The Sentry is an investigative and policy organization that seeks to disable multinational predatory networks that benefit from violent conflict, repression, and kleptocracy.

Op-Ed / / 10.19.20

Project Syndicate Op-ed: Justice in a Hijacked State

Note: This op-ed originally appeared in Project Syndicate and was written by John Prendergast, Co-Founder of The Sentry, and Nathalia Dukhan, Senior Investigator at The Sentry. It’s also available to read in French or Portuguese on the Project Syndicate website.

The international community has long favored trying to cajole the Central African Republic’s warring parties into doing less harm. But gaining leverage over the warlords and criminals who continue to profit from the country’s violent dismemberment will require replacing carrots with sticks.

WASHINGTON, DC – The Central African Republic (CAR), a former French colony based on an exploitative divide-and-rule system, is a textbook example of how a state can be captured, repurposed, and organized for looting, largely to the benefit of outsiders. In a country that has known only impunity, where the state is a murderous machine of plunder, is justice possible?…

Click here to read the full op-ed.