Voices from the Ground Blog Posts
- Encouraging member states to put together a law enforcement operation capable of apprehending LRA leaders and holding them to account for the crimes committed and to do so in coordination with the governments of countries affected by the LRA.
- Encouraging the Security Council to work with the African Union to, if necessary, provide a multilateral mandate for an emergency multinational force to apprehend senior LRA commanders and protect civilians.
- Expand the U.S. Engagement and other International bodies: By dedicating a significant new staff and resources. Work also with regional and international partners. Special pressure by the International community should be put on the four regional governments in the areas affected by the LRA to bring quick mutual solution to the LRA crisis.
- The LRA may be the immediate difficulty to pose to the new expectant Southern Sudan, so it is very encumbered that solution should be found before July 9th 2011.
- Peace Negotiation: Offer chance for peace talk between the LRA and Ugandan Rebels. Find corridors to Kony to initiate some sort of dialogue with him in search for peace. Military option alone cannot solve the problem anyhow.
- Protect Civilians: By massively expand radio and mobile phone networks. Improve the effectiveness of national militaries, Community Vigilantes (arrow boys) and raising UNNIMIS chapter to seven. Also ensure that local voices are heard.
- Stop Senior LRA Commanders: Apprehend Joseph Kony and top LRA Commanders. Encourage LRA commanders to defect. Very rigorously cut off external support to the LRA.
- Facilitate Escape: Help people escape from the LRA. Also ensure those who escape can return home.
- Help Communities survive and rebuild: By finding a way to reach people in need of emergency aid, increase aid to disrupted communities. Address the conflict’s root causes.
Last Friday, April 20th, a coalition of civil society leaders representing communities from across LRA-affected parts of central Africa released a call for action from around the world to help end the violence. They wrote,
“We… call on African governments, the African Union, the United Nations, human rights defenders, and other people of good will – from near and far – to demonstrate their solidarity with the populations of central Africa affected by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). We are decimated; join with us.”
The leaders — who represented sixteen faith-based, human rights, and humanitarian organizations from Democratic Republic of Congo and Central African Republic — first called out political leaders in their own countries, many of whom have sought to downplay the impact LRA violence is having on local populations. “Despite the efforts undertaken by our governments, we deplore the fact that some governments currently minimize the LRA problem, while others are indifferent to it, and still others even refuse to cooperate to put an end to the LRA phenomenon and movement,” the leaders stated.
They also called on the United States and other world leaders to act urgently, echoing the KONY 2012 policy agenda.
“We call on all capable countries and bodies to help improve our regional forces and support them in their mission to put an end to the devastation caused by the LRA… Help ensure that soldiers receive their pay, adequate food, usable and durable equipment, transport, and means of communication, so that their priority remains tracking the LRA, and not assuring their own survival.”
Local activists requested increased international investment in roads and communications infrastructure, as well as programs to support the rehabilitation of former abductees.
The same day as the letter was published, tens of thousands of people around the world gathered to participate in Cover the Night, calling on world leaders to acknowledge the violence being perpetrated by Joseph Kony and the LRA and to act to see its end.
Yesterday, we told you about many of the actions Congress has taken to respond to the Kony 2012 campaign. This week, among the LRA-focused activity on Capitol Hill was an official hearing on Joseph Kony and the LRA before the Senate Subcommittee on African Affairs, chaired by Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) who has been major champion on this issue.
Administration officials from the State Department, USAID, and the Department of Defense briefed Senators on the progress of US efforts to help stop LRA violence, bring top LRA commanders to justice, and support the recovery of affected communities. In addition, Invisible Children’s Regional Ambassador, Jolly Okot, and former LRA-abductee — and Kony 2012 film star — Jacob Acaye bravely shared, in detail, about how LRA violence has affected them personally and why they are committed to advocate for those in DR Congo, South Sudan, and Central African Republic who are currently suffering from LRA violence. You can watch the entire hearing, including Jolly and Jacob’s powerful testimonies, here.
In the mean time, we also want you to know about a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on the LRA and other sources of instability in Africa that will be occurring tomorrow, Wednesday, at 10am. What makes this hearing extra special is that you get to participate, right from your own home.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee allows regular folks like you and me to post questions online that we would like to see asked — and answered — at the hearing. The committee will read through all of the questions and seek answers to as many as possible from the testifying witnesses.
Do you have any LRA-related questions for the Obama Administration? Submit them here.
The witnesses testifying at the hearing tomorrow will include:
Donald Y. Yamamoto, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of African Affairs;
Daniel Benjamin, Coordinator for Counterterrorism at the U.S. Department of State; and
Amanda J. Dory, Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, U.S. Department of Defense.
Tomorrow’s hearing is a great opportunity to have your questions answered by some of President Obama’s top aides working on the LRA issue — and it’s a chance to show Congress and the Obama Administration that activists like you are serious about this issue and you are paying attention to what our leaders are doing about it.
Here are some questions you might consider asking:
1. What is the Obama Administration doing to help make sure that the regional governments in LRA-affected areas are working together to help apprehend Joseph Kony and stop LRA violence?
2. What is the U.S. government doing to help support the protection of civilians in LRA-affected areas at the same time that it is helping to apprehend top LRA commanders?
3. What is the U.S. doing to help ensure that Joseph Kony is not able to find a safe haven in areas like Darfur?
Those are just some example questions for you, but you may have a few of your own. Take a moment today to submit your questions here and make sure check in with us later this week for an update on how the hearing went — and if your questions got answered.
People from all across the United States – and indeed, around the world – have weighed in with their views on the Kony 2012 phenomenon and the historic attention Joseph Kony has received over the last 10 days. However, despite the more than 90 million views of the Kony 2012 film online, the dozens of articles and interviews by mainstream news outlets, and the hundreds of blogs that have been written on the subject, there remains a critically important aspect of this story that has been left untold by the mainstream: perspectives from those who currently living in the midst of LRA violence.
Voices from communities in regions of DR Congo, South Sudan, and Central African Republic where the LRA continues to kill, abduct, and displace thousands of innocent civilians are notably absent from the public conversation. While frustrating, this is no surprise. As Resolve has noted on many occasions, Kony chooses to prey on communities in the most remote and marginalized areas of central Africa, where news of LRA atrocities rarely reach the outside world. These areas lack basic communication infrastructure and technology.
For the past six years, many religious and civil society leaders in these communities have been calling for assistance from their own governments and from the international community to help protect civilians targeted by the LRA and apprehend Joseph Kony and his top commanders. Their input formed the basis of the policy recommendations for the KONY 2012 campaign. It would be tragic if – in a moment of such incredible attention to their plight – views from affected communities continue to go unheard.
Our team is working now to gather comments from religious and human rights leaders in these communities, but in the meantime, below is a compilation of a few of the testimonies from these leaders over the past few years.
“Let Us Be Free: A plea for relief from the violence of the LRA” produced by Discovery the Journey
- Letters from civil society leaders in DRC, South Sudan, and CAR and video postcard to President Obama from LRA-affected communities in DR Congo, produced by Human Rights Watch.
- Letter from Father Abbé Benoit Kinalegu of the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission in Dungu, DRC, in response to the Kony 2012 film and campaign
- Perspectives from religious and civil society leaders in South Sudan on the LRA and the Kony 2012 campaign, gather by Resolve’s Director of Advocacy
As you saw in the first video, a woman from an LRA-affected area of South Sudan emphasizes, “We want people who will talk on our behalf,” — people who will share these stories with the rest of the world. You can help spread her story, and those of many others, by doing two things right now:
1. Tweet this blog and post it on Facebook so that the voices of currently affected communities are included in the public conversation about Joseph Kony and the LRA. Here’s a sample message:
Amplify the voices of people currently experiencing #LRA violence in central Africa http://bit.ly/wbaBRy @weareresolved #KONY2012
2. Sign up to lead a Kony 2012 local lobby meeting and share these stories with your members of Congress in person.
We’ve made Kony famous. Now let’s do what we can to help bring his atrocities to an end.
- Lisa
Yesterday I visited the geographic heart of LRA violence in central Africa, a small town called Ezo where the borders of South Sudan, Central African Republic, and Congo all converge. Every weekend, people from all three countries gather at a border market there to trade goods, catch up with distant family and friends, and exchange information on LRA activity.
My visit there was immensely encouraging, as local leaders told me how the LRA has not attacked the area in over six months, allowing thousands of people displaced by the LRA to return to their farms. This was a far cry from my first visit here in 2010, where people were still traumatized by a recent attack in which LRA forces occupied the center of town for an entire night, knocking down doors, looting goods, and abducting women gathered to sing and worship in the local church.
But below the surface, people in Ezo are still frightened. They know LRA attacks are extremely unpredictable, and the recent resurgence of LRA raids just across the border in Congo has heightened fear that their communities will be targeted next. One farmer’s comment summed up what I heard time and time again when I asked people when they will feel truly safe: “We will know we are free when Kony is captured.” A simplistic answer perhaps, but it speaks to a broader truth that cannot be ignored: As long as Kony and the LRA are allowed to run free, hundreds of thousands of people in the region will go to sleep each night afraid for their future.
Amazingly, several community leaders in Ezo had heard of the Kony 2012 campaign. All were overwhelmingly happy to know there was renewed attention on the need to stop Kony and senior LRA commanders from committing attacks. (I’d urge any critic of the Kony 2012 campaign who dares say the LRA is no longer a threat to spend a few nights in rural Ezo). One religious leader who had seen the video even said it would encourage ideas on how local leaders could advocate with government officials to get them to do more to address the conflict.
Much has been written in recent weeks about the reactions to the campaign by people in Uganda, which is immensely important given the history of the conflict and the fragility of current transitional justice processes there. But it’s equally important that commenters get the opinion of the people who are living – right now – under the shadow of LRA violence. And so far, their voices have been largely absent from the conversation (though not from the broader debate about how to stop the LRA).
Of course, even the farmers who told me that they need proof of Kony’s demise to feel safe know that merely arresting one man is not the silver bullet for their problems. Families in Ezo will struggle for years to rejuvenate abandoned farms, assist people traumatized by LRA violence, and heal community bonds ripped apart by war and displacement. They will do so mostly with their own sweat, patience, prayer, and tears. We, as the international community, can only hope to play a supporting role to their efforts.
But even as we reaffirm that our role is in the supporting case, we won’t shy away from our belief that stopping Kony is a necessary step towards lasting peace, and that the US is uniquely positioned to help accomplish this as part of the President’s comprehensive strategy to protect and assist LRA-affected communities. And make no mistake – this is a belief informed by hundreds of conversations we’ve had over the past three years with people currently under threat of LRA violence. These conversations have inspired, haunted, and driven us, and will continue to do so until Joseph Kony and the LRA no longer threaten the lives of innocent civilians.
–Paul
Last week I wrapped up my trip to southeastern Central African Republic (CAR) by visiting Djemah, a tiny town that has been an epicenter of LRA activity for over two years. As we flew there, our pilot pointed out villages abandoned by people fleeing LRA attacks, as well as a huge rock cliff where Kony reportedly gathered LRA fighters in 2009.
I was eager to return to Djemah to see how the situation there had changed since I first visited two years ago. In 2010, few people had a grasp of the situation in Djemah because it was virtually inaccessible by road and had no mobile phone service or HF radio to communicate with the outside world. With the help of an intrepid pilot we flew into the tiny airstrip, and hiked several miles into town. There, community leaders told us of recent LRA attacks, including how just months before our visit LRA forces under Joseph Kony’s command had invaded Djemah town and abducted dozens of people.
The damage could have been far worse if a Ugandan military unit, which had arrived by chance only the night before, hadn’t driven the LRA out of the town. Even so, the community was so traumatized by the attack it dared not even venture outside of town to bury some of the dead. That night in 2010, unable to find a place to stay, we hung our mosquito nets from the wing of the airplane and slept on the runway.
Last week I returned to Djemah for the first time since that trip to see how the community has fared. In many ways, little has changed. Djemah remains the heart of LRA activity in southeast CAR, with Ugandan military forces pursuing senior LRA commanders in the surrounding forests.
Djemah still has no HF radio or mobile phone service, and the mayor told us that surrounding communities write letters and deliver them by hand to tell him of LRA activity. That very morning, we met a man who traveled 30km to Djemah to deliver a letter detailing how two Ugandan women and three small children escaped from the LRA in his community just two days before. That night, we ate dinner around a fire on the runway before again slinging our mosquito nets from the airplane wing.
However, some progress has also been made. The community welcomed the presence of US military advisers, who arrived in Djemah in late 2011 and have reportedly helped motivate Ugandan troops to improve counter-LRA operations and their behavior towards the local population. Several people I talked to in 2010 who had been directly impacted by Kony’s attack in late 2009 were now involved in a community early warning group designed to help protect civilians from future LRA raids. However, much remains to be done. Community expectations for what the US advisers will do to stop the LRA far surpass their current capabilities and mandate. As I wrote in Resolve’s recent report Peace Can Be, President Obama must convince regional governments, including Uganda, to recommit to apprehending senior LRA commanders and protecting civilians. If ongoing efforts are going to succeed, he must also provide greater logistical and intelligence support to forces pursuing the LRA.
In Djemah specifically, US military advisers could play a critical role in helping the Ugandan military encourage defections from the LRA with “come home” messages distributed via mobile FM transmitters and leaflets. US officials can also be of enormous help by supporting the installation of early warning communications technology. In recent months, US officials have had encouraging discussions on how to utilize the funds authorized by Congress in the 2012 budget to ensure Djemah and other towns in CAR can benefit from HF radio, FM radio, and mobile phone projects. These projects should be implemented quickly, and avoid the delays that have plagued similar US projects in Congo. Djemah and surrounding communities have been waiting for such projects for over two years, while the LRA continues to conduct brutal attacks. They can’t afford to wait two more.
–Paul
This past year, we worked together as never before to bend the ears of our leaders and turn our country’s attention to the task of ending the violence being perpetrated by the Lord’s Resistance Army. With one voice, thousands of us lobbied, wrote, shared, and gave of ourselves on behalf of peace.
But today, as our year draws to an end – amidst all the final exams and holiday shopping – we invite you to simply stop for a moment, and to remember.
From December 14th – 24th, the Resolve team will unite with supporters across the country for our second One Voice: Resolved to Remember nationwide vigil. We commemorate those who have lost their lives in this violent conflict, particularly during the LRA’s Christmas Massacres.
On December 24th, 2008 and December 14, 2009, the LRA launched two of the most brutal attacks in its history, targeting remote Congolese communities left vulnerable as they celebrated Christmas. Joseph Kony and his top LRA commanders ordered their soldiers to seek out churches conducting Christmas services, trapping worshipers inside. They killed and abducted hundreds, including many children.
As we continue to work hard to ensure that atrocities like these never happen again, we also believe it’s importance to stop and remember — to honor and uphold the memories of each life lost in these attacks as a simple act of resistance against our world’s tendency to forget. And we celebrate all those in central Africa and around the world who continue to struggle for peace.
On December 14, you can join our team across from the White House in Washington, D.C. at 7:30pm, or hold your own vigil — from right where you are — at any point between December 14 and 24. (Check out the video above of vigils held across the country last year.)
Whether in DC or around your family’s kitchen table, we hope you’ll join us at some point to stop and remember.
- Lisa
P.S. For more information about the D.C. vigil tomorrow night, email vigil@theresolve.org
Paul Ronan didn’t spend Independence Day this year the way he normally would. He didn’t have a BBQ with his housemates or watch fireworks over the National Mall. Instead, Paul spent July 4th visiting remote communities in South Sudan – a country that would finally celebrate its own, hard-earned independence just a few days later.
Paul’s trip to South Sudan was part of a 3-month-long research trip through LRA-affected areas of central Africa. Long trips like these – at least once a year – have become the norm for Paul. He needs that kind of uninterrupted time in the region to build trusting relationships with local communities, gather stories and statistics, and make rounds through the four different countries directly impacted by LRA violence. And of course, while he’s there, he makes a point to visit old friends, attend weddings of loved ones, and share meals with host families. These days Paul speaks of central Africa as something of a second home.
In this short audio piece, Paul shares about his friendship with Joseph, a young man from South Sudan who served as Paul’s guide and translator.
Joseph, a friend and inspiration by TheResolve
Like Joseph, Resolve has found a dear friend in a woman named Sister Giovanna. We’ve talked about her before—a humble and brave Comboni nun who lived first in northern Uganda in the midst of LRA violence and now serves communities in Western Equatoria, South Sudan, where the LRA has been active in recent years. Joseph is a native and Sister Giovanna a foreigner –but both are all too familiar with the LRA’s brutality, having lived in the region for many years. And both are deeply committed to seeing their communities through the crisis. Bravely and boldly, they are doing whatever it takes to see it ended.
Watch this video featuring Sister Giovanna, made by our friends at Discover the Journey (DTJ).
Without Paul’s genuine commitment to building relationships with local communities during his field research, Resolve wouldn’t know these remarkable, unsung heroes the way we do. We’re grateful for Paul’s commitment to spending months away from home, traveling from one village to another when the conditions are all but comfortable, and earning the trust of those directly affected by LRA violence.
But Paul wouldn’t be able to gather stories and build these relationships if it weren’t for Resolve Cosponsors. Traveling to the most remote areas targeted by the LRA is very costly– which is why few, if any, do so. But the fruits of Paul’s trips are invaluable, and our connection to communities on the ground is too valuable to lose.
By talking with those directly affected by this crisis, we can understand what they need from the international community. We use this information to shape our lobbying efforts and to advise policymakers. Resolve is then able to serve as a linchpin between local communities, government leaders, and advocates like you – all of whom are needed to see this conflict ended.
Consider becoming a Resolve Cosponsor today. Your monthly donation of $20 per month – just $5 per week—ensures that Paul can continue to visit and invest in relationships with people like Joseph and Sister Giovanna, so we can bring their wisdom to our leaders in Washington and to advocates like you until this crisis ends once and for all.
“WE CAN’T BE SURE WHO KILLED US: JRP/ICTJ RELEASES A NEW REPORT ON MEMORIALIZATION IN NORTHERN UGANDA”
By Lindsay McClain
It was the Rwot Moo [the anointed, hereditary clan chief] who first thought about organizing this memorial service. He was of the view that after we lost very many people in Atiak, something should be done in their memory. He also thought that since children of many tribes were killed in the massacre, this could make them annoyed with the people of Atiak… That is the reason that we invite all these people who lost their children in the massacre, so that they are able to learn exactly what happened and know that it was not in our wish that these things happened…
-Male survivor explaining why Atiak holds a memorial service for the 1995 massacre
On March 4th, the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP), in partnership with the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), launched a new report on memory and memorialization in northern Uganda in an effort to share how memorials impact communities who suffered during conflict. Memorialization is an important factor in efforts to rebuild communities and provide reparation and remedy for gross violations of human rights.
The report, titled “We Can’t Be Sure Who Killed Us: Memory and Memorialization in Post-Conflict Northern Uganda,” examines the role memorialization has played in northern Uganda’s transitional justice (TJ) process. (more…)
Last year I arrived in the town of Yambio, the capital of the South Sudan state of Western Equatoria, to look at the impact of LRA attacks in the region. One of the first people I met was Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussula, who not only took the time to talk with me about the conflict but also helped me travel to visit refugees and displaced persons in the far-flung villages and camps away from the capital. I have tremendous respect for Bishop Eduardo and his commitmen
I couldn’t agree more with his conclusion that, “It will be completely absurd and shameful for the Newly Independent South Sudan to have its first noble duty to begin fighting the LRA out of the Southern Sudan instead of reorganizing itself with first thing first – which is peace for its war traumatized citizens.
We have suffered so much from a war that is not our own and have often felt forgotten and ignored by our own governments and by the international community. The U.S. new strategy or similar tends to give us hope. I implore you to implement it and to begin those efforts today.”
Find his entire letter below.
— Paul
OPEN LETTER TO WHOM THE DESTRUCTION OF HUMAN LIFE MATTERS
LRA ATROCITIES MAY COMPROMISE PEACE IN THE NEW BORN NATION OF SOUTHERN SUDAN
Dear Sir/Madam,
Ref. APPEAL FOR PEACE IN THE LRA DEVASTED AREA OF WESTERN EQUATORIA, S. SUDAN
This is a critical and historic moment for Sudan. The decades’ old project of building the national identity of the Sudanese people is now facing the possibility of the re-construction of the country, including its geography. After a long history of suffering finally the people of South Sudan are in the process of achieving their self-determination. The run up to the referendum was tense with the possibility of eruption of violence which lead to really war. The hand of God Almighty has been with us and has granted us a peaceful referendum. We who live in Western Equatoria State where the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has been very active and destructive were never sure we would be able to contact the referendum in peace.
As a matter of fact, the preparation for democratic right of self-determination was a project, which many useful hands were
required. Because, we know, that this project for life was heavily paid for through atrocities, loss of life, discrimination and the waste of generations of potential by successive regimes since independence.
The situation of the LRA has not improved since before, during and after the referendum. Last month we lost a religious Nun into the hands of LRA in northern Congo on 17th January, from 22nd to 25th December over 17 people have been abducted in Maridi and Ibba counties, as well as around Yambio county respectively, with nine dead and seven wounded in the same counties. From 13th to 18th January to 07th February there has been sporadic appearance and killings, abduction, wounding and displacement of the people in Western Equatoria by the LRA. Our worries continue to increase as the rain season is getting closer and people are preparing to cultivate their fields this year.
Honestly for us in the Southern Sudan, we are committed to take this historic momentum of self-determination as an opportunity to learn from the devastating mistakes made by Northern governments as well as the LRA. We hope, as we have opted for independence, that we will need to choose democracy over repression, embrace diversity over division,
defend human rights and justice over abuses, empower transparency and accountability over corruption and nepotism, and promote equality between men and women over discrimination. Above all choose Peace over War.
As one of the representatives of civil society, human right religious groups in the LRA-affected areas of, southern Sudan, I am writing to ask you to urgently implement the new strategy that the US government released last year 2010 on tackling the problem of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). It seems without implementation of the strategy, the words on paper are remaining meaningless and many of us, who live with the daily threat of the LRA, will continue to suffer.
Each day that goes by without a solution to the problem of the LRA is another day of terror and pain for those of us living under constant threat of renewed attacks. Already, the LRA has brutally killed more than 2,700 of our family members and abducted over 3,500 others since they began their latest wave of killings in September 2008. Many of our children are still in the hands of the LRA. We do not know if they are alive or dead. Those who have managed to escape the LRA bear the physical and mental scars of what they have suffered and will never be the same again. We have few means to help them re-adjust and integrate back into our communities, but we are trying to do what we can.
With over 500,000 people displaced from their homes, our lives are not easy. We no longer have access to our fields, our schools are not functioning, and we struggle to fight off diseases and to find enough food to feed our families.
In this period as we move closer to the rain season, we are particularly afraid of more attacks by the LRA. We remember the Christmas massacres of 2008, and when the LRA killed at least 865 civilians during the Christmas period, and the Makombo massacre of December 2009, when 345 civilians were killed and also in similar manner, on 14th of August 2009 in one of my parishes of Ezo was attacked and more 26 faithful were killed and more than 30 were abducted. At this time of the year, when we should be preparing for the historical Southern Sudan independence, we instead mourn our loved ones and we live each day in fear of more LRA attacks.
My dear people of God, I personally, fully agree with the American Government’s strategy’s overall goal for the people of central Africa to be “free from the threat of LRA violence and have the freedom to pursue their livelihoods.” I also welcome the strategy’s four strategic objectives to: a) increase protection of civilians; b) apprehend or remove from the battlefield Joseph Kony and senior commanders; c) promote the defection, disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of remaining LRA fighters; and d) increase humanitarian access and provide continued relief to affected communities. But I
also add the strategy of Peace negotiation initiative as a genuine option.
Please, do not delay a day longer in implementing this strategy. I implore you to find the financial resources and the political will to turn the goals and objectives of this strategy into reality. For us, this is a matter of life and death.
In particular, I urge you to prioritize the protection of our communities at risk of continued LRA attacks. While the presence of UN peacekeepers has given some help, it has been not nearly enough. For example, in northern Congo’s Haut Uele District, MONUSCO peacekeepers provide some protection in certain communities, but there are currently no peacekeepers in Southern Sudan, Western EQUATORIA State and northern Congo’s Bas Uele District (Congo), one of the areas worst
affected by LRA attacks. Where peacekeepers are deployed, they rarely leave their bases and have sometimes proven unable – or unwilling – to prevent or respond to LRA attacks less than a kilometre from their bases. Painfully, the UNIMIS in the Sudan do not have chapter seven, (I have no justification of this point) which can enable them to protect the civilian, as such the local population has no faith in them at all.
I would appreciate your recognition of a lack of communications infrastructure and good roads has made it difficult for us to report on attacks in a timely way or send out calls for help. I am glad that support in this area has been identified as a priority action the US Government’s strategy. I hope this will include urgent efforts to expand cell phone coverage in the LRA affected areas, to implement early warning systems though HF radios, and to rehabilitate key roads and airstrips.
All I am quite convinced of is that the LRA problem in our communities will not be resolved until Joseph Kony and the other senior leaders are made to leave the forest and come home. As long as the LRA’s top leaders evade capture, I fear they will only continue to abduct our children, who in turn will be trained to replace any lower and mid-level combatants who escape, defect, or are killed.
Efforts to pursue the LRA have relied on our own national armies, but to date this has not worked. The leaders of the LRA remain at large. I urge you to pursue other options and to look for support beyond our borders. I hope you will work together to take this idea forward.
I recommend that the apprehension of senior LRA leaders, through a professional law enforcement operation, taking all necessary steps to minimize harm to civilians, be a vital component of any comprehensive strategy to end the LRA threat. The UN has repeatedly confirmed its commitment to ending impunity and holding to account individuals responsible for serious violations of international law. Supporting apprehension of individuals wanted on existing arrest warrants is therefore within the mandate of the Secretary General and the UN.
The US strategy is a welcome first step in recognizing that the apprehension of LRA leaders is necessary, but that strategy fails to describe how such a force would be operationalized.
The Secretary General can play a key role in facilitating the arrest of senior LRA commanders as part of a broader strategy to address the crisis by:
In summary I recommend these as possible way to immediate remedy to the atrocities of the LRA on us:
It will be completely absurd and shameful for the Newly Independent South Sudan to have its first noble duty to begin fighting the LRA out of the Southern Sudan instead of reorganizing itself with first thing first – which is peace for its war traumatized citizens.
We have suffered so much from a war that is not our own and have often felt forgotten and ignored by our own governments and by the international community. The U.S. new strategy or similar tends to give us hope. I implore you to implement it and to begin those efforts today.
Please continue to pray for true peace in the Sudan!
Yours sincerely,
Barani Eduardo Hiiboro KUSSALA
Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio,
Southern Sudan
Last February I spent a morning having tea with Fr. Benoit Kinalegu, a Congolese priest living in Dungu, a small town at the heart of LRA-affected areas in northern Congo. Fr. Kinalegu has led efforts by the local Catholic Church to document LRA violence in the region and is an outspoken peace advocate (check out this recent piece by the Pulitzer Center). As I sipped tea and took notes, Fr. Benoit talked about the frustration felt by the local community, whose efforts to rebuild after Congo’s own civil war had been severely disrupted by the LRA, as well as his own travels to many of the outlying towns that had suffered from rebel attacks. 
Earlier this week I received an email from Fr. Kinalegu containing a statement about continued insecurity in the region and recommendations for international action to help stop LRA violence, issued by the local clergy of the Dungu-Doruma Catholic diocese. They lost one of their own this month, when unknown gunmen (potentially LRA, but as yet unverified) attacked a humanitarian convoy, killing Sister Jeanne Yengane. Sister Yengane was a local health worker on a trip to provide care to communities in remote areas.
Fr. Kinalegu wrote to us about the church’s investigation into the killing. He noted that LRA atrocities in northern Congo have increased significantly over the past few weeks amidst rumors that LRA leader Joseph Kony has crossed from Central African Republic back into northeastern Congo. Our team has been hearing these reports as well.
Fr. Benoit joined all the clergy of the diocese in issuing a statement (full-length French version here) about the urgency of ending the violence. Some selections are below, roughly translated:
We, the clergy (priests, nuns and religious) of the Diocese of Dungu-Doruma, led by our pastor, are meeting this Saturday 22/01/2011 in the precincts of the Cathedral Parish rectory of Holy Martyrs of Uganda Dungu-Uye, to move to scrutinize the various events that have tormented our people and ourselves (such as LRA incursions, assassinations, abductions, and mutilations), peaking on this day with the murder of the late Reverend Sister Jeanne YENGANE, an optometrist doctor. Peace to her soul! Enough is enough![…]
For the love of our people we can not keep silent against the trivialization of facts (namely, the presence of LRA rebels and their attacks) by the central government through its statements that… those who sow death are “local bandits” or local LRA sympathizers.[…]
We are convinced that the international community knows where LRA leader Joseph Kony is located, and has the efficient, modern and sophisticated means to be able to capture him and put him out of harm’s way, so that he will be brought to justice and stop making our district a theater of historic levels of atrocities. […]
The statement from local clergy also made recommendations, including a call to strengthen the capacity of the Congolese military to protect communities there from LRA attacks, a commission to investigate Sr. Yengane’s death, and accountability for all those who are responsible for perpetrating atrocities in the region.
— Paul