TAKE ACTION: HELP PASS THE LRA DISARMAMENT AND NORTHERN UGANDA RECOVERY ACT
Thanks to activists like you who have been contacting your Members of Congress to co-sponsor the Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act of 2009, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in mid-November passed the bill out of committee and are working to bring it to the Senate floor. Read the press release.
On Tuesday, May 19th, Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Sam Brownback (R-KS) introduced a bill that would recommit the United States to helping bring about a conclusive end to the more than 20-year reign of terror by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and to supporting northern Ugandans rebuild their communities. This important piece of legislation will be a key piece in bringing peace and stability to an area in central Africa long plagued by this violent insurgency. The House companion bill is HR 2478.
READ The reaction to HR 2478 from Enough and other leading groups in the Human Rights community.
READ the blog post further outlining Senate Bill 1067.
TAKE ACTION today by calling your Senators and member of Congress (202-224-3121) and ask them to cosponsor Senate Bill 1067 or HR 2478 to help end the 20-year reign of terror by the Lord’s Resistance Army in central Africa.
READLaw & Order: SVU actress Mariska Hargitay and Enough Co-founder John Prendergast's article on the Huffington Post
Rarely in human history has such a small group of people caused so much suffering for so many as is the case with the Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA, in central Africa—for over two decades in northern Uganda and southern Sudan, and now in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic.
An NBC Law and Order: Special Victims Unit episode that aired on Tuesday, March 31st, dramatically portrayed the experience of several (fictional) survivors of LRA-related violence in northern Uganda. Enough's Co-founder John Prendergast worked closely with Dr. Neal Baer, executive producer of NBC’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and the SVU writing team on the episode called “Hell." Click here to read a press release about the episode.
On this special page, Enough has created a collection of resources on the Lord’s Resistance Army which we hope you will find useful. We also profiled several survivors of LRA-related violence whose stories we found inspiring. We hope you will TAKE ACTION and join Enough in calling for the Obama administration to immediately appoint a special envoy to central Africa’s Great Lakes region to end the cycle of violence against civilians perpetrated by the Lord’s Resistance Army.
SURVIVORS: Snapshots from a 22-Year War
(Click above to view the slideshow)
This slideshow profiles several survivors of the brutal 22-year long war in northern Uganda waged by the Lord’s Resistance Army, a rebel group. The LRA fled northern Uganda in 2006, but they continue to wreak havoc and cause unimaginable suffering in neighboring countries. These stories are intended to give a few meaningful snapshots of what thousands of people have experienced at the hands of the LRA, while highlighting their perseverance and strength.
Spotlight on a Community Leader
Victor Ochen is the Director of the African Youth Initiative Network in Uganda. He spent much of his childhood in several different internally displaced persons camps in northern Uganda, and during the war, members of his family were abducted by the LRA. Despite the challenges and tragedies he has experienced, Victor and his team at AYINET are working hard to help people in northern Uganda recover from the effects of war and build a peaceful society that—in his words—“promote tolerance, reconciliation, forgiveness, and development.”
Click here to read Enough’s full profile of Victor’s story and his work in northern Uganda.
To learn more about Victor’s organization, African Youth Initiative Network, or AYINET, please visit AYINET’s website.
Wanted: The Leaders of the LRA
This interactive slideshow presents the history of the LRA with a special focus on its senior leadership, who are wanted by the International Criminal Court.
Led by ruthless war criminal Joseph Kony, the LRA has caused immense suffering in central Africa’s Great Lakes region over twenty year. This slideshow provides a brief background on the origins of the LRA and the group’s devastating crimes against people throughout central Africa. It also shows you how you can TAKE ACTION and contribute to efforts to end the LRA’s campaign of violence and bring a lasting peace to the region.
Jeff Korondo: An Acholi Artist Advocating for Reconciliation in Northern Uganda
Jeff Korondo is an Acholi artist and musician from northern Uganda. Click here to read the translated lyrics of "Okwera Nono," a song that encourages forgiveness and reintegration of former LRA soldiers.
Learn more about the LRA: Key Resources from Enough and Partners
Led by Joseph Kony, the LRA has caused enormous suffering in northern Uganda for over two decades. The LRA has now moved out of northern Uganda and is terrorizing communities and committing human rights abuses in neighboring southern Sudan, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Central African Republic. The LRA’s long and complex history can sometimes seem overwhelming, but if you are looking to learn more, we have some great resources for you.
Below are Enough’s strategy papers on northern Uganda and the LRA:
For more background information, check out Enough’s Northern Uganda page, Uganda-based Fulbright scholar Jon Marino’s Northern Uganda 101 recommendations, and the New York Timestopic page on the LRA. These BBC resources—a profile and a Q and A on the LRA—were written before the LRA moved their base of operations out of northern Uganda and into neighboring countries, but they do provide helpful background information.
For the latest on developments related to the LRA and northern Uganda, visit (and stay tuned to) the Enough Said blog. Also see Human Rights Watch’s report on the recent LRA attacks in northern Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Genocide Intervention Network’s education alert concerning the same attacks.
Finally, also check out this “in-depth look” at the LRA and this photo slideshow of night commuting (which was, sadly, a very common practice during the war in northern Uganda).
On June 22nd and 23rd, Enough teamed up with Invisible Children and Resolve Uganda to organize one of the biggest days of lobbying on Capitol Hill. The How it Ends lobby days event brought over 1700 activists to D.C. who were committed to finally bringing an end to the decades-long reign of terror perpetrated by the Lord’s Resistance Army in central Africa. Enough was there to listen to the stories of the young activists before they met with their Congressmen.
During the activities, Enough Co-founder John Prendergast addressed the assembled activists:
Some of the reactions, while predictable, were interesting for simply being over the top. An LRA spokesman in Nairobi said the LRA “would like to dismiss this baseless report with all the contempt it deserves” – which makes one wonder why the spokesman can't muster a bit of contempt for his own organization’s long track record of committing war crimes. Colonel Michael Anywar and Justine Labeja, representatives of the LRA’s political wing in the Kenyan capital, claimed that the Sudanese government stopped supporting the LRA in 2002. Both LRA officials quoted from Nairobi participated in the most recent round of peace talks in 2006, but it is unclear how closely they are linked to the fighters in the field.
The Ugandan president weighed in on the news today in a press conference in Kampala. He said he received reports from the Ugandan army a month ago saying that the LRA’s messianic leader, Joseph Kony, had “disappeared” and that the group he travels with crossed over the border from the Central African Republic to Darfur. After pushing the LRA out of northern Uganda, the Ugandan army received authorization from the governments of Congo, southern Sudan, and CAR to track the LRA in their territory.
President Museveni also seized the opportunity to point out that the Sudanese government – a longtime adversary with whom Uganda shares a history of providing safe haven to each other’s rebel groups – has been a patron of the LRA in the past. If Khartoum provides a cover for Kony in Darfur, “it makes no difference because they supported him much more in the past,” Museveni said. “But whatever they gave him, we captured." The fact that the Ugandan president has accused the LRA of moving into Darfur would seem to ensure that this story will continue to play out for some time.
The response from Sudan came from the government’s representative at the United Nations, the outgoing Ambassador Abdalmahmoud Abdalhaleem, who, it must be noted, doesn’t tend toward bland, diplomatic statements. The ambassador blasted Enough, saying that the report was meant to derail the “peace train” for Darfur, currently making a stopover in Doha. As a note to the outgoing ambassador, the peace train rhetoric and LRA denials might be a little more believable if the Government of Sudan hadn't long lied about its previous support to the LRA and wasn't currently engaged in attacks in Darfur that have claimed hundreds of lives in recent weeks.
Coincidentally, news of the LRA in Darfur occurred a day after the U.S. Senate passed legislation calling for the Obama administration to devise a strategy for militarily defeating the LRA. That job just got more complicated now that it appears Kony and Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, both wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court, have once again teamed up.
To date, U.S. officials have insisted simply that they can neither confirm nor deny the LRA presence in Darfur. Here is hoping that Congressional leaders can push for an answer that is considerably more forthcoming than that.
During our recent trip through southern Sudan, focused on capturing individual stories that help illustrate the challenges people there currently face, Enough’s South Sudan researcher Maggie Fick and I were intrigued by a relatively new actor in the fight against the Lord’s Resistance Army near Sudan’s border with Congo and the Central African Republic – a local defense force known as the Arrow Boys.
While the loose-knit, meagerly armed group may not seem like a good match to the ruthless fighters of the LRA, many people we met – from civilians displaced by LRA attacks, local and state government representatives, church officials, and aid workers – say the Arrow Boys play an indispensable role in protecting civilians in the region. In an Enough Field Dispatch published today, we examine the need for the Arrow Boys and the strategies they use, and we discuss the concerns that quickly arise when a new armed group emerges in a volatile corner of Sudan.
Here’s a glimpse:
The regional leader of the Arrow Boys, who asked for his name not to be used for security reasons, explained that after watching the LRA ravage their communities, southern Sudanese men and boys decided to respond.
“Very many people have died, and many others have had to flee their homes. […] We came with the mind of how to provide security for those that are here and end that threat [of the LRA],” he said.
“When I saw that kind of killing—they could crash the heads of your sons and daughters so they can’t even be recognized—it pained my heart,” said the leader of one group of Arrow Boys. “It depends on the heart. Any boy can be an Arrow Boy,” he said.
The Senate bill aimed at devising a strategy for stopping the brutal, 24-year insurgency by the Lord’s Resistance Army passed last night with a record 65 co-sponsors. After weeks of uncertainty when Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn (R) put a hold on the bill, the victory for anti-LRA activists – a contingent of whom camped out in front of Coburn’s office for 11 days – is particularly poignant.
In a statement issued by lead co-sponsors and longtime champions on the LRA issue, Senators Feingold (D-WI), Brownback (R-KS), and Inhofe (R-OK) noted the delay in passing the bill but were enthusiastic about the outcome. Feingold said:
“The passage of this bill sends a message that the United States will no longer stand by and watch the Lord’s Resistance Army terrorize innocent civilians across central Africa, kidnap thousands of children and force them to become child soldiers. This legislation also sends a clear signal that the United States is committed to working with regional stakeholders to change the conditions that have allowed this war to persist for so long."
Brownback expressed his gratitude to Senate colleagues for appreciating the importance and urgency of the bill, and Inhofe called last night’s affirmative vote a “victory for the countless lives destroyed at the hands of [LRA leader] Joseph Kony.”
But even as Enough, along with advocacy partners Resolve Uganda and Invisible Children, celebrate this progress in Congress, new alarming reports have emerged that a dangerous contingent of the LRA has made its way to Darfur. Based on field research and analysis, Enough confirmed today that a group of LRA fighters have found safe haven in areas of Darfur controlled by the Sudanese government. This development – signaling renewed collusion between Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and LRA leader Joseph Kony, both wanted war criminals – demands investigation by U.S. policymakers and the international community.
Enough Co-founder John Prendergast reacted to the news in a press release issued this morning:
"The Khartoum regime's principal tool of war during its 21-year reign has been support for marauding militias such as the Janjaweed, the Murahaliin, and the Lord's Resistance Army," said Enough Co-founder John Prendergast. “Facing no consequences for this destructive method of governing, it is unsurprising that the regime is again providing safe haven for the LRA. Absent a cost for this, we will likely see the LRA unleashed again later this year to destabilize the referendum in southern Sudan."
Amid news of the passage of the Senate LRA bill and revelations about the insurgency spreading to Darfur, Enough’s LRA researcher Ledio Cakaj published his latest report documenting abuses by both the LRA and the Congolese army on civilians in northeastern Congo. It’s a damning look at how civilians bear the brunt of the violence from both sides, while the U.N. mission remains relatively futile when it comes to protecting civilians. The report is a sobering reminder of what’s likely in store for the already traumatized people of Darfur as the LRA continues its march north. It is also a compelling case for why last night’s passage of the Senate LRA bill couldn’t have come soon enough. Now we must focus attention on pushing the companion bill through the House.
After 262 hours protesting on the streets of Oklahoma City, activists focused on ending the senseless violence perpetrated by the Lord’s Resistance Army claimed a victory yesterday when Senator Coburn (R-OK) signaled he would remove his hold on a popular, bipartisan bill.
The Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act of 2009 (S. 1067) calls on the Obama administration to devise a strategy for addressing the 24-year insurgency led by Joseph Kony, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The legislation also request that a modest amount of funding be allocated to rehabilitating child soldiers from the LRA ranks and rebuilding communities in northern Uganda. Senator Coburn, who has made it his policy to oppose legislation that raises the national deficit, objected to this final piece, which amounted to $40 million (the equivalent of 25 cents per U.S. taxpayer).
Senator Coburn spoke to activists and Resolve Uganda yesterday afternoon to formalize a compromise proposed by two of the bill’s leading co-sponsors, Senator Feingold (D-WI) and Senator Inhofe (R-OK).
In Capitol Hill-speak, the bill’s authorization of appropriations was replaced with Sense of Congress language, which basically conveys the message to the Senate Appropriations committee that the Senate strongly recommends allocating the requested funding. While this written request doesn’t bind the Appropriations Committee to provide the funds, backing from the bill’s 64 co-sponsors (more than any other piece of legislation on sub-Saharan Africa since 1973) makes the priority clear.
The bill will now be sent to the Senate floor for final passage, so barring any unforeseen objections from other senators, expect another victory for the anti-LRA movement in the next day or two.
The Hold Out campaign in Oklahoma City, led by Resolve Uganda and Invisible Children, lasted 11 days, generating lots of local news coverage and thousands of phone calls to the senator’s office. Check out the local news coverage of the victory:
Enough Project co-founder John Prendergast offers encouragement to the activists braving the cold and holding vigil, for days on end, outside Sen. Tom Coburn’s office in Oklahoma City. The “Oklahoma Hold Out” aims to secure Senate passage of the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act, which Sen. Coburn (R-OK) is single-handedly blocking. To learn more, visit
It has now been more than 100 hours since a team of young U.S. activists, inspired to help stop the brutal Lord’s Resistance Army in Central Africa, descended on the Oklahoma City office of Senator Tom Coburn (R) to demand that he lift his hold on a bill aimed at neutralizing the LRA fighters and rebuilding communities long terrorized by the insurgency.
The legislation – The Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act of 2009 (S. 1067) – currently has enough support to easily pass through the Senate. In fact, it has more co-sponsors than any bill related to sub-Saharan Africa since 1973. But a lone senator has been able to stop the bill from going to a vote. Unless Senator Coburn budges, his move effectively kills the Senate bill.
His constituents were not pleased with this decision, a sentiment shared by the masses of activists across the United States who campaigned passionately over the past year to convince their members of Congress to support the LRA bill.
Enough partner Resolve Uganda is leading the charge in Oklahoma, and both Resolve and Invisible Children are providing frequent updates and photos on theirblogs. The website set up for this campaign – Dr. No, Please Say Yes – features a live feed from the streets of the Oklahoma capital.
Enough’s John Prendergast recorded this video message to commend the activists in downtown Oklahoma City for their dedication:
Appearing on Capitol Hill this week to testify about the Obama administration’s foreign policy priorities, Secretary of State Clinton offered some specific details – and personal dedication – on the topic of stopping the marauding Lord’s Resistance Army in Central Africa.
At a hearing called by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Russ Feingold, chairman of the Africa Subcommittee, asked Secretary Clinton to describe how halting the LRA figures in to the U.S. government’s budget priorities. Secretary Clinton laid out specific funding intended to both help civilians who have suffered at the hands of the LRA and bring an end the rebels’ violent grip on the region.
Secretary Clinton said that the United States has already provided $6.4 million to support and improve the effectiveness of the military responses to the LRA, and she expects to notify Congress of additional funds soon. While the funding already dispensed was welcome, Enough’s LRA field researcher Ledio Cakaj put the $6.4 million figure in perspective: In just one day, the Ugandan army spends an estimated $5,000 on food for its soldiers tracking the LRA.
While much more support and work is required to effectively end the LRA insurgency, it was encouraging to hear Secretary Clinton directly address the terror caused by the LRA:
“I have been following the Lord’s Resistance Army for more than 15 years. I just don’t understand why we cannot end this scourge. And we are going to do everything we can to provide the support we believe will be able to do that.”
Watch the whole exchange between Senator Feingold and Secretary Clinton:
Senator Feingold continued to shine the spotlight on LRA violence by pushing for additional support and passage of The Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act of 2009 (S. 1067) in a statement submitted for the congressional record today. Feingold called the continuing violence perpetrated by the LRA “senseless and horrific.” He noted that senators from both sides of the aisle have signed on to legislation that calls on the U.S. government to devise a strategy to end the LRA’s brutal violence and begin rebuilding communities destroyed by more than two decades of conflict:
“It shocks our collective conscience. That is why Senator Brownback, Senator Inhofe, and I, along with 60 of our colleagues, leading human rights groups, and thousands of young idealistic Americans have come together around this bill.”
While it is evident that legislation and funding are just the beginning of what it will take to end the LRA’s reign of terror and address the deep wounds of the civilians left in their wake, it is encouraging to see the momentum building among U.S. policymakers to end what a U.N official once called “the world’s worst neglected crisis.”
This post originally appeared on the website Politics3.com.
The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel force originally from Northern Uganda, continues to be a threat to civilians after twenty-three years of war. In 2005, the International Criminal Court (ICC) indicted the head of the LRA, Joseph Kony, and four other commanders for crimes against humanity, including murder, sexual enslavement and rape.
During the last eighteen months, the LRA has been killing and abducting civilians in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Central African Republic (CAR) and South Sudan, becoming a destabilizing force in an already volatile region. Despite an ongoing military offensive led by the Ugandan military with the support of regional armies, the rebels have continued to wreak havoc. In the last year and a half, the LRA has killed close to 2000 civilians and abducted over 2600 people. More than 700 abductees are children who were forced into fighting or sexual slavery.
Presently, a new US legislative bill aimed at addressing the situation created by the LRA has very good chances of passing in both the House and Senate this March. If passed into law, the ‘LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act’ will require the Obama administration to develop a multilateral strategy that would focus on helping communities devastated by LRA violence and eliminating the LRA threat.
As part of my work covering the LRA, I have been traveling to most of the LRA affected areas, where I have conducted numerous interviews with victims of LRA violence and policymakers alike. Based on my findings on the ground, there are at least five important actions that the policy team in charge of designing a multilateral strategy to address the LRA issues should focus on.
Click here to continue reading and view the accompanying slideshow.
Photo: A victim of an LRA attack in eastern Congo (Enough/Ledio Cakaj)
After impassioned lobbying from thousands of activists, historic legislation aimed at ending Africa’s longest-running war is on the verge of passing the Senate. With a record 61 cosponsors, the bipartisan Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act was submitted last month for Senate passage by unanimous consent.
But a lone senator – Tom Coburn of Oklahoma – is single-handedly blocking the bill, jeopardizing the progress toward peace so many have worked to create. Nicknamed “Dr. No” by his Senate colleagues, Senator Coburn objects to funding authorized in the bill that would help rebuild the communities devastated by the violence that plagued northern Uganda for more than two decades. If Senator Coburn is not convinced to allow the bill to pass, the legislation will die with this session of Congress.
Too much is at stake to let that happen. According to recent U.N. estimates, the LRA massacred over 100 people last month and continue to terrorize communities in three countries. Enough’s LRA researcher Ledio Cakaj reported yesterday that the death toll for the past two months may be as high as 400 in northeastern Congo alone.
Help save this legislation. Join the campaign to convince “Dr. No” to Please Say Yes by taking 30 seconds to sign the petition today.
Unless he hears from enough of us, Senator Coburn won’t budge. But we have allies in this fight. Last week, Oklahoma’s other senator – Republican Jim Inhofe – took to the floor of the Senate to plead for the bill. He called specifically on his state’s junior senator to lift his hold and allow it to pass.
If we succeed, President Obama will be required to develop a strategy to help stop LRA attacks and abductions, arrest rebel leader Joseph Kony, and provide lifesaving humanitarian assistance for the victims of Kony's atrocities. That’s the kind of leadership that has been missing for the 24 years and counting.
Visit Resolve Uganda to read more about what this historic bill aims to accomplish, and visit www.coburnsayyes.com for more opportunities to take action.
Michael Poffenberger is the executive director of Resolve Uganda, a D.C. based advocacy organization.
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Thanks to activists like you who have been contacting your Members of Congress to co-sponsor the Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act of 2009, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in mid-November passed the bill out of committee and are working to bring it to the Senate floor. 
Rarely in human history has such a small group of people caused so much suffering for so many as is the case with the Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA, in central Africa—for over two decades in northern Uganda and southern Sudan, and now in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic.
Jeff Korondo is an Acholi artist and musician from northern Uganda. Click 
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