Uganda

He returned just days before from the DRC, where he pressed the government to deliver on its commitment to take action against rebels in the country’s east, and to hold an inclusive and transparent dialogue with political groups in the country leading up to presidential elections next year.

On February 24, Senator Feingold gave his final speech as U.S. special envoy at the U.S. Institute of Peace, offering his current insights on the DRC, on the prospects for ending the militia violence in the country’s east, and for improving political stability in the Great Lakes region.

Home to burgeoning economies and brutal civil conflicts – sometimes coexisting in the same country – Africa is increasingly prominent in the foreign policy agendas of world powers. In early August, President Obama will convene most of the heads of state of the 54 nations of Africa in Washington, D.C. for the first-ever summit between U.S. and African leaders. There will be no shortage of issues to discuss, from how to harness Africa's economic growth and lift large sections of its population out of poverty, to growing trade between the U.S.

Africa's Great Lakes region has been a violent and unstable for years. April marks 20 years since the Rwandan genocide resulted in the deaths of half a million people in 100 days. Conflict in neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo alone has displaced or killed more than 5 million residents in the past two decades, making it the deadliest war in Africa’s modern history. The region is challenged by ethnic tensions, the exploitation of resources, the continued use of child soldiers, dozens of armed rebel armed groups, and violence against women. Russ Feingold, the U.S.