In this week’s issue: conflicting accounts of the situation in Darfur, more insecurity in southern Sudan, and a worsening humanitarian situation in DRC

Featured: UNCHR reports that FDLR rebels are "on a rampage" against civilians in eastern Congo.

The "Tom Lantos Block Burmese JADE Act of 2008" was probably the most comprehensive piece of legislation ever passed aimed at wrangling Burma’s military government. It tightened up a 2003 ban on importing Burmese rubies (and other gems), making it illegal to import rubies originally from Burma that have been processed, treated, or cut in other countries such as Thailand. Previously, the ban only restricted imports of rubies coming directly form Burma.

Like many of you, we’ve been pretty busy over the past 100 days at Stanford STAND. So for our Day 100 event we wanted to highlight what our community has been doing to push for change in Darfur in contrast with the Obama Administration has done in the same amount of time.

In this week’s issue: the government of Sudan continues to resist the return of aid to Darfur, the EU maintains sanctions on Burma, and FDLR rebels terrorize civilians in eastern Congo.

Yesterday, President Obama gave a speech at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, where STAND housed its first National Student Conference in 2007. Throughout the course of the speech, President Obama cited inspiring acts of bravery and selflessness that had saved lives during the Holocaust, instances where regular people put their lives in jeopardy in order to hide those who were seeking refuge.

Tomorrow, Secretary Clinton will appear before the House Foreign Affairs Committee to discuss the foreign policy priorities of the Obama administration. Call members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and urge them to ask questions of the Secretary about Darfur. Here are some sample questions below:

In this week’s issue: Senator John Kerry travels to Darfur, leaders call for the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma, and former Congo rebel leader General Laurent Nkunda faces trial in Rwanda

Featured: Massachusetts Congressman Michael Capuano urges us not to forget about Southern Sudan in a guest post on the ENOUGH Project’s blog. 

I know being on the STAND leadership team can seem quite intimidating, but for me it has been one of the best experiences of my life! The leadership team is full of AMAZING people, many of whom will turn out to be your new best friends. Apart from just meeting really really cool people, the leadership team also has great resources that you can use for your own chapter.