US Sudan envoy calls LRA violence “unbelievable”, but offers little on US plans to address continued violence
When President Obama released his Sudan policy in October, we noticed one gaping hole – a lack of a strategy to address LRA violence in South Sudan. Though the policy showed a renewed commitment to support peace in fragile South Sudan, it failed to recognize that LRA violence is a significant threat to achieving that peace.
Last Friday members of Congress held a hearing to review the Obama Administration’s Sudan policy, and Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas and Representative Ed Royce expressed this same concern. Rep. Ed Royce grilled US Sudan envoy Maj. Gen. Scott Gration extensively on the LRA, asking, “What is the world going to do to bring an end to Kony’s work…?” and raising questions about alleged links between the LRA and Sudanese government. (See the video of this exchange here).
Unfortunately, General Gration’s response did not indicate that the Obama Administration has made progress since October in addressing the LRA’s impact on South Sudan. He called LRA violence “abhorrent” and “unbelievable,” and said that, “There’s no reason that Joseph Kony should be allowed to be wandering around and be alive and continuing the Lord’s Resistance [Army].” However, he failed to say what, if anything, the US is doing to help prevent LRA ongoing attacks on civilians and permanently prevent future rebel violence. Given the lack of US action on this issue, his comment that “the fact that [LRA violence] is not an absolutely international outrage is disgusting to me” rings hollow.
It should be no surprise that Senator Brownback and Rep. Royce brought up the LRA during last week’s hearing. Both are original cosponsors of the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act and leading voices for an end to LRA violence in central Africa. The Obama Administration’s continued failure to demonstrate that it is adequately addressing LRA violence is a call to action to ensure this legislation gets passed as soon as possible.
Last Friday members of Congress held a hearing to review the Obama Administration’s Sudan policy, and Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas and Representative Ed Royce expressed this same concern. Rep. Ed Royce grilled US Sudan envoy Maj. Gen. Scott Gration extensively on the LRA, asking, “What is the world going to do to bring an end to Kony’s work…?” and raising questions about alleged links between the LRA and Sudanese government. (See the video of this exchange here).
Unfortunately, General Gration’s response did not indicate that the Obama Administration has made progress since October in addressing the LRA’s impact on South Sudan. He called LRA violence “abhorrent” and “unbelievable,” and said that, “There’s no reason that Joseph Kony should be allowed to be wandering around and be alive and continuing the Lord’s Resistance [Army].” However, he failed to say what, if anything, the US is doing to help prevent LRA ongoing attacks on civilians and permanently prevent future rebel violence. Given the lack of US action on this issue, his comment that “the fact that [LRA violence] is not an absolutely international outrage is disgusting to me” rings hollow.
It should be no surprise that Senator Brownback and Rep. Royce brought up the LRA during last week’s hearing. Both are original cosponsors of the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act and leading voices for an end to LRA violence in central Africa. The Obama Administration’s continued failure to demonstrate that it is adequately addressing LRA violence is a call to action to ensure this legislation gets passed as soon as possible.
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President Barack Obama's special envoy to Sudan Scott Gration says he believes an oil deal is needed before a scheduled January referendum on independence for the south takes place. The vote is the central part of a peace agreement that was signed in 2005 to end the decades-long north-south Sudanese conflict.