Senate Committee makes key changes to bill text

On Tuesday, when the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted unanimously to approve the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act - thus making it eligible for a full vote in the Senate - the committee members also made a number of important amendments to the bill's text.

Overall, we're pleased with the changes. They strengthen the bill and clarify its intent, helping to ensure that the Obama Administration will hear loud and clear what we and Congress are saying about the need to end LRA violence and rebuild northern Uganda.

You can click here for a full breakdown of the Senate bill's changes, or read below for the highlights:

• To address concerns that the $40 million authorized for recovery and relief efforts was previously coming from the US military budget, the Air Force offset funding provision was removed.

• To clarify that a peaceful resolution of the conflict is always preferable due to the risks that military action poses to civilians and LRA abductees, the bill now states clearly that the US should seek Joseph Kony's apprehension as a means to ending LRA violence only in the absence of a negotiated solution.

• To ensure that any strategy to stop LRA violence is comprehensive and multilateral, the bill now requires that President Obama shall report a multidimensional strategy (involving all economic, military, diplomatic, and intelligence aspects) to Congress, as opposed to should, and numerous sections have added emphasis on the need for any policy to be in line with other regional and international efforts.

• To make clear that the Government of Uganda is responsible for taking much stronger leadership in recovery efforts for northern communities, the bill adds new emphasis on the need for Ugandan government programs in the North to be proactive, sustainable, and transparent, with greater involvement from civil society organizations and local government.

Resolve Uganda has written a full analysis of these and other changes here.