In the past three months, floods have ravaged many African nations including Ghana and Togo in the west, as well as Sudan, Uganda, Somalia, and Kenya in the central and eastern regions. At least 200 people have died and hundreds of thousands have been displaced in these countries. Half a million people across the West African region have been hit by the heavy rains in the past 3 months. Tens of thousands of homes have been destroyed and swathes of crops on which the region depends have been washed away.

For the past several years, AFJN has been working on issues relating to the African Great Lakes Region, particularly the efforts to restore peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in Northern Uganda. It was in consideration of the importance of peace as a tool for the development of the African Great Lakes Region that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Department of International Development (DFID) commissioned research to explore how trade could provide an opportunity for the development of peace in the region rather than being an instrument for conflict. At a recent conference on ‘Trading for Peace’ in Washington DC, the researchers –  Nick Bates, a policy analyst in the East and Central Africa Unit (ECAU) of the London-based Department of International Development(DFID); Ruth Buckley of the Technical Resource Unit of USAID Africa Bureau; and Jaidev Singh, a former senior regional conflict, democracy and governance adviser at USAID’s regional mission in Nairobi – presented their findings. The research looked at how natural resource exploitation affects peace and security in the Great Lakes Region.

Each year, the AFJN Staff and Board take some time to consider the major issues arising in the continent of Africa and subsequently choose new focus campaigns. For the past couple of years, AFJN has been devoted almost entirely to raising awareness of the war in northern Uganda. The organization has also tracked the havoc that HIV/AIDS is wreaking on African communities; the challenges posed by Genetically Modified (GM) seeds; the unjust nature of US farm subsidies; and the crises that have been unfolding in places like Zimbabwe, Darfur, Cote d'Ivoire, and the Horn of Africa. Depending on the passions of the current Executive Director and the capabilities of the staff, AFJN must continually reevaluate and shift its foci in order to be the best possible advocate for the peoples of Africa. The staff must also consider where AFJN can take the lead and have a larger influence among the sea of advocates in Washington.

For the remainder of 2007 and through 2008, AFJN will devote its time, energy, and resources to four very important areas of concern: the US Africa Command (AFRICOM), restorative justice, the 2009 African Synod, and the crisis in DR Congo through Congo Global Action Coalition.

The deposit of natural resources in any area by God is a design to provide for the needs of the people living on the land. But the people of Niger Delta have not been lucky enough to derive such benefits from the resources found in their land. Who are the people benefiting from the resources and why are they extracted at the detriment of the host communities? The answers to these questions are what AFJN works to answer in fulfillment of its commitment to issues of peace and justice in the troubled regions of Africa.