Resolve

Posts by Azy

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

Washington Post: Michael Gerson discusses the LRA

January 30, 2012 by Azy

 



In October, soon after President Obama announced that he was deploying advisers to central Africa to help stop the LRA, Michael Gerson wrote an article for the Washington Post, defending the president’s decision. Gerson was President Bush’s lead speech writer for five years and is a respected conservative thinker and writer.

Late last week, Gerson wrote another article about the LRA for the Washington Post, this time following a trip to Dungu, DRC, with Ben Affleck and a team from Eastern Congo Initiative. He gives examples of the depth of Joseph Kony’s brutality and recommends ways that the U.S. could expedite an end to the “nightmare.”

He specifically mentioned our long-time friends and partners, Invisible Children, and their early-warning radio network.

This is a good article that serves to re-introduce the LRA conflict to the national dialogue this election year and hopefully it served to remind readers that the LRA exists and remains a threat.

Do read it.

An excerpt:

“But for this region to be repaired, the LRA must be broken. Military forces of Congo and the CAR are incapable. So the task has fallen to Ugandan soldiers, advised by the U.S. military. More than 80 U.S. special operations forces have been deployed to forward operating bases in Congo, the CAR and South Sudan. Their mission is to provide intelligence and assistance to the Ugandan military, which has skilled trackers — some of them formerly with the LRA — on Kony’s trail.

…

An American combat mission in this conflict is not contemplated. But the U.S. government should press Congo to readmit Ugandan troops pursuing the LRA. And the U.S. military could aid the UPDF with more advanced air and communications capabilities. A small, final push might remove the LRA’s most capable leaders from the field.

After a four-year nightmare, Francoise hopes to go back to school. Joseph Kony, the author of nightmares, remains at large in some jungle camp. He is not a supernatural being. He is human, and thus mortal. It is time to prove it.”

-Azy

PS – As an aspiring speech writer, I have to remark that that last paragraph is money. If it were delivered orally by a confident speaker? Unstoppable.

White House responds to your tweets about the Lord’s Resistance Army

by Azy

 



After President Obama delivered the State of the Union Address last Tuesday, the White House invited questions from the American people that would be answered by the President’s top advisers (via Twitter, of course. This is 2012).

We asked you to flood the White House with tweets about the President’s LRA strategy. And you did good. Hundreds, maybe even a couple thousand, of tweets directly the President what he plans to do to help end LRA violence in 2012. Thank you.

Your activism caught the attention of the President’s team and they responded directly to this tweet from @KasperAgger: “Thanks to the President for sending advisers to help stop #LRA attacks. What’s the plan in 2012 to ensure success?”

Here was the response from Ben Rhodes, a senior White House official, in 137 characters:



The White House also gave a shout out to “bottom-up activism” in regards to the #LRA issue among others.



This was a great opportunity to show the President that we are committed to seeing the mission completed and that we expect him to follow through on his promise. Last week’s Twitter success was a good start—but only a start—to what we’re hoping to accomplish in 2012.

Speaking of which, there is a Google+ conversation (again, 2012) scheduled with the President TODAY (Monday) at 5:30pm EST. Several of you have posted questions about the President’s plan in 2012 to help finally see an end to LRA violence. We’re crossing our fingers that he responds!

Thank you again to everyone who participated in White House Twitter Q&A last week and asked about the LRA. Let’s continue to take advantage of the opportunities our leaders give us to ask questions and express our desire for ending LRA to become a higher priority. Of course, if our leaders don’t offer us an opportunity, we’ll just have to create that ourselves. More about that later.

-Azy

Justice and Reconciliation Project reports on Acholi perceptions of the Amnesty Act

January 9, 2012 by Azy

 



We’re fans of the folks at The Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP) — they’re great people doing great work. Recently, JRP released an interesting report that focuses on the feelings and perceptions of LRA-affected communities in northern Uganda toward Uganda’s Amnesty Act.

The Uganda Amnesty Act of 2000 grants amnesty to any rebel combatant from 1986 onward who lays down his or her weapons and renounces the rebellion. According to JRP’s report, more than 10,800 former members of the LRA have received amnesty through the Act as of August 2008, and have re-joined their communities with less harassment and stigma than they otherwise would have experienced without this national policy of forgiveness. The Amnesty Act has been shown to actively encourage combatants to defect from the LRA, with the promise that they will be accepted back home. This is very important, as so many LRA combatants were abducted as children and were unwilling combatants in the first place.

As reflected in the report, JRP researchers interviewed a spectrum of Acholi community members, from local leaders to former-abductees, and asked what they thought of amnesty. Their findings show overwhelming support for the Amnesty Act and many respondents argued that Uganda’s amnesty policy is partially to thank for the peace that the region has experienced since the LRA left Uganda’s borders in 2006. It helps clean the slate and faciliate forgiveness for the unwilling fighters, from both their community and their country.

Interestingly, some of the respondents said they wished that even the top commanders would be granted amnesty, arguing that almost everyone aside from LRA leader Joseph Kony was at one time a victim.

Currently, the Amnesty Act of 2000 is due to either expire or be extended in May 2012, making JRP’s report especially timely.

In this same vein, this spring Resolve will be lobbying our leaders in Washington with the recommendation that part of the $10 million in foreign aid Congress recently authorized for the LRA-affected communities should go towards the rescue, rehabilitation, and reintegration of LRA combatants.

In the case of the LRA, amnesty is an important component of peace and restoration that must go hand-in-hand with focused efforts to support ex-combatants as they seek healing and reintegrate with their communities.

This report is just 3 pages long and fascinating from beginning to end. Take a few minutes to read it yourself.

*Above photo: Acholi women participating in a traditional mato oput ceremony. Courtesy of Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP).

Your generosity goes a long way…and here’s proof!

by Azy

 



Here we are, a week into 2012. Earlier this week we announced the exciting spring campaign, and we look forward to 2012 with anticipation and resolve.

But we can’t fully enter 2012 until we have properly thanked you for your generous support in 2011. We especially thank all of our Cosponsors and donors for making our work possible. So let’s officially wrap up 2011 by looking back at just a few examples of what your support has allowed Resolve to accomplish:

You sent Paul, our director of advocacy, to central Africa.

This past fall, Paul returned from a 3-month research trip visiting some of the most remote communities targeted by the LRA. He gathered stories and information that were not yet known by the outside world, and since his return, he has been working round the clock here in DC, sharing what he’s learned with policymakers in Congress and the White House.

You helped us launch the LRA Crisis Tracker.

It has been praised in national media and referenced by one of President Obama’s officials in a Congressional testimony as an example of innovative work being done by a non-profit to help protect people from atrocities. And most recently, it was used by the U.N. on the ground in central Africa to help rescue 13 women and children who escaped the LRA.

You helped us get historic action from the President and tens of millions of dollars for LRA-affected families.

Our round-the-clock engagement with the Administration and Congress, both here in DC and via nation-wide grassroots campaigns, helped galvanize public and bi-partisan Congressional support for the President’s recent decision to deploy 100 advisers to central Africa to help stop the LRA. Additionally, our collective efforts to lobby Congress for funding for the President’s LRA strategy resulted in the authorization of tens of millions of dollars in new funds for live-saving efforts in communities targeted by LRA violence — more than double the amount previously directed toward the LRA crisis!

These accomplishments have stemmed in large part from your generous support. See what can be done? Please join us for 2012.

As we announced earlier this week, we are partnering with Invisible Children to make some major noise this spring and insist that our leaders work together to make 2012 the year that LRA violence ends. We believe this is possible if we apply enough pressure on our leaders and make this conflict un-ignorable. We’re launching coordinated efforts to make this happen, and we are so grateful for your support as we head into this exciting year.

- Azy

P.S.  Want to play a special role in making Kony 2012 — and all of our efforts this year — a success? Become a Cosponsor or make a one-time donation today.