Resolve Roundup Blog Posts
- The UN released a report on the impact of the LRA violence on areas of Congo, South Sudan and Central African Republic in 2010. In 2010 alone the LRA carried out over 300 attacks and abducted 680 people.
- An updated report from the Sudan Human Security Baseline Assessment (HSBA) estimates LRA forces to number close to 400, and says that two-thirds of the Ugandan military force originally sent to fight the LRA in January 2009 have been relocated to other areas.
- Uganda’s Electoral Commission declared President Museveni the winner of last month’s presidential election in Uganda. Museveni’s National Resistance Movement (NRM) also retained a large majority in Uganda’s parliament.
- However, voting in the elections was marred by widespread irregularities, intimidation of opposition supporters and accusations of fraud. The Democracy Monitoring Group, an election watchdog, released a statement saying that more than 2,000 ballot boxes across Uganda held more votes than possible for the area it represented.
- Ugandan police banned protests following the release of disputed election results that declared President Museveni the winner. Opposition parties continue to dispute the election results, and some opposition leaders have called for massive street protests to overthrow the government.
- Representatives Ed Royce (R-CA) and Jim McGovern (D-MA) introduced a bill called the “Sudan Cessation of Support for the Lord’s Resistance Army Certification Act of 2011,” which would require the Obama administration to show that the Sudanese government is not supporting or supplying the LRA in any way in order for the country to be taken off the State Sponsor of Terrorism List.
- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testified before the Senate this week and said that the proposed funding cuts that recently passed the House would “devastate” national security and come at “unspeakable cost” in both money and lives.
- The international community had a mixed reaction to the Ugandan elections, acknowledging Museveni as the winner of the presidential poll but decrying irregularities and problems in the electoral process. Click here to read what the US, European Union and African Union said in response to the elections.
- LRA attacks continue to destabilize the Western Equatoria region of South Sudan as one person was killed and multiple were injured near the villages of Source Yubu and Makpandu.
- The Episcopal Church of Sudan decried LRA violence in a statement on the recent referendum. Independently, Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussula of Western Equaoria wrote an open letter saying that the LRA poses a very serious threat to the South Sudan’s security as it gains independence and calling for greater international action to stop senior LRA commanders.
- There has been a resurgence of insecurity in northern Congo due to increased LRA activity. LRA rebels attacking around the town of Faradje have abducted four children and killed one young girl, and also forced several humanitarian groups to temporarily evacuate their staff.
- The BBC’s Mike Thomson recently traveled to northern Congo, where he reports on ongoing LRA attacks there as well as brewing disagreements between the Congolese and Ugandan armies about how to address the rebel group. Check out an audio slide show from his trip here.
- The Sudan Human Security Baseline Assessment (HSBA) released a report cataloging recent LRA activity in South Sudan, Congo, and the Central Africa Republic.
- The Ugandan government ordered phone companies to block text messages with words or phrases including “Egypt,” “dictator,” “army,” and “teargas.”
- Days before the election, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has said that any trying to spark “Egypt-style” protests will be immediately jailed. Watch Museveni talk to the press about how Ugandan security forces will react to protesters here.
- DEMGroup, an election watchdog organization, has found the Ugandan elections to be free, but not fair. They also found that over 140,000 dead voters have been registered for the polls.
- Ugandan security officials intimidated, arrested and detained at least 16 anti-corruption advocates who distributed a joint civil society statement claiming the Ugandan government bribed members of parliament, according to Human Rights Watch.
- A spokesman for the European Union has said that Uganda has ignored most its recomendations to move the country in a more democratic and free direction.
- Resolve called on Secretary Clinton to ask President Museveni to commit to a “zero tolerance” policy on vote rigging and intimidation and respect the results of the election should another candidate be announced the winner.
- At a recent Twitter Town Hall meeting, Ambassador Rice condemned LRA violence and said that the US government was committed to implementing its LRA strategy “robustly.”
- A recently leaked cable from the US embassy in Kampala in 2007 indicated that Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni believed support from the government of Sudan was the reason the LRA had persisted for so long. “[Museveni] said that even if the Khartoum Government could not supply the LRA at previous levels, he believed it was in constant touch with the LRA and smuggling supplies,” said the cable.
- “The international community must renew its attention to this forgotten crisis here in Central Africa in the northeast of Congo. And the regional governments in Sudan, in Uganda, in Central African Republic and here in the DRC… must get together to combine their forces and find a solution for this horrendous problem of the LRA,” said Oxfam’s DR Congo director upon the release of a new report on addressing LRA violence signed by 19 NGOs, including Resolve.
- There was an LRA attack near the DR Congo town of Niangara on Friday, in which the rebels looted food.
- Local leaders and people in the region fear that the LRA might be used by the Sudanese government to sabotage the referendum on southern independence, just three weeks away, says a new report by the Small Arms Survey.
- Several people have been arrested in Uganda for defacing or tearing down posters of current President Yoweri Museveni, who is campaigning for re-election. Similar offenses against opposition parties’ media, however, have yet to result in arrest, and are in many cases even perpetrated by the army or other armed security personnel.
- Ugandan political opposition candidate Kizza Besigye warned of the possibility that the ruling NRM (National Resistance Movement) party would use vote rigging, bribery, or intimidation in February’s presidential elections.
- A statement released this week by a group of former high-ranking diplomats and UN officials—including Roméo Dallaire, former commander of the UN peacekeeping force in Rwanda, and Jan Egeland, former top UN humanitarian official—called on the international community to urgently act to improve regional information-sharing on the LRA, protect civilians from further violence, promote defections from the rebel group, and apprehend senior LRA commanders.
- In a statement this week, the UN Security Council condemned LRA attacks in the Central African Republic and called for countries in the region and relevant UN missions to enhance coordination and information-sharing on the LRA. They also expressed support for the agreements for greater regional cooperation on the LRA made at the African Union conference earlier this year.
- Senator Sam Brownback (R-KA) and Representative Donald Payne (D-NJ) this week urged the US government to exercise caution in dealing with the Sudanese government as the referendum approaches, and in particular not to remove Sudan from the State Sponsor of Terror List until they’d demonstrated substantial progress in distancing themselves from the LRA.
- The total number of people internally displaced due to LRA attacks in the Haut-Mbomou and Mbomou regions of CAR has risen to 26,000. There are also 6,000 refugees from DR Congo in these regions, straining the limited resources of local populations.
- “The LRA is a time bomb for the referendum,” warned Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussula of South Sudan, amid rising concerns about the LRA’s connections to the north Sudanese government as the referendum approaches. The security situation in South Sudan remains precarious, and many villages rely on poorly-equipped self-defense militias to stave off LRA attacks.
- A Ugandan opposition group, the Inter-Party Cooperation (IPC) coalition, says that the government is assisting the ruling NRM (National Resistance Movement) in recruiting and training a militia in advance of next year’s national elections.
- The International Rescue Committee reports that 98% of northern Ugandans displaced by the war with the LRA have returned home, and fewer than 6,000 northern Ugandans still live in displacement camps.
- Uganda’s Electoral Commission announced that they will not be issuing voter cards to newly-registered voters, despite the protests of opposition parties, who fear this could facilitate vote rigging in February’s presidential elections.
- At a campaign rally this week, Uganda’s current President Yoweri Museveni promised to reward self-defense militias and other veterans of the war with the LRA in northern Uganda.
- A cable from the US Ambassador to Uganda, Jerry Lanier, to the top US Africa official, Johnnie Carson, expressed grave concerns about Uganda’s lack of democratic governance, political repression, corruption, and human rights abuses, saying “Holding a credible and peaceful presidential election in February 2011 could restore Uganda’s image, while failing in that task could lead to domestic political violence and regional instability.”
- Representative Marsha Blackburn (R-TN7) made a statement expressing her commitment to the LRA issue and promising to read and respond to Obama’s newly-released LRA strategy.
- This month the US holds the rotating presidency for the UN Security Council, presenting the perfect opportunity for the US to follow-up on Obama’s recently-released strategy by taking leadership on the LRA issue. If you are 21 or younger, tell US ambassador the UN Susan Rice why you think ending LRA violence deserves more attention from world leaders.
- The north Sudanese army “accidentally” bombed an area in South Sudan near their shared border, and then launched an aerial attack on a nearby southern army base. Thousands of civilians are reportedly fleeing the area, fearing further attacks, as tensions rise in advance of the referendum on southern independence next month.
- Read our Q&A about the strategy, where I discuss the strengths, weaknesses, and implications of Obama’s recently-released strategy on the LRA, and talk about our next steps.
- In our latest update from the ground, Sister Giovanna, a nun working with displaced populations in Nzara, South Sudan, she shares the stories of two people she’s met who’ve been affected by the violence.
- A prominent Kenyan human rights activist is set to be tried for last summer’s terrorist bombings in Kampala, which “raises serious concerns that this prosecution is really an effort to muzzle a well-known critic of government abuses in the fight against terrorism in East Africa,” according to Human Rights Watch.
- The Ugandan government must put special attention and resources towards the needs of northern Uganda bridging the development gap between the north and the south and supporting recovery and rehabilitation efforts, writes the advocacy director of the Justice and Reconciliation Project, a northern Ugandan NGO.
- A Ugandan opposition political party released a statement sharply criticizing the government’s record on postconflict recovery and development in the north, and called for an independent commission to handle postconflict recovery, as well as truth and reconciliation programs.
- Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Representatives Jim McGovern (D-MA) and Scott Garret (R-NJ5) all issued statements in response to the President’s LRA plan. “I urge the White House to move swiftly from the planning stage to the implementation stage… I’ll be closely monitoring the administration’s progress to ensure it makes good on the promises it outlined in its strategic plan,” said Garret.
- This week at a House Armed Services hearing on terrorism and violence in DR Congo, witnesses called for a robust implementation of the LRA strategy, backed by adequate resources and political will, as a critical step in ensuring the protection of Congolese civilians and regional stability.
- The US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, has invited young people to share with her their opinions on what issues related to peace and security need to be on the UN Security Council’s agenda when the US presides over its meeting on December 21. Send her your responses and help bump ending the LRA crisis up on the priority list for world leaders.
- Our partners at Human Rights Watch recently released a letter to President Obama outlining recommendations for his LRA strategy, including better protection of civilians, and enhanced communications, intelligence gathering, and coordination between regional militaries.
- Protecting civilians from LRA raids should be at the core of President Obama’s LRA strategy, by improving the effectiveness of national militaries and peacekeepers, improving radio and mobile phone networks, and incorporating local voices into the process, we write in a blog post this week.
- Uganda’s current President Yoweri Museveni is using government funds to finance his campaign, said a Ugandan civil society group this week. State-owned media has also been slanted in favor of Museveni, while state actors have threatened opposition leaders and independent media against supporting them.
- In a campaign speech this week, Museveni promised that the government would pay compensations to 5,000 people in northern Uganda who were maimed or lost family members during the war with the LRA.
- Malnutrition rates are high among returnees from displacement camps in northern Uganda due to poverty and poor weather conditions which slashed crop yields in a region where the majority of the population relies on agriculture.
- As the deadline for Obama’s LRA strategy approaches, government officials, military leaders, NGOs, and journalists are debating what the strategy might include. “I have long said that Kony’s removal is essential for peace in the region… Any strategy has to ensure that Kony’s oxygen is cut-off,” said Representative Ed Royce CA-40, one of the original cosponsors of the bill.
- Read our analysis of a recent Human Rights Watch statement calling for the Ugandan government to respect media freedoms and hold perpetrators of political violence accountable as Uganda’s 2011 national elections approach.
- In December, the US is slated to assume the rotating Presidency of the UN Security Council, providing the perfect opportunity for Ambassador Susan Rice to take the lead on bringing the LRA issue up the UN’s agenda.
- A UN humanitarian chief called for better protection of civilians in South Sudan from LRA attacks, and stressed the need to ensure access to humanitarian aid for vulnerable populations amid potential conflict surrounding next year’s referendum on southern independence.
- Persistent LRA attacks in South Sudan have driven tens of thousands from their farms, leaving half of the region’s population dependent on food aid, said the World Food Programme.
- An article in the Economist examines the devastating consequences of the LRA’s campaign of violence across central Africa, and highlights the potential of Obama’s upcoming strategy on the LRA to turn things around on the ground.
- A recently-published study on war-related sexual violence in displacement camps in Kitgum, northern Uganda, found that in many cases it led to long-term medical and psychological problems.
- A Ugandan government representative promised to support former LRA abductees and reward war veterans as they work to rebuild their lives. He made this announcement at the funeral of a notable northern Ugandan radio presenter who led a successful radio program encouraging LRA abductees to defect and return home.
- The Ugandan electoral commission announced this week that it has registered 13.9 million voters—nearly 100% of the country’s eligible voters—for next year’s Presidential elections, and has also set up a forum for dealing with election-related complaints.
- Survivors of LRA atrocities from DR Congo and the Central African Republic called on President Obama to take urgent action to protect civilians from atrocities and bring the perpetrators of war crimes to justice. Watch a powerful video of their appeals on Human Rights Watch’s website here.
- Members of the UK’s House of Lords released a letter in which they called on the government to use their position as president of the UN Security Council this month as an opportunity to “push the apprehension of the Lord’s Resistance Army up the agenda.”
- A post by our friends at GI-Net/Save Darfur draws attention to the implications of possible links between the Sudanese government and the LRA on President Obama’s recent decision to conditionally offer to withdraw Sudan from the US’s “State Sponsors of Terrorism List.”
In the first weeks of our S2F campaign, Resolve advocates are working dilligently to ensure our members of Congress will help implement the President’s LRA strategy. We’ve signed the petition (more than 6,300 of us), we’ve made phone calls, and now we’re having meetings with members of Congress or members of their Congressional staffs. We are demonstrating our commitment to the idea that the only reason to start something is to finish it. Thanks for being part of our efforts.
The Good: House and Senate letters are circulating now to key Congressional appropriators asking them to ensure that the FY2012 budget includes enough funds for President Obama to implement his LRA strategy.
The Bad: The UN reported that deaths caused by the LRA were lower in northern Congo from January to March of 2011 than they were in the first quarter of 2010, but the number and frequency of attacks is higher.
The Ugly: According to the same report, LRA attacks have displaced more than 348,000 people in southern Sudan, northern Congo, and the Central African Republic (CAR). (more…)
Over the past two weeks, actors Ben Affleck and Mia Farrow and British news correspondent Martin Bell turned their attention to issues involving the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). As George Clooney often points out, sometimes a little celebrity attention will help direct others to an important issue. Based on news coverage, these three celebrities brought needed attention to communities targeted by the LRA.
On March 9, Ben Affleck, founder of the Eastern Congo Initiative, lent his star power to issues affecting Congo during an appearance before the House Africa subcommittee on Capitol Hill. 
Since the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has increased attacks and atrocities throughout the region in recent months, the hearing became an opportunity to remind political leaders of the violence affecting these communities and how U.S. involvement can help end the crisis.
Meanwhile, in Juba, South Sudan, Mia Farrow and Martin Bell ended an 8-day visit via UNICEF where they witnessed the effects of LRA violence on the region and advocated for an increase in security for the children of the region. (more…)
LRA attacks in central Africa are on the rise so far in 2011, with more than 50 reported raids in northern Congo and several more in South Sudan and Central African Republic. This spike in violence adds urgency to efforts by the Obama Administration to implement its strategy to stop LRA violence, which means the Administration needs to have resources in place to put it into action. Last month saw a step forward in that regard as the LRA was included for the first time ever in the President’s annual budget request to Congress. Securing this funding is absolutely critical if the strategy is to translate into concrete progress for communities vulnerable to the LRA, but Congress is increasingly threatening to cut the President’s foreign affairs budget. We know that the national deficit creates difficult choices in establishing budget priorties, but cutting efforts to stop the LRA is not something we can allow. Take a few seconds to sign this petition to prevent cuts in funding to implement the LRA strategy before reading our latest news roundup below.
The Good: Two members of Congress introduced legislation this week aimed at ensuring that the Sudanese government does not resume support to the LRA.
The Bad: The UN refugee agency reported the LRA killed 35 people, abducted 104, and displaced roughly 17,000 in northern Congo’s Orientale Province alone since the beginning of 2011.
The Ugly: The LRA carried out back-to-back attacks last week in the towns of Bamangana and Naparka with a reported total of 16 Congolese soldiers killed and 30 Congolese civilians abducted.
Regional Security
Northern Uganda and the 2011 Ugandan National Elections
International Community
– Paul
Today millions of Ugandans are heading to the polls to vote in the countrys second multiparty national elections in thirty years. News of these elections has been overshadowed by popular uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East, but opposition supporters in Uganda have also been calling for their long-time, autocratic ruler (President Yoweri Museveni ) to release his grip on power. However, preparations for the elections have been marred by restrictions on media freedoms and harassment of opposition political parties by the Ugandan government and security forces. This week even saw President Museveni issue a stern warning to people who might protest the outcome of the disputed polls as he threatened to “bundle [protesters] into jails and let that be the end of the story.”
Check out the Daily Monitor, Uganda’s largest independent newspaper for live updates on the polling.
The Good: Ugandans headed to the polls today to elect their president, members of parliament and local government representatives.
The Bad: A campaign of intimidation and harassment by the Ugandan government against opposition parties has tilted the playing field heavily in favor of candidates from President Museveni’s ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party.
The Ugly: Senior US and international leaders, though vocal about the need for free and fair elections in Uganda, have been unable to convince the Ugandan government to halt its intimidation and harassment of opposition supporters.
Regional Security
–Paul
Last month hundreds of people across the US and world gathered to commemorate the victims of LRA massacres in December 2008 and 2009 and hope that this violence would not be repeated in 2010. While we have not received any reports of LRA massacres from this Christmas season, I’ve heard from communities in Congo, Central African Republic and South Sudan about LRA attacks there in the past month. The most ominous of those have been several reported attacks in South Sudan, where people fear LRA attacks could disrupt preparations for next week’s historic independence referendum.
The Good: 92% of the 1.8 million northern Ugandans displaced during the conflict between the LRA and Ugandan army have returned home or identified new villages within to settle.
The Bad: Suspected LRA attacks in South Sudan’s Western Equatoria region last month displaced more than 5,300 people.
The Ugly: Correspondents from Al Jazeera interview recently escaped LRA abductees who claim Joseph Kony and LRA commanders are trying to renew their relationship with the Sudanese government and military.
Regional Security
• A group of 34 civil society actors from northern Congo, eastern CAR and Southern Sudan wrote to President Obama last month describing the impact of LRA violence on their communities and asking him to urgently implement his strategy to end LRA violence.
• LRA units reportedly attacked Congolese villages near the town of Faradje earlier this week, killing two people and abducting three young girls.
• A post this weekend on the New York Times At War blog examines the spiritual means Joseph Kony uses to maintain control of the LRA.
Northern Uganda and the 2011 Ugandan National Elections
• With just weeks until Uganda’s national election, the European Union’s senior diplomat in Uganda said “opposition parties still encounter difficulties in campaigning, in holding rallies, time to time harassment, maybe intimidation but also access to the media.”
• An article published in the Practical Matters journal examines arguments that Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and top officials in his government are responsible for genocide in northern Uganda.
International Community
• Foreign Policy examines the thorny conflict dynamics and political challenges that President Obama must face in implementing his strategy to end LRA violence and help communities rebuild.
• Resolve and the Enough Project highlight the second of six key steps President Obama must take in order to turn his LRA strategy into concrete progress on the ground: tasking a Great Lakes special envoy with its implementation.
— Paul
Earlier this week, my colleagues and I gathered with a group of advocates in front of the White House in a vigil to honor the victims of the LRA’s December massacres of 2008 and 2009. Over the course of the next few weeks, people are coming together at more than 50 vigils around the world, from Oklahoma City to San Diego to DR Congo, with the aim of honoring the lives of those lost to LRA violence and renewing our resolve for peace. As the year draws to a close, we look back at the enormous strides we have made in making this crisis more of a priority for our leaders, as well as looking ahead to the work we need to do in the coming year to see concrete improvements in the lives of people directly affected by the conflict. We at Resolve wish you a happy and peaceful holiday season, and look forward to working with you in the new year.
The Good: A group of leaders from the Great Lakes region, as well as a group of eminent former international diplomats, called this week for the arrest of LRA leaders.
The Bad: The LRA is now the most deadly militia in DR Congo, says a new report. The rebel group has killed almost 2,000 people there in the last two years alone.
The Ugly: UN peacekeepers in Congo warned this week that the LRA may try to repeat the 2008 and 2009 December massacres this year.
Regional Security
Northern Uganda and the 2011 Ugandan National Elections
International Community
— Paul
Weekly Roundup December 4-10: Remembering those who have lost their lives in the Christmas massacres
Tuesday, December 14th, will mark the anniversary of the beginning of the 2009 Makombo massacres, in which LRA rebels under the command of Dominic Ongwen killed more than 320 people in remote villages in northeast Congo. It will also mark the launch of Operation Lightning Thunder, the failed 2008 offensive against LRA bases in DR Congo that sparked a massive reprisal by LRA rebels against civilians that Christmas. In remembrance of these tragic events, Resolve is uniting with supporters across the country beginning Tuesday in One Voice: Resolved to Remember, a nationwide vigil to commemorate those who lost their lives in these massacres. Wherever you are, we hope you have a chance to join us in the hope that this history is not forgotten and is never repeated.
The Good: UN peacekeepers in DR Congo launched an operation to increase their presence in sensitive areas of northern Congo in an attempt to prevent a potential repeat of the LRA’s December massacres in 2008 and 2009.
The Bad: LRA attacks in eastern Central African Republic (CAR) have spread since last summer, and the threat of future violence has kept many from tending their fields, says a recent UN report.
The Ugly: The LRA reportedly launched an attack in Dungu territory on Sunday, abducting a 10-year-old student from school, looting food, and causing panic among the local and displaced populations.
Regional Security
Northern Uganda and the 2011 Ugandan National Elections
International Community
It’s here! The moment we’ve all been waiting for: the release of the President’s strategy to help stop LRA violence and rebuild affected communities! Last week, Obama became the first US President in this war’s 24-year history to develop a comprehensive plan to address the violence. We’re thrilled that the US has demonstrated this leadership, saying to the world that this matters, and making a strong commitment to peace in the region.
We celebrate this historic accomplishment, which would never have been possible without the hard work of committed activists like you. At the same time, there’s still much work to be done. We need to make sure our government follows through and provides the necessary investments of financial resources and political will to implement the strategy effectively. Stay tuned on how you can help make this happen. And thank you for all you’ve done to get us this far.
The Good: Last week, President Obama issued a comprehensive strategy to address the LRA’s reign of terror across central Africa.
The Bad: We’re concerned about the strategy’s reliance on the Ugandan military, whose competing international priorities and spotty human rights record could hamper its effectiveness.
The Ugly: The UN Security Council reported that the LRA is in south Darfur and has made contact with the Sudanese national army. They also said the LRA was responsible for an attack on the Darfuri rebel group the LJM (Liberation and Justice Movement) earlier this year.
Regional Security
Northern Uganda and the 2011 Ugandan National Elections
International Community
The time is almost up on the countdown to the release of President Obama’s LRA strategy, and the buzz is building in DC and around the country as people eagerly await to see what it includes. This week, three Senators joined with more than 5,000 constituents in pledging to read and respond to the strategy, and both Resolve and Human Rights Watch released pieces outlining recommendations for it. Stay tuned next week for the strategy’s unveiling, and read our take on it.
The Good: This week, three Senators—Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker of Tennessee, and Thomas Carper from Delaware—committed to read Obama’s LRA strategy.
The Bad: A PBS feature shows that many former abductees in Uganda suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and difficulty reintegrating into society.
The Ugly: Aid workers are struggling to deal with a large influx of refugees from DR Congo into Central African Republic, documents a Voice of America video.
Regional Security
Northern Uganda and the 2011 Ugandan National Elections
International Community
This week our friends at Human Rights Watch, who’ve done several recent trips to LRA-affected areas in central Africa, posted video messages from people in LRA-affected communities to President Obama and world leaders urging them to take action to stop LRA atrocities.
People in LRA-affected areas are not the only ones speaking up. As one of our supporters said in a message to President Obama, “The violation of basic human rights is atrocious and if we can do anything to make a difference, then we should.” Well, the good news is you can. If you haven’t yet, take 20 seconds to make your personal pledge to read President Obama’s LRA strategy—due later this month—and ask your friends and family to do the same. Your voice can help make sure it includes the major investment of new resources and leadership needed to achieve peace. And this week, Resolve is proud to announce our first-ever contest—come up with a creative way to promote the pledge, and you could win fabulous prizes!
And now for this week’s news:
The Good: Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA4) released a statement this week, saying “The Lord’s Resistance Army is a menace to the people of East Africa and the world. I will review President Obama’s strategy and support efforts to stop the LRA from maiming, raping, and killing once and for all.”
The Bad: LRA attacks this year have targeted refugee and displacement camps in South Sudan in order to loot food aid following distributions from international organizations.
The Ugly: Both the North and South Sudanese armies are allegedly amassing large numbers of troops along their contested shared border, raising concerns about the upcoming referendum on southern independence, less than ten weeks away.
Regional Security
Northern Uganda and the 2011 Ugandan National Elections
International Community