Weekly Roundup August 22-28: Surge in LRA attacks "the worst crisis unfolding in Congo"

As the Obama Administration remains largely silent on the alarming attacks being carried out by LRA fighters in three countries, the crisis continues to deteriorate rapidly. The UN reported this week that the number of people displaced due to LRA violence in the DR Congo has now skyrocketed to 540,000, with 125,000 displaced in just the last three weeks alone. It is now the "worse crisis unfolding in Congo" according to one UN official, a sobering title in a country facing so many crises. With violence and displacement levels this high, the silence of our leaders is inexcusable.

The Good: The Ugandan government began preliminary peace talks this month with the ADF/NALU, a small Ugandan rebel group based in eastern DR Congo.

The Bad: LRA attacks have displaced 125,000 Congolese since the beginning of this month.

 The Ugly: The UN had to suspend humanitarian activities in parts of South Sudan and evacuate 29 aid workers after LRA raids targeting food distribution sites.

Regional Security

• Ugandan military forces are conducting "joint operations" with the Central African Republic's military against LRA forces in CAR, although there has been no public acknowlegement of the operations by either country. LRA attacks have displaced nearly 3,000 Central Africans in the past several weeks.
  
  

• There have been increasing, though unconfirmed, reports that the Sudanese military has renewed its support to LRA forces and other militias operating in South Sudan, possibly with the intention of destabilizing the region ahead of upcoming national elections and a South Sudan referendum on independece.
  
  

Situation in Northern Uganda

• Olara Otunnu, a former Ugandan minister and senior UN official, returned to Uganda this week for the first time in over two decades. Otunnu is reportedly considering a bid to challenge incumbent Yoweri Museveni in Uganda's 2011 presidential elections.
  

• Otunnu's return has sparked considerable debate in Uganda about human rights abuses committed by President Museveni's government in northern Uganda over past the two decades. Otunnu has accused the government of committing genocide there, while other opposition officials this week released a list of civilians allegedly murdered by the Ugandan military and called for a special committee to investigate atrocities. A senior Ugandan official responded that the military has held itself accountable during the conflict, and that "it has never been a policy for the army to kill civilians."
  

• Over one million people are "highly food insecure" in northern Uganda, while an additional 1.15 million face food insecurity in Uganda's northeastern Karamoja region. 

International Response

• US Secretary of State traveled to eastern DR Congo earlier this month, where she highlighted the need to combat sexual violence but failed to publicly call attention to LRA violence there. However, Voice of America reported this week that Secretary Clinton did mention the need to stop LRA violence during a private meeting with Congolese President Joseph Kabila on her trip.