What connects Jimmy Carr, David Beckham, members of Take That and Anne Robinson? As you probably already know they have all been lambasted in the British press for utilising opaque financial products by hiring the services of a pin-striped brigade of accountants and lawyers – ‘economic hitmen’ in other parlance (see Christensen, 2007) – who are...
In late August, the U.S.’s stock market regulator voted to require companies to report on the source of certain metals that they use in their products. While on the surface this may seem mundane, the impact and origins of this new regulation are largely in the Congo, where for nearly 15 years an ongoing...
The Centre for African Development and Security (CADS) in partnership with the School of Oriental and African Studies’ (SOAS) Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy are pleased to announce the Roundtable on Conflict Minerals The event will take place in London on Friday, 21 Sept, from 10:30-16:30 at SOAS (22 Russell Square, WC1B) in...
A confidential report by a United Nations group of experts that was leaked to the media has led to rising tensions between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda. The report follows recent allegations of Rwandan backing for a mutiny by elements of the Congolese army in April, when soldiers in eastern...
The inaugural New Cities Summit, a global forum organised by the Geneva-based New Cities Foundation on the future of urban areas, was attended by CADS director Marco Picardi. Taking place on 14-16 May, the three-day event featured inspirational talks from global thought leaders from a range of disciplines – technology, infrastructure, architecture, energy, transport, national and local government, the...
I have recently returned from Kenya after conducting a mid-term evaluation of our partner Amani Seed Project. Not only did the project show positive results concerning inter-ethnic integration, its primary objective, but also some extremely positive signs of increased entrepreneurial capacity amongst the participants. Through receiving initial seed capital and training in the areas...
CADS’s Jake Peters was invited to participate in the Building for Change Stakeholder Meeting and Global Youth Leadership Forum from 15- 18 March at the United Nations compound in Nairobi. This event formed part of the wider Youth 21 global initiative, which brings together young people across the world to engage with the United Nations...
This post is the first in a series on the media-messaging and communication of Congolese history and politics to the public and policy makers around the world. Following the online storm created by the Kony2012 video, it seemed a good time to examine the digital narratives around the Congo. The film below was produced...
With the presidential elections now less than a year away, the issue of inter-ethnic tensions will certainly be near the forefront of many Kenyans’ concerns and anxieties; will we see a repeat of the 2007/2008 post-election violence? Currently, no one seems able to answer this question with confidence, unsurprising given the current climate of...
The U.S. announced on Friday that it is sending up to 100 troops to Central Africa to hunt down leaders of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel group. In a letter to U.S. House Speaker John Boehner and the Senate’s President pro tempore, President Obama announced that the U.S. is deploying “combat-equipped” forces to...
BBC News – Africa AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (Africa)
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