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This tug of words has been going on for decades. To some it matters because it symbolizes the differences between the generals who have long ruled the country and those who resist them, but it’s also kind of pointless. The truth is neither name is good enough.

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"Nine children are dying every day from preventable illnesses like diarrhea in an overcrowded, swampy refugee camp in South Sudan, and United Nations officials said Friday that they were stepping up efforts to evacuate people as fast as they could...Heavy rains, overflowing latrines and a ceaseless influx of sick and hungry people have conspired to create an epidemiological disaster at the Jamam refugee camp, with death rates now nearly twice the emergency level, said the aid group Doctors Without Borders."

Many in the West are unaware that Sudan – despite its horrific history of authoritarianism and violence in recent decades – also has a history of largely nonviolent pro-democracy civil insurrections which pre-date not just the recent revolts of the “Arab Spring,” but the pro-democracy uprisings in Africa during the early 1990s that brought down dictatorships in Mali, Benin, Madagascar and elsewhere in the continent.

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"Thousands of unaccompanied children are streaming out of an isolated, rebellious region of Sudan, fleeing a relentless aerial assault and the prospect of famine...Sent by their parents on harrowing odysseys across battlefields and malaria-infested swamps, the children are repeating one of the most sordid chapters of Sudanese history: the perilous flight of the so-called Lost Boys during the civil war in the 1990s, who wandered hundreds of miles dodging militias, bombers and lions."

"A statement from the Civil Society Coordination for North Kivu province, signed by vice president Omar Kavota, said residents have reported that M23 rebels attacked before dawn Thursday and fought army troops for four hours to dislodge them from the center that also has a large Catholic mission and school. It is the only major village on the road from Bunagana border post to the eastern town of Rutshuru."

"Preliminary studies reveal mortality rates nearly double the emergency threshold in a refugee camp in South Sudan’s Upper Nile State, currently home to a quarter of the roughly 120,000 refugees who have fled Sudan’s Blue Nile State since late last year, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) warned today."

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"Rwanda’s government may have overestimated [Ntaganda's] clout—and may come to regret backing him. And the Americans may have to start thinking about making their loyalty to Mr Kagame more conditional. If Congo and Rwanda are to co-exist and prosper, they need economic integration and stability in the Kivus."

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"More than 200,000 refugees from South Kordofan and Blue Nile have crossed into South Sudan and Ethiopia, and thousands more "in a desperate state" are following each day, UN emergency relief coordinator Valerie Amos said last week.  She said she was "deeply concerned by the deteriorating humanitarian situation", and added hundreds of thousands of people remain trapped in the conflict zone with little access to food, water, shelter and medical services."

“The intelligence agencies are running an archipelago of torture centers scattered across the country,” said Ole Solvang, emergencies researcher at Human Rights Watch. “By publishing their locations, describing the torture methods, and identifying those in charge we are putting those responsible on notice that they will have to answer for these horrific crimes.”

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"The conflict minerals rule would require companies to disclose whether they use tantalum, tin, gold or tungsten from the Democratic Republic of the Congo...The delays have been fueled by a bitter dispute between human rights groups who say the rules will help reduce corruption and companies who say they will be too costly and difficult to implement."

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"The statement from the United States was the first time the long-standing ally of Rwandan President Paul Kagame has directly addressed the issue of the country's alleged involvement in the Congo mutiny...Rwanda has denied the contents of an addendum to a report by U.N. experts, released last week, which provided the strongest evidence yet that officials of Kagame's government were providing military and logistical support to armed groups in Congo."

"Three women were attacked by four armed men on Saturday morning in the valley Ardeba in the locality of Sirba, West Darfur, a witness told Radio Dabanga. The women, from the IDP camp of Kindibe, were attacked and kidnapped by a group of armed men on horse and camelback who then raped them. They were released in the evening."

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"But a shadow hangs over Mr. Kagame’s Rwanda, in the form of persistent concern about intimidation of the political opposition. Outspoken journalists and politicians have disappeared or died in mysterious circumstances, while the government insists that some thoughts are too dangerous to permit, in the aftermath of genocide."

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"Thousands of refugees from conflict areas in DRC have fled over the border to Rwanda, crowding a transit centre 25 kilometres from the border. In response the government has built a new camp in the south of the country but it's only big enough to house just over half of those who have already arrived, while the flow of people over the border has shown no sign of stopping."

"Gration's appointment was greeted with widespread optimism that Obama was getting tough on Sudan. But in that role, Gration was regarded by many to have brought an incredibly naïve approach to negotiations. Of the genocidal regime operating out of Khartoum, he infamously told the Washington Post, "We've got to think about giving out cookies. Kids, countries--they react to gold stars, smiley faces, handshakes, agreements, talk, engagement."

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