Sudan:

The Government of Sudan has confirmed accusations that it is building up troops in a volatile border region between North and South Sudan.

This week, Barack Obama nominated Senator Hillary Clinton to be America’s next Secretary of State.

Click here to send Clinton a message asking her to highlight Sudan as a critical priority during her confirmation hearings and to develop plans now so the new administration can end the crisis without delay.

Say the word out lout: “Janjaweed”. The first set of images and word that tend to flash into people’s minds are “devil on horseback”, “militia”, “genocide”, “Arab”. But beyond these clips of words and phrases and images, do we really know who the Janjaweed are? Where they come from? What role do they truly play in this conflict and do they play this role? If we want to end the crisis in Darfur, we need to understand where these actors are coming from.

Congratulations to everyone who had a successful STANDFast! I am so excited to hear about everyone’s events – I counted more than 40 events on facebook alone on December 3rd! I know there were many more events that took place before the 3rd, and guess what – you can still host an event! It’s not too late!

Fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo continues to escalate this week, as civilians face rape, torture, and murder from rebel militias and government forces alike. Thousands have been forced to flee their homes in recent weeks, with a quarter million Congolese newly displaced since August. The UN peacekeeping mission in Congo, known as MONUC, has been unable to protect civilians from the violence.

Darfur:

UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and US special envoy to Darfur Richard Williamson accused Sudan of violating the ceasefire it signed last week. The UN has sent a special delegation to investigate the alleged bombings.