Communiques – en

By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Dec. 19, 2012 – The Defense Department plays a critical role in building security capacity in the central African Democratic Republic of the Congo, officials from the departments of Defense and State told the House Armed Services Committee today.

More than 100,000 people are living in extremely poor conditions in the area around Goma. Since mid-November, clashes between the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC’s) armed forces (FARDC) and M23 rebels have resulted in a massive new wave of displacement. The people of North Kivu are very familiar with having to take to the road, as violence has been commonplace in the region for nearly 20 years.

Oxfam warns of risk of war on top of the daily violence and abuse people already face

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 18, 2012

By Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice

Dear Readers,

The following commentary first ran in a Special Issue of the Legal Eye on the ICC, a regular eLetter produced by the Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice, an international women’s human rights organization that advocates for gender justice through the International Criminal Court (ICC) and works with women most affected by the conflict situations under investigation by the ICC

Today, I spoke to Ambassador Susan Rice, and accepted her decision to remove her name from consideration for Secretary of State.

The Peace and Security Council of the African Union (AU), at its 346th meeting held on 10 December 2012, adopted the following decision on the situation in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

December 10, 2012

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

As the situation once again dramatically deteriorates in eastern Congo, the U.S. response to the crisis has patently failed and is out of step with other Western nations. The United States must take immediate steps to address meaningfully one of the greatest ongoing humanitarian crises of our generation.

see attachment

December 5, 2012 – Nearly six months on from the launch of a UN strategy aimed at ending 26 years of violence by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) a joint report by a coalition of non-governmental organizations reveals today that the strategy has failed to make meaningful progress toward its core objectives. The report is released ahead of UN Security Council consultations on the LRA set for December 18th.