In a very sad day for Rwanda, The International Crimes Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) announced it has overturned a 20-year sentence and acquitted Protais Zigiranyirazo, accused genocidaire and suspected murderer of American primatologist Dian Fossey. Citing "serious errors" during the 2008 trial, ICTR Chamber Judge Theodore Meron ordered the...

Ashley Judd's op-ed in USATODAY drove me to the Tao Te Ching before my head exploded. In another example of celebrity naiveté falling prey to the obfuscations of non-governmental organizations in Congo, Judd wrote: "In Congo, 600,000 babies a year are born only to suffer and die." She added,...

I am terrible at writing headlines, but in these times of Google searches and social networking, article tags and Twitter hashtags, headlines are important. "Hope springs eternal" won't cut it when referring to what happened in Maine last week regarding gay rights. The linkage of "audacity" and "hope" is a...

In a damning and stunning statement today, Human Rights Watch (HRW) charged that the United Nations peacekeeping force (MONUC) in the Democratic Republic of Congo "knowingly supports abusive military operations" by the regular Congolese Army (FARDC). "Congolese armed forces have brutally killed hundreds of civilians and committed widespread rape...

If you can't trust the recommendations of your local independent bookstore, what can you trust? Anyone who has faced the dizzying racks of new releases in the chain bookstores, millions of books on Amazon.com, and the daunting The New York Times bestseller list knows what I am talking about. It...

The Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Philip Alston, described some of the heinous crimes committed against Congolese citizens after an investigation in eastern DRC. His statements support Human Rights Watch and other accounts that have surfaced in recent months relating atrocities committed by the...

Seeing is believing. For the past ten months, human rights organizations, political sources, eyewitness reports, and secret communiqués from remnants of Laurent Nkunda loyalists have reported that joint military operations between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo have been a catastrophic failure. Now DigitalGlobe and GeoEye satellite photos provided...

The United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) UNHCR is repeating its call for Congolese refugees currently in Burundi not to return to their native South Kivu Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This follows an incident when more than 400 Congolese refugees from the recently closed camp...

"Music can't solve problems. Human beings have to resolve their own problems. But music can console people who suffer from problems, and perhaps it can inspire people to try to solve their problems." ~~ The late Mercedes Sosa

Argentina's "voice for the voiceless ones" passed away on Sunday, and the...

The news from the south Pacific is horrific this morning. A major earthquake has struck Indonesia, killing at least 13 people and injuring hundreds more. This news comes on the heels of reports that 111 people are confirmed killed in Samoa, neighboring American Samoa, and Tonga as the result of...

"The man who kills the animals today is the man who kills the people who get in his way tomorrow. He recognizes the fact that there is a law that says he must not do this or that, but without the reinforcement of this law, he is free to do...

The Delta's Global Ambassadors for Louisiana Music and Culture rolled into the Andy Warhol Museum at the G-20 Summit this week. Over 600 guests packed the space, which was hosted by the U.S. Climate Action Network, with Teresa Heinz and Senator John Kerry serving as Honorary Hosts. Quint...

"Sarcasm, sarcasm, the Devil's weapon." ~~ Jane Trahey

Less than 24 hours after the U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists sent an open letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressing concern about the safety of three female Congolese journalists covering women's issues in Bukavu, south of Goma, the...

Image: Clinton Briefs Obama (State Department)

Now that secretary of State Hillary Clinton is officially "out of Africa," mainstream news reports from the Democratic Republic of Congo are practically non-existent. Spectacular stories of rape, violence and sensationalist stalking of the Secretary's comments...

Since Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ended her African trip, the news cycle has seemingly abandoned the women of Congo--women who soldier on despite overwhelming odds that make staying alive a gauntlet rife with terrible odds. But lives continue to unfold, babies are born, mammas die, and hope burns with...

This is going out to the end of a very long limb, but contrary to the rumblings in progressive think tanks, let's suggest that AFRICOM must be given a chance in eastern Congo. I fear I hear the chainsaws firing up as I write this. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton...

Ambassador Melanne Verveer opened Thursday's phone conference about Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to eastern Congo with a statement about the "ongoing use of rape as a tool of war in the conflict" and the "toll it is taking on the civilian...

Media reports regarding Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo have so far focused on her testy remark to a Congolese student at a town hall meeting in Kinshasa on August 10. This has been a colossal waste of time when the Congolese, especially...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has arrived in Kinshasa for a two day visit in Congo that will take her to Goma. The city of lava and points north are the epicenters of sexual violence and civilian "collateral" damage that has exponentially intensified since the start of joint military operations...

Dear Secretary Clinton,

The State Department briefing of August 2 details your goals while in the Democratic Republic of Congo this week. So many Congolese will be happy and hopeful that you are visiting the hellish landscape of the Kivus.

From Angola, the Secretary will move on to...