign in Oklahoma City, led by Resolve Uganda and Invisible Children, lasted 11 days, generating lots of local news coverage and thousands of phone calls to the senator’s office. Check out the local news coverage of the victory:

Southern Sudan President: South Will Defend Referendum “At Any Cost”

Maggie Fick — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:05:42 +0000

JUBA, Southern Sudan—East African leaders from seven nations convened in Nairobi, Kenya this week at an extraordinary summit of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, or IGAD, to focus on the challenges facing Sudan in the coming months, including implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and Sudan’s nationwide elections, set to occur next month.

Sudanese civil society activists and opposition politicians have protested the lack of freedom in the electoral process, neighboring governments (namely Eritrea and Egypt) have called for postponement of the polls, and international advocacy groups have declared nearly uniformly that the current political and security climate in Sudan cannot and will not permit free and fair elections. The IGAD summit is a crucial indicator of where Sudan’s neighbors stand, and yesterday’s statements shed light on the position of southern Sudan in the tense run-up to the polls.

Salva Kiir, president of the Government of Southern Sudan and first vice president of the Republic of Sudan, was unequivocal:

The people of southern Sudan attach more importance to the referendum than the elections. For them the right of self-determination is one of their biggest political achievements in the CPA and they will defend it at any cost.

President Kiir also sought to de-link the two major political processes set to occur in the next 10 months: “The conduct of the elections is not a pre-requisite to the conduct of the referendum,” he told the IGAD members.

IGAD has not held a meeting on Sudan since the CPA—which IGAD helped negotiate—was signed in 2005. For this reason, it may be too late for the regional body to seriously assist the Sudanese parties in efforts to make good on the promise of the CPA; it’s an understatement to say that the “democratic transformation of Sudan” called for in the CPA cannot happen overnight. The process needed to start immediately following the signing of the CPA, and yet regional attention and support for the agreement is only coming together at the eleventh hour. The event envisioned as a key exercise in the democratization process is now occurring—after two lengthy delays—in the shadow of the southern referendum, which, as the South’s leader declared yesterday, is undoubtedly the main event for one of the two Sudanese parties to the CPA.

Meanwhile, U.S. Special Envoy Scott Gration noted in an AP interview from Nairobi that while Sudan’s elections won’t be perfect, they “could still ‘reflect the will of the people.’”