Obama Administration: On the Record

There's a new sheriff in town - maybe you've heard? On January 20th, Barack Obama became the 44th president of the United States. But as he stood on the steps of the Capitol Building and took the oath of office, a war continued to spiral out of control half a world away. As a Senator, Barack Obama championed issues across the African continent, including ending the LRA crisis. Now, Mr. Obama is the most powerful person in the world.

We thought it would be a good time to look at President Obama's record on this issue, as well as the record of the people he has appointed to be in charge of his foreign policy. Lucky for us there is no shortage of statements for the record - or promises to hold them accountable to. Use the links below to find out what President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and UN Ambassador Susan Rice have said about the LRA and the war in northern Uganda.

These are the people who can end this war, and this is what they've promised to do:

  • Senator/President Obama: Six months ago, then-Senator Obama wrote a letter to Resolve Uganda's members in response to the flood of letters he had received from people across the country about this issue. He promised to work for greater international leadership to stop the LRA and end this crisis once and for all. Quote: "...the international community can and should do more to resolve this horrendous situation, and I will continue to press this case." To read the full letter and see what else Barack Obama did on this issue while in the Senate, click here.
  • Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs/UN Ambassador Susan Rice: While she's now the US' head honcho at the UN, ten years ago she was responsible for the US's foreign policy toward Africa. As part of her job, she went to Capitol Hill and testified about the war in northern Uganda. Quote: "Secretary Albright and I and others visited Gulu during her December 1997 trip to Africa. We were all deeply moved by the experience of meeting the child victims of the LRA atrocities. It left us ever more committed to helping Uganda address this ongoing conflict." Click here to read more of what she had to say - let's hope she puts her words into action with her newfound influence.
  • Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson: Formerly the US' Ambassador to Uganda during the Clinton Administration, Johnnie Carson is now the go-to guy in the State Department on everything Africa-related. Luckily for us, he has a history of taking a hard-line on ending this war and holding the Government of Uganda accountable for credibly trying to end it. To read an excerpt of a speech Carson gave in 2005 about what was happening in Uganda at the time, click here.
  • Ambassador to Uganda Committee on Senate Foreign Relations Jerry P. Lanier: Previously the Foreign Policy Advisor for U.S. Africa Command, Jerry P. Lanier is the successor to Steven Browning in this position. In his nomination address to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Lanier said "The LRA has been a menace to the people of Uganda, but has also murdered, raped, and abducted thousands of victims in other countries in the region.  Uganda is literally at the center of some of Africa’s most deadly, long-standing and intractable conflicts [...] If confirmed as Ambassador to Uganda, I will work to achieve lasting peace and stability in the North."  To read his full address, click here. 

Senator/President Obama:

Actions as a Senator:

Letter to Resolve Uganda Supporters:

August, 2008

Dear Resolve Uganda members:

Thank for contacting me about the human rights situation in Africa, and Uganda in particular. I appreciate knowing your concerns on this important matter.

I share your distress about the widespread violence that continues to consume countries such as Sudan and Uganda. I also remain concerned with the poor human rights records of many African governments. The U.S. can clearly do more in these areas, and as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Africa Subcommittee, I have made assisting in resolving conflicts a priority.

The situation in Northern Uganda is heartbreaking. The government has been unable to end a brutal insurgency in the north and west of the country; Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels have killed and kidnapped many thousands of people – including children; and displaced close to two million more. The conflict has also spilled over in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudan. I am somewhat encouraged by apparent progress in ending the conflict between the LRA and the government of Uganda. A group of Ugandan politicians, journalists, and civic leaders visited my office and were guardedly optimistic. They did express the strong need for U.S. engagement in helping end the conflict once and for all. The Bush Administration and the international community can and should do more to resolve this horrendous situation, and I will continue to press this case.

In addition to looking at ways in which international peacekeeping forces might be established in places of extreme conflict and unrest, we must do everything we can to ensure that there are viable alternatives to participating in violence in these countries, especially for young people. It is my hope that Congress can increase funding for a range of foreign assistance programs – from conflict reconciliation to economic development to governance and rule of law to international health – that will help address some of the root causes of human rights abuses and violence in Africa.

Again, thank you for contacting me. Please continue to stay in touch during the days ahead.

Sincerely,
Barack Obama



First Lady/Senator/Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

Actions as a Senator:

Speech in Uganda as First Lady:

March 25, 1998:

We must continue to be vigilant about the dangers that still exist and do everything we can to make sure that nothing like what happened in Uganda in the '70s and what happened in Rwanda in 1994 happen again.That means every one of us must act. Not just our leaders -- we must hold our leaders accountable -- it is for all of us to stand up for the rights of all people. We must work to end atrocities around the world, not just the ones that grab headlines, but the indignities that people suffer quietly, when they are denied the chance to speak or learn, to work or eat; when they're denied the chance to live free from fear or want. In other words, we should stand up for the rights of all persons to be fully human.....

We must also speak up for women and children caught up in war and conflict around the world. It used to be that women, children, and civilians wereto be protected during a war. Today, they are increasing the targets of war. Since the turn of this century, civilian fatalities during war have increased from 5percent to 90 percent, and 80 percent of war's refugees are women and children.

You have seen this here in your country, because nothing so offends any definition of human rights than the use of children as pawns of war and the mistreatment and abuse of women as a tactic of war. The war in Rwanda was waged against the lives and dignity of women. Rape and sexual assault were committed on a mass scale. Here, according to a U.N. report, the children of northern Uganda like children throughout the world, are also at risk.

Last year when I spoke with President Museveni, he talked to me about the more than 10,000 Ugandan children who have been abducted by the Lords Resistance Army. One of those children is Charlotte, and she is one of the girl's that Sister Rachele tried to save. I met with her mother, Angelina, at the White House a few weeks ago before we came on this trip. She told me what had happened the night that the LRA kidnapped Charlotte and the other girls from St. Mary's school; how they broke the windows, tied up the girls, beat them if they cried; took them away into a life of unspeakable horrors. Thankfully,many have been rescued or escaped, or their freedom has been purchased. But many others, like Angelina's daughter, have not returned.

Like terrorists and dictators throughout history, the LRA claims to be doing the Lord's work. But there is no greater sin than forcing children to murder each other, family members, and even the parents who brought them into existence. There is no greater sin than raping young girls and sending them into slave labor. And there is no greater sin than using children as human shields in battle.

The LRA call themselves soldiers, but they are cowards, for only cowards would hide behind children in battle.Through a group called Concerned Parents Association, Sister Rachelle, Angelina and other parents are working to save their children and all children.

One of Charlotte's classmates who escaped talked about what happened when another girl tried to escape. Listen to her words: The girl who is brought in front of us and the rebels told us to stomp her to death. We killed the poor innocent girl. If we did not kill the girl, we were going to be shot by guns.We prayed for that girl in our hearts, silently, and asked God to pardon us and forgive us because it was not our will to kill her.

Another girl who was rescued wrote: I'm pleading with you to find a way of stopping this rebel activity, so they we children of northern Uganda could also share in the peace that other children around the world are sharing in. We need peace.

I'm hoping that every government around the world and every citizen joins your government and people in Uganda in your fight for peace and in your efforts to save these children. Already Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International are shining a spotlight on this tragedy. UNICEF is helping to get assistance to groups working at the local level. And non-governmental organizations like World Vision and Gulu Save the Children Organization are caring for children who escape.

There are three of those children here with us that I just had a chance to meet before I came out to see you. Their names are Isaac and Janet and Betty.They were kidnapped by the LRA in the north. They managed to escape,eventually finding refuge. As I looked into their faces and their eyes, I saw the faces and eyes of children the world over. And I thought to myself as I looked at these young men and women of Uganda that we owe them and the thousands more like them everything we can do to make sure that they, too,have a chance, like the children I saw yesterday, to grow up in peace, to be educated, and to look forward to their own families and futures.

There are no easy answers, but I want Janet and Betty and Isaac to know,and I hope that someday Angelina will be able to tell her daughter, Charlotte, as well, that America cares about your children, and we want to work with you to try to stop this tragedy and to care for the children who are its victims....

And, finally, my husband and our government will increase their efforts to pressure Sudan to end its support for the LRA and their cowardly abductions of children. We will work with you to end this terror, and we will work with you to continue your rebuilding of your country.

But I want to add just one more thought, because when we talk about democracy and human rights we know how important laws and institutions are. We know that strong and free markets are also important because they unleash so much creative entrepreneurial energy from people like the women I saw in Jinja yesterday. But, ultimately, the struggle to protect human rights depends upon the millions of decisions and actions that are taken every day by ordinary people like us.

Click here to see the whole speech.

Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs/UN Ambassador Susan Rice:

Testimony before Joint Hearing of House and Senate International Relations Committees, July 29, 1998:

During the first half of 1998, the number of incidents and the geographic spread of LRA depredations increased. Secretary Albright and I and others visited Gulu during her December 1997 trip to Africa. We were all deeply moved by the experience of meeting the child victims of the LRA atrocities. It left us ever more committed to helping Uganda address this ongoing conflict.

I believe that humanitarian crises in northern Uganda and southern Sudan threaten the substantial strides that Africa has taken over the past decade toward stability, free market economies, and democracy. Today many Africans can dare hope that their children and their children's children will study and work in peace and security and freely and regularly elect just and accountable leaders. We look forward to working with both subcommittees to help all Africans enjoy the same opportunity as the continent approaches the 21st century.

The LRA is one of the most bizarre and heinous military organizations anywhere. It doesn't have a clear political agenda. If we were to ask Joseph Kony what his ambitions were, I'm not sure that we would get an answer that makes sense in our terms. They seem to have only one guiding principle and that is tormenting people in the most vicious ways they can dream of. And so it is obviously very difficult in that circumstance to encourage a responsible government like the Government of Uganda to engage in a dialog with the LRA. Having said that, as I said in my testimony, we do think the situation is grave, that military means are not likely alone to suffice and that the Government of Uganda ought to consider a whole range of options including negotiations.

Click here to read Ambassador Rice's full testimony.

Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Johnnie Carson:

Excerpt of speech given at the Woodrow Wilson Center in 2005:

Last year a UN report on Eastern Congo alleged that two of Museveni’s close relatives were involved in smuggling gold and diamonds from the Congo into Uganda. If President Museveni succeeds in altering his country’s constitution, and remains in office, it could spark a political unrest among the opposition, a slowdown in the economy, and a loss of confidence on the part of donors. It could also lead to criticism that Uganda’s Movement-style of democracy only works if President Museveni is in charge. Museveni’s continuation in power will also retard the resolution of his other major internal issue—the failure to stomp out the long-running insurgency by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda. The LRA, an ethnically based guerrilla group, has terrorized northern Ugandans for nearly two decades. While the LRA is clearly not a political organization or a politically motivated force, it continues to survive and to draw local support because of the long standing political and economic grievances among some members of the Langi and Acholi communities toward President Museveni and his NRM government. The economic growth and development that has occurred in the south, central and western parts of Uganda have never made it to the north. In recent years, Museveni has blamed the Sudanese government of fueling the LRA’s senseless violence. This is largely a canard. While there is no doubt the Sudanese have put some money into the LRA’s hands, the LRA was a dangerous force long before it received any Sudanese assistance and long before the illusive Joseph Kony became the group’s current leader.

The situation in northern Uganda is a complex social, political and economic problem and will not be solved through military means. If the international community is serious about trying to help Uganda, it must take a hard look at the causes of the political strife and ugly brutality occurring in northern Uganda and propose serious solutions for addressing the problem. Many northerners dislike Museveni and the NRM, and believe that the president has intentionally ignored the serious social and economic conditions that afflict their communities. Unlike most of southern Uganda, there has been virtually no economic growth or development in the northern part of the country since Museveni’s rise to power. In fact, social conditions and personal security have worsened in a number of northern communities.

Until the Ugandan government is able to build better relations between north and south and to bring development projects and outside investment into the northern communities in the same manner as it has done in the south, the LRA will continue to find the handful of willing recruits to help carry out rape, mutilations, pillaging and burning of villages that continue to devastate that part of the country. As the government steps up its economic development activities, it must also improve the operational effectiveness of its northern military units and end the high level military corruption that encourages some military officers to allow the northern conflict to drag on. For nearly 15 years, the war against the LRA has justified a large army and excessive military expenditures and has been a convenient cash cow for siphoning off scarce government resources into bloated military contracts and private bank accounts.

How President Museveni deals with these issues of presidential term limitations, the expansion of multiparty politics and the LRA violence in the north will depend on what type of legacy he wants to leave behind for himself and for Uganda: one in which economic growth, democratic progress and political stability prevail or a nation that is faced with a new round of destabilizing political challenges and continued civil conflict in the north. Many will suggest that these are national decisions, when in reality the decision is his despite the fact that the outcome will affect all Ugandans and perhaps others as well.

Read the full speech here.