Resolve

After 180 days in development preceded by more than one year of committed activism, President Obama provided Congress with his strategy to help stop the violence perpetrated by the LRA and rebuild affected communities.

The completed strategy, including a letter from President Obama to the members of Congress who passed the bill, is 36 pages long and features several ideas for how the Obama administration might help end Africa’s longest-running war that were also included in Resolve’s policy report, From Promise to Peace.

In the strategy’s cover letter, President Obama referenced the significant involvement of numerous agencies in the creation and implementation of the strategy and said, “My administration looks forward to working closely with the Congress on this important issue.”

President Obama’s team has done an admirable job in formulating a strategy and demonstrating commitment to address the LRA scourge, but the challenge now is to turn this piece of paper into improvements on the ground.  Solid first steps the president should take would include a significant boost in resources in his FY 2012 budget request to address this crisis and the designation of a senior State Department official to oversee the strategy’s implementation.

Our analysis is forthcoming. For now, you can download it here, check it out yourself, and celebrate being part of a truly historic accomplishment.

Get to know it well, because very soon it will be up to us to hold President Obama accountable to its effective implementation.

— Michael

PS – More than 6,000 of you pledged to read the strategy. We would love to see your faces and your follow-through, so take a few seconds to post a photo of yourself reading the strategy on our Facebook wall.