Resolve

Posts by Azy

Kony 2012 Resolution passes the Senate Foreign Relations Committee

June 26, 2012 by Azy

 



Last week, while Resolve was busy hosting the delegation in Washington, DC, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was busy passing the Kony 2012 Resolution. The legislation that was introduced by Senators Chris Coons (D-DE) and Jim Inhofe (R-OK) had 47 cosponsors when it passed through committee, thanks to your diligent letters, phone calls and lobby meetings. This is a huge step forward. We really appreciate Senators Coons and Inhofe’s leadership on this issue.

The resolution aims to do the following:

• Support the efforts of Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and other regional governments, as well as the African Union and United Nations, to end the threat posed by the LRA;

• Support continued efforts by the United States to strengthen the capabilities of regional military forces deployed to protect civilians and pursue commanders of the LRA; as well as to enhance cooperation and cross-border efforts to increase civilian protection and provide assistance to populations affected by the LRA;

• Call on the U.S. to utilize existing funds for ongoing programs to enhance mobility, intelligence, and logistical capabilities for local partner forces engaged in efforts to remove Joseph Kony and his top commanders from the battlefield;

• Call on the U.S. to prioritize civilian protection and to utilize existing funds for ongoing programs aiming to protect civilians by expanding physical access and telecommunications infrastructure to aid the flow of information, supporting programs that encourage LRA combatant defections, rehabilitating children and youth affected by the war and reconnecting them with their families;

• Call on the President to keep Congress fully informed of U.S. efforts and to work closely with Congress to identify and address critical gaps in efforts to counter the LRA.

This passage mirrored last week’s passage by the House Foreign Affairs Committee. We are making excellent headway. Thanks to everyone who called or met with their members of Congres. We are seeing the fruits of your labor. Now that the resolution has passed through the committee stage in both houses, the bills await a vote by the full House and the full Senate.

Thanks again. We’ll keep you updated.

Congolese representatives of LRA-affected areas testify before U.S. policymakers

June 25, 2012 by Azy

 



Father Benoit and Sister Angelique arrived in Washington, D.C., last Sunday and they have had quite the schedule. After a whirlwind of meetings and appearances, they are now in New York City for more meetings and a press conference at the United Nations. After that? They are headed to Europe for even more advocacy meetings. Scroll down for some photos of their time in the United States so far.

The delegates arrived this week with a clear aim to communicate the LRA-affected region’s continuing need for international assistance. The LRA remains a threat to civilians in some of the most remote communities in Central African Republic, DR Congo, and South Sudan, and the international community can help by investing in the region’s infrastructure and the efforts to rehabilitate the affected individuals and communities. Their written testimonies from the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission Hearing are now available online.

With a clear message and the moral courage to deliver it, Father Benoit Kinalegu and Sister Angelique Namaika were able to speak with several members of Congress and administration officials.

Members of Congress included Jim McGovern (D-MA), Senator Landrieu (D-LA), Senator Coons (D-DE), Rep. Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Rep. Lowey (D-NY), Rep. Wolf (R-VA), and Rep. Duncan (R-SC).

Our thanks to them and their staff for making it a priority to engage with the LRA issue.



Resolve staff with delegates



Reps. Jim McGovern (D-MA) and Duncan (R-SC) with the delegates following the Tom Lanton Human Rights Commission hearing

 



Rep. Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, with delegates

The delegates outside of the Rayburn building, just before a meeting with Ranking Member Nita Lowey’s office.

Delegation from LRA-affected region of DR Congo has arrived in DC

June 18, 2012 by Azy

 



This weekend, two delegates from the Democratic Republic of Congo arrived in Washington, D.C., to kick off a three-week advocacy trip that will conclude with policy meetings in Europe. Father Benoit Kinalegu and Sister Angelique Namaika will be speaking on behalf of communities currently affected by LRA violence.

Resolve is pleased to facilitate their time in the United States. The delegates have a full schedule: on Tuesday, June 19 the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission is hosting a hearing on the “Continuing Human Rights Crisis in LRA-Affected Regions.” Father Benoit will appear on one of the panels together with Resolve’s Michael Poffenberger and The Enough Project’s John Prendergast.

On Wednesday, both delegates and Resolve’s Paul Ronan will speak on a panel hosted by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars entitled “Countering the Lord’s Resistance Army: A Civilian View from the Field.”

The following week, the delegates head to New York City for meetings at the United Nations when the Security Council will be convening. But more about that later.

Father Benoit and Sister Angelique continue to do remarkable work in LRA-affected areas of DR Congo, leading their communities’ efforts in civilian protection and rehabilitation. They can speak to the region’s needs with insight and experience. We are thrilled that they are here to tell our leaders, face-to-face, about the ongoing threat and we hope that their testimonies will strengthen the resolve of U.S. policymakers to provide new resources for the protection of civilians and the disarming of the LRA.

Again, we are so pleased to have the delegates here. Take a moment to read their full bios and check back for more blogs about their time in the United States and Europe.

-Azy



Father Benoit Kinalegu

Father Benoit Kinalegu is a Congolese priest and the President of the Dungu-Doruma Diocesan Commission for Justice and Peace (CDJP). Based in the town of Dungu in Haut-Uele district, Democratic Republic of Congo, Father Kinalegu and the CDJP have played a leading role in documenting LRA rebel violence, mobilizing local civil society voices in both Congo and the broader LRA-affected region, and influencing the responses of the Congolese government and international community to the crisis.

The CDJP has produced its own first-hand accounts of human rights abuses committed by the LRA and has contributed directly to research by international human rights organizations. In addition, Father Kinalegu and the CDJP have helped mobilize local civil society groups from other LRA-affected countries to participate in regional peace-building activities. These efforts have allowed civil society leaders to share experiences of LRA violence, engage in cross-border dialogue on local community responses, and make recommendations to regional and international policymakers on how to end the conflict.

Father Kinalegu has been interviewed and quoted by the Economist, the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, the Guardian, Business Week, and the Institute for War and Peace Reporting among others.

Sister Angelique Namaika

Sister Angelique runs Dynamic Women for Peace (DWP), in Dungu, Democratic Republic of Congo. Since 2008, she has been helping young girls recover from the trauma of being abducted by the LRA. DWP promotes reintegration and reconciliation by encouraging communities to welcome the return of escapees. It also provides a wide range of vocational training programs and income-generation activities to promote their economic and social reintegration. Sister Angelique also oversees a micro-credit program that helps graduates of the vocational training courses start small businessesand runs basic literacy classes in the Lingala, the local language. .

Sister Angelique has been a prominent voice advocating for victims of LRA violence in DR Congo and across the region. She has worked in coalition with UNHCR and others and has been profiled on the UNHCR website.

Photo credits: M.Hofer for UNHCER // Pulitzer Center

Senator Coons (D-DE) visits Uganda to assess progress on the mission to end LRA violence

June 1, 2012 by Azy

 



This week Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) visited Uganda to assess how U.S. and regional efforts to counter LRA violence were coming along. His stop in Uganda was part of a broader trip the Senator is making through East Africa.

Senator Coons, pictured above with Jacob Acaye and Jolly Okot of Invisible Children, is the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on African Affairs, making his visit all the more significant. A trip to the region like this is a good example of how Congress can help keep the Administration accountable for progress in addressing the LRA and to assess what kinds of additional resources and support the U.S. advisors need to succeed in their mission.

While in Uganda this week, the Senator made a point of meeting with some of the key players in the efforts to capture Joseph Kony and disarm the LRA, including General Carter Ham (head of AFRICOM) and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. He also met with commanders in the Ugandan army and the U.S. advisers in the region.

“I was encouraged to hear from commanders on the ground in Uganda about progress that’s being made in the U.S. mission to advise and assist regional militaries in the hunt for Joseph Kony,” Senator Coons said. “Kony represents the worst of mankind, and he and his lieutenants must be held accountable for the war crimes they have committed in Central Africa.”

During his visit he admired the great strides northern Uganda has made in the years since the LRA left the country. He noted that Gulu has a “brighter future ahead.”

We appreciate all that the Senator is doing to support international efforts to bring this conflict to an end so that hopefully LRA-affected communities in Central African Republic, DR Congo, and South Sudan will one day soon also see a brighter future ahead.

Senator Coons continues to be a committed and vocal champion in Congress on this issue and we are tremendously grateful for his leadership. Here’s a brief rundown of some of his contributions to the cause so far, including introducing the Kony 2012 Senate Resolution, which condemns Kony’s atrocities and calls for continued U.S. efforts to help stop LRA violence.

On a personal note, I’d also like to commend Senator Coons for his tech savvy — not something I tend to associate with many members of Congress. This video response to the KONY 2012 campaign from a group of Senators (spear-headed by Coons) and the upkeep of his YouTube channel are impressive enough, and today I found out he even has a Flickr account. What next?

- Azy

P.S. If you’re from Delaware, we encourage you to take a minute to post a message on the Senator’s Facebook wall or give his office a call to thank him for his leadership on the LRA issue. I mean, who doesn’t like a little positive feedback?

Twitter updates from central Africa

March 2, 2012 by Azy

 



Our colleague Paul has been in Central Africa for nearly 2 weeks now, and he has been tweeting his impressions from the ground @ResolveReports. As expected, there has been a mixture of good news and bad.

The ability or inability to communicate via radio has proven to be hugely important in protecting civilians:



It sounds like the KONY 2012 campaign is already garnering international support:



Residents across Central Africa have high expectations for the American troops, and it’s all too apparent that every delay is costly:



For more details from the ground, check out this blog that Paul posted about his visit to Djemah, Central African Republic.  He visited the community two years ago, shortly after it had been attacked by the LRA. This was his first time visiting since then.

“Djemah still has no HF radio or mobile phone service, and the mayor told us that surrounding communities write letters and deliver them by hand to tell him of LRA activity. That very morning, we met a man who traveled 30km to Djemah to deliver a letter detailing how two Ugandan women and three small children escaped from the LRA in his community just two days before.”

Paul minces no words when describing what Djemah needs most:

“HF radio and mobile phone projects… should be implemented quickly, and avoid the delays that have plagued similar US projects in Congo. Djemah and surrounding communities have been waiting for such projects for over two years, while the LRA continues to conduct brutal attacks. They can’t afford to wait two more.”

Be sure to follow @ResolveReports to get the latest news from the ground.

-Azy

Resolve report “Peace Can Be” discussed in the media

February 28, 2012 by Azy

 



Last week, Resolve was mentioned in number of news articles on the current status of the 100 U.S. military advisers that the White House deployed to central Africa.

In the Washington Post, an articled called “US troops stationed in 4 Central African countries in fight against LRA rebel fighters” explains that there are military advisers stationed not only in Uganda, but also in the three countries currently affected by the Lord’s Resistance Army: CAR, DR Congo, and South Sudan. While we don’t necessarily agree with all the opinions cited in the article, we were very happy to see our recommendations referenced:

The anti-LRA group Resolve in a report released Wednesday urged the U.S. to encourage Uganda to dedicate more troops and helicopters to their counter-LRA operations. The group also urged the U.S. to fund more transport helicopters and improved communications equipment for Ugandan troops, and to increase intelligence gathering by expanding the use of aerial surveillance.

That’s only a fraction of the recommendations included in the full report, many of which are focused on non-military policy measures as well. My teammate Paul worked tenaciously to write this report after returning from his last research trip in September of last year, and its recommendations were also picked up in articles over at IRIN and Stars and Stripes.

You can read more the report here: “Peace Can Be: President Obama’s Chance to Help End LRA Violence in 2012.”

-Azy

Rep. Ed Royce introduces legislation to aid Kony’s capture

February 24, 2012 by Azy

 



Congressman Ed Royce, one of our champions in Congress, has come out again with legislation seeking to help end the atrocities wrought by Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army in central Africa. Only this time, he is taking a new approach.

Late last week his office announced that Royce is asking that an ongoing United States government program called “Rewards for Justice,” which provides financial rewards for information about the location of wanted terrorists, be expanded. Under Rep. Royce’s new proposal, “enablers” of terrorists — such as arms traffickers — as well as war criminals and those indicted by “international, hybrid, or mixed tribunals for genocide, war crimes, or crimes against humanity” be included in the rewards program. That means that anyone who can provide information that leads to the conviction of indicted war criminals will be rewarded.

This legislation is the sort of thing we hope to see more of as we try to see the “world’s worst” brought to justice. If it takes an incentive program to get pertinent information about Kony’s whereabouts, then we’re glad to see it implemented and extended.

Kony, and possibly his two top commanders who have also been indicted by the International Criminal Court, will be topping that list of targets. Royce directly said “One priority is Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), which has terrorized northern Uganda and central Africa for over two decades.  An aggressive rewards program seeking information on Kony and top LRA commanders could help generate intelligence on their location and promote defections – both goals of U.S. policy.  It is time to end Kony’s reign of terror.”

Here’s Rep. Royce on the BBC doing an interview about his bill. A big thank you to him for taking this initiative. And Resolve advocates take heed; getting this bill passed may be one of our targets for the year.

- Azy

Reporting from an American outpost in Central African Republic

by Azy

 



This article in McClatchy is one of the best articles that I’ve read about the Lord’s Resistance Army. The author, Alan Boswell, so well describes the mixture of simplicity and complexity in the case of the case of the LRA and Joseph Kony, who he aptly describes as “one of the world’s most elusive and sadistic criminals.”

Boswell reports from Obo, Central African Republic. The community was attacked in March 2008 (while the LRA was supposedly in peace talks). After a funeral service, around 2am, the village was surrounded and everyone who was still out was abducted. While many of those abducted escaped or were let go, some have never returned. And those who managed to return still suffer from the trauma of what they were forced to do. The community has been through much pain in the last 4 years, but morale was recently buoyed by the establishment of a base for the American advisers. Obo community members believe that American involvement spells the end of the LRA.

The article is written in such a way that one paragraph is local color and the next is hard-hitting journalism.  In the process, Boswell underscores a few points that are especially important to make.

First, he writes that America’s involvement truly appears to be a purely humanitarian mission, not directly tied to any national security interests.

That the U.S. has joined the hunt for a group that horrifies millions of Americans but poses no direct threat to the United States is testament to the influence of human rights campaigners, who, together with evangelical Christians, lobbied Congress to pass a law requiring renewed U.S. efforts against the LRA. The Obama administration responded by dispatching 100 special operations troops to help find Kony…

There is little here of international economic interest, though the land itself is so fertile that even refugees have no problem growing their own food. There are vast mineral deposits in eastern Congo, and the U.S. government recently has changed sanctions laws to open South Sudan’s oil industry to U.S. companies. But those are hardly factors in hunting down Kony.”

Boswell also underscores the remote and difficult nature of the region:

“The area where Kony operates gives new meaning to “middle of nowhere.” A sequestered and ungoverned land with few roads, the area lies near the intersection of three of the world’s most failed states and one of the remotest points on the continent.”

Boswell says that the American presence in Obo has not translated into any significant changes as of yet—apart from a helipad and a boost of morale.

My teammate Paul is currently in the region looking more closely at what the American military advisers have accomplished so far. We hope that he will be encouraged over the course of the next five weeks.

This article is definitely worth a read.

-Azy

(Photo Credit: Alan Boswell)

Paul heads back to central Africa to assess U.S. efforts to stop the LRA

February 17, 2012 by Azy

 



This weekend, Paul Ronan – our Director of Advocacy — will be returning to central Africa for a month-long research trip. His primary focus will be to assess the impact of U.S. efforts to stop LRA violence and bring Joseph Kony to justice. He’ll return in March with a report and recommendations for how our leaders can best proceed in helping to protect civilians and seek the apprehension of top LRA commanders. More specifically, Paul will be looking at what the President and Congress should do to best support the newly-deployed U.S. advisers in the region and hopefully bring LRA violence to an end before the year is out.

While Paul is on the ground, assessing the ways in which U.S. leaders can best help end LRA violence, the rest of our team will be here in the States — mobilizing activists across the country for the KONY 2012 campaign and meeting with policymakers here in Washington – in order to create the political will our leaders need to take committed action.

Paul will be tweeting from the ground with interesting findings, so make sure to follow him at @Resolvereports to hear the latest.

As always, we owe a special thanks to our wonderful Resolve Cosponsors, whose monthly support enables Paul to conduct his field research and provide crucial guidance on what affected communities need and how to see this conflict finally ended. To all of our Cosponsors: thank you for your generosity.

And remember: Follow Paul on Twitter!

Ugandan government upsets Acholi communities by selling northern land to Sugar Company

February 10, 2012 by Azy

 



The LRA is no longer in northern Uganda. It hasn’t been active there since 2006, and the north is starting to resettle now that it has known relative peace for a few years. People have been able to leave the IDP camps and return to their home villages.

Northern Ugandan leaders have embraced the idea of financial investors helping people rebuild their livelihoods. However, many express concern about proposals that would transfer large chunks of land to outside investors, fearing people will lose access to their land. A recent court ruling allowing the Ugandan government to transfer 40,000 hectares of Acholi land in Amuru district has caused a backlash among Acholi communities, highlighting these concerns. The judge’s decision noted that the land in question was “unsettled bush” and ruled the government could grant the land to a sugar company called Madhvani Sugar Group. Madhvani has long had its eye on the land, and intends to use it to grow sugar cane. This is a lucrative move for the government of Uganda, but could be detrimental communities in the north if people lose their land. This article gives several examples of Acholi people who fiercely protest the court decision claiming that it is biased and that the Acholi people will not stand for it—even if that means physically protecting their land.

One northern Ugandan even said, “If they try to use force against our people, there will be another LRA in name of the land.” This may seem like an extreme statement, but remember that the LRA sprang from Alice Lakwena’s Holy Spirit Movement, which gained popularity in 1986 because it protested the oppression of the north by Kampala.

This court decision further marginalizes the Northern communities. It creates tension in a country that has known too much violence for decades. It creates unrest when resources need to be invested in the development of the north and it places a barrier to the Acholi people’s return to their agricultural tradition.

Perhaps the predicted appeals will be successful.  As one Acholi community member said, their land is all they have left. Everything else has been taken. And it’s adding insult to injury to say that the land is undeveloped when the people have been confined by the government in IDP camps for the past 2 decades, unable to develop it. The north deserves a chance to right itself and get back on its feet. For its schools to catch up with the schools in the south.

We care about our friends in northern Uganda. It is where the LRA originated and spent most of its brutal years. Our dream is that the LRA will be disarmed, and there will not be occasion for another armed rebel group to rise up in its stead.

-Azy

The Enough Project: U.S. names Great Lakes Special Envoy R. Barrie Walkley

February 8, 2012 by Azy

 



Below we reposted an important blog from the Enough Project. Together, we have long advocated for the appointment of a U.S. Special Envoy to the Great Lakes region to help advance a coordinated strategy that encompasses all the countries in the region in efforts to achieve peace. The area has long needed focused attention that it hasn’t received. Now, we are very pleased that R. Barrie Walkley we recently appointed to fill this role.

With Walkley designated to this post, we hope that dealing with the LRA will be a top priority. The blog below lays out what we’ve been asking of the State Department for many years, Walkley’s background, and the four primary issues that the Enough Project encourages the newly-appointed special envoy to address.

From the Enough Project’s blog:

The Enough Project has long advocated for the appointment of a dedicated envoy to coordinate U.S. government policy toward the Great Lakes Region, and although not at the level of envoy, the appointment of special representative for the Great Lakes region, Ambassador R. Barrie Walkley, is a promising development for U.S. engagement in the region.

The Enough Project’s grassroots activists and partners have long been dedicated to advocacy pressing the Obama administration to appoint a special envoy for this conflict-prone region. Over 24,000 people signed a petition urging President Obama and Secretary Clinton to appoint a Great Lakes envoy. We congratulate the success of our activists and urge those concerned about resolving the crisis in the Congo and areas affected by the LRA to continue to follow Ambassador Walkley’s tenure as special envoy.

The special envoy will serve an important coordination role for the U.S. government in the Great Lakes. Prior to Walkley’s appointment, the issues covered by the special envoy fell to the portfolios of the staffers of several different deputy assistant secretaries of state, each juggling a wide variety of other responsibilities related to their regions and respective portfolios. His appointment moves Great Lakes issues from the diplomatic backburner to a place of prominence within the State Department.

Ambassador Walkley is a lifelong diplomat with the U.S. State Department. In his most recent post as the consul general in Juba he was intimately involved in the lead-up to the referendum and subsequent independence of South Sudan. He began his career in Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer in Somalia from 1967 to 1969. He entered the Foreign Service in 1982 and served in posts in Yaounde, Cameroon, Lahore and Islamabad, Pakistan, Pretoria, South Africa, as well as Washington, D.C. In 1993, during Operation Restore Hope, he returned to Somalia with the United Nations to serve as the U.N. spokesman in Mogadishu.

From 1998 to 2001, Walkley was the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa. Following his stint in Congo, he held a series of ambassadorial posts on the continent, serving as the U.S. ambassador to Guinea from 2001 to 2004 and as the concurrent ambassador to Gabon and São Tomé and Príncipe from 2004 to 2007. He was Charge d’Affaires in Mauritius and the Seychelles between 2009 and 2010.

The appointment of a special envoy has been a cornerstone of the Enough Project’s policy agenda for the administration, in both LRA and Congo policy recommendations. In this position, Walkley will pull together the various elements of Congo and LRA-related U.S. government policy into a comprehensive strategy dealing with the region.

The Enough Project urges Ambassador Walkley to focus on the drivers of conflict and instability in the region by immediately addressing four primary issues:

Engage directly with regional leaders and prioritize respect for human rights, democratic process, and transparency: With recent election-related violence in Congo and repeated electoral irregularity in Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda in the past year, the relatively hands-off approach of the international community to electoral process abuse and fraud is cause for concern. In particular, there is an urgent need for sustained attention from high level diplomats who can engage directly with regional leaders to address issues of human rights violations, corruption, and abuse of power.

Increase domestic and regional support for justice and security sector reform in the Congo. The issues of dysfunction, crime, and impunity within the Congolese security sector are perhaps the largest contributor to instability not only in Congo, but in the wider Great Lakes region. The special representative should be a leader in the formation of a unified donor policy aimed at creating agreement and coordination among Congolese security and judicial bodies as well as of those neighboring states that have historically acted as destabilizing agents in Congo—primarily Rwanda, Uganda, and Burundi—to establish greater regional peace through justice in eastern Congo.

Push for the demilitarization of the mining sector and the full implementation of the Dodd-Frank Conflict Minerals Provision. While the Obama administration has taken a number of important and laudable steps to support traceability and livelihood diversification in the region, significant challenges remain in demilitarizing mine sites in eastern Congo and fully implementing the U.S. government’s conflict mineral strategy. The U.S. must continue to play a leadership role in the region to support peace and economic development, particularly in eastern Congo. Ensuring that high-level diplomatic and military cooperation with the government of Congo, neighboring states, and regional bodies such as the African Union and the ICGLR will be the lynchpin in securing the political buy-in for lasting reform in the region.

Strengthen efforts to end the Lord’s Resistance Army. The special representative should engage vigorously and regularly with regional leaders, the African Union, the United Nations, and other partners to improve efforts to end the LRA and implement the administration’s strategy released in November 2010. The increased coordination directed by Ambassador Walkley should bolster military operations to apprehend the LRA senior leadership; protect civilians; disarm, demobilize, and reintegrate LRA fighters; and conduct reconstruction and reconciliation initiatives. In particular, Ambassador Walkley should: ensure that the regional armies, which the recently deployed U.S. military advisors are assisting, have the necessary military, intelligence, and logistical support; engage vigorously with the governments in the region and the African Union to improve regional collaboration and coordination; and ensure that the newly authorized African Union initiative against the LRA is effective. The special representative should travel frequently to LRA-affected areas.

Photo: Inauguration of the United States embassy in Juba, South Sudan, July 9, 2011.
Left to right: Johnnie Carson, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of African Affairs; Ret. General Colin Powell, former U.S. Secretary of State; Susan R. Rice, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations; and U.S. Ambassador R. Barrie Walkley.

President Obama mentions U.S. efforts to stop Lord’s Resistance Army at National Prayer Breakfast

February 6, 2012 by Azy

 



Last Friday, President Obama referenced the mission to stop the Lord’s Resistance Army at the National Prayer Breakfast.

“And when I decide to stand up for foreign aid, or prevent atrocities in places like Uganda, or take on issues like human trafficking, it’s not just about strengthening alliances, or promoting democratic values, or projecting American leadership around the world, although it does all those things and it will make us safer and more secure. It’s also about the biblical call to care for the least of these — for the poor; for those at the margins of our society.”

We are encouraged that the President considers U.S. efforts to stop LRA violence an issue that we can all agree on. And the very fact that he chose to reference it in his speech — as opposed to a host of other issues —  suggests that our voices have been reaching ears in the White House. The LRA is clearly on the President’s radar and we intend to keep it there.

You can watch the prayer breakfast speech in its entirety or read the transcript at the Washington Post.

Azy