1,500 Americans to lobby Congress on Tuesday to pass landmark LRA/N. Uganda legislation

For over 20 years, Joseph Kony has commanded his rebel Lord's Resistance Army to abduct children and commit brutal attacks across central Africa. After abandoning a two-year peace process, he has now dispatched his forces to attack unprotected families in DR Congo and South Sudan, causing widespread panic and terror. In just the last few months, LRA fighters killed over 1000 people and kidnapped 500 children from their homes and schools. These attacks are displacing communities in three countries and creating one of the deadliest conflicts on the African continent.

Meanwhile, families in northern Uganda have yet to experience real peace, despite the fact that Kony has carried his campaign across Uganda’s borders and his forces have left the area. Helping these communities recover from decades of violence is needed to heal the wounds of war and necessary for any lasting peace.

Serious leadership from the US Government could help bring an end to these crises. By developing and implementing a serious strategy to apprehend Kony, a wanted war criminal, and increasing assistance to communities experiencing the effects of this violence, President Obama could help end Africa’s longest-running conflict and achieve lasting peace.

Pressure is needed to convince the Obama Administration to take these important steps. By getting The LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act passed, citizens across America and their representatives in Congress can send the message to President Obama that he needs to make ending this conflict a priority.

Catching Kony: The first step on the path to peace

Efforts to negotiate with Kony have consistently failed, and regional governments have proven incapable of preventing the LRA from attacking civilian populations. Most recently, peace talks between the Ugandan government and LRA collapsed last year when Kony refused to sign a final peace agreement. Following the collapse, in December 2008, the Ugandan military led a regional military operation with backing from the United States against the LRA’s bases in northeastern Congo. However, the operation failed to apprehend Kony and lacked plans to protect civilians from LRA reprisal attacks, which left over 1,000 people dead.

On Christmas Day alone, LRA forces massacred over 200 Congolese civilians, deliberately targeting families gathered in church to celebrate the holiday. These attacks fit a pattern of LRA violence that has plagued central Africa for two decades, fueled by their abduction of nearly 30,000 children who have been forced to become soldiers, porters and sexual slaves.

As long as Kony refuses to negotiate, apprehending the rebel leader and his top commanders remains the key to preventing these abductions and attacks from occurring indefinitely. Kony’s leadership is the linchpin to the LRA’s survival and without him, hundreds of child soldiers and captives would have a chance to return home. In addition to likely ending the LRA, Kony’s apprehension would help stabilize volatile regions of central Africa, allowing millions of people to sleep safer at night and help provide war-affected families with the safety and confidence to go home and rebuild their lives.

The US can play a crucially important role in stopping LRA atrocities. In particular, President Obama is best positioned to help achieve the critical first step on the path to peace: apprehending Joseph Kony. Previous efforts to apprehend Kony, including Operation Lightning Thunder, demonstrate the catastrophic consequences of operations that lack sufficient engagement and investment from the international community. Working with countries affected by the LRA and international partners, the US can lead a multilateral strategy to apprehend Kony and make sure that it has a strong possibility of success and includes measures to adequately protect civilians and abducted children from harm.

Sealing the deal: Ensuring lasting peace in northern Uganda

Arresting Kony and ending the LRA violence in central Africa is the most immediate task. However, leadership from Congress and President Obama is also needed to expand ongoing efforts to help communities within northern Uganda, where the LRA no longer operates. Though Kony formed the LRA in northern Uganda, the rebel group is now operating into DR Congo, South Sudan, and Central African Republic, leaving a critical window of opportunity to help communities in Uganda rebuild and recover.

More than one million displaced people in northern Uganda have already returned to their homes. However, many have yet to experience concrete improvements in living conditions. Inadequate engagement from Ugandan officials and international leaders has hampered progress on important initiatives to address economic recovery and transitional justice. This failure entrenches high poverty rates in northern Uganda and threatens to deepen the country's long-standing political and regional divisions.

Leadership from the United States is needed to fund and implement programs to meet these pressing needs and make sure that peace lasts. Targeted increases in funding, especially for transitional justice initiatives, can help heal the divisions left by the conflict and address its root causes. Equally important, improved US engagement with the Ugandan government can ensure funds dedicated to recovery efforts reach those most in need.

What must be done: How It Ends

Joseph Kony’s forces are currently wreaking havoc across four countries and condemning millions of people to lives plagued by insecurity and fear. Leadership from the United States is necessary to the success of efforts to permanently end LRA atrocities and help affected communities recover.

Specifically, lobbyists at the June 22-23rd Lobby Days will be requesting that Members of Congress do a few, crucial things to achieve these goals:

• Cosponsor the legislation: Cosponsor and pass the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act (S.1067, H.R.2478), which requires President Obama to devise a comprehensive strategy with international partners to protect civilians from LRA attacks and disarm rebel leaders, as well as improve assistance to communities affected by the conflict;
• Put pressure on Secretary Clinton: Sign a Congressional letter to Secretary Clinton that calls attention to the threat to civilians and regional stability posed by the LRA and requests that she devote U.S. diplomatic resources to the task of apprehending Joseph Kony and permanently ending LRA atrocities;
• Pay for peace and recovery: Ensure the FY2010 budget includes increased support (at least $10 million each) for transitional justice and economic recovery for northern Uganda, which can help address root causes of the violence and prevent future conflict.