Statements

Statement on the Lord’s Resistance Army

By Virginia Blaser, Chargé d’ Affaires, a.i.
October 17, 2011

The United States is deeply committed to supporting Uganda’s efforts to eliminate the threat of the Lord’s Resistance Army and to providing humanitarian assistance to LRA-affected regions, including Northern Uganda. Since 2008, the LRA has been responsible for at least 2,400 attacks and over 3,400 abductions. According to the UN, there have been approximately 250 attacks attributed to the LRA this year.  Over recent years, the Ugandan military has persevered through some of the most difficult terrain in the world, and significantly reduced the LRA’s numbers and kept them from regrouping.
 
On Friday, the White House announced that the U.S. Government has deployed military personnel to the LRA-affected areas to support regional forces in the counter-LRA effort. With the consent of our regional partners, U.S. military personnel will assume a supporting role to strengthen information-sharing and operational effectiveness against the LRA.  These U.S. personnel will not engage in direct combat except in self-defense.

The decision to deploy forces is an extension of the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act of 2009, a copy of which is enclosed in your packets. The deployment is starting this month, and many of the U.S. personnel that deploy for this mission will carry out support functions in Uganda only. Only a portion of the personnel will travel to field locations.

The United States has provided substantial humanitarian assistance to support post-conflict recovery efforts in northern Uganda and has strongly supported the Government of Uganda's Peace Recovery and Development Plan. These programs include the Northern Uganda Transition Initiative, which helped bridge emergency humanitarian relief and longer-term development programs, and the Northern Uganda Malaria HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis program, which aims to improve services for vulnerable communities in 15 post-conflict districts in the country.  These are just two projects that, since October 2008, make up part of the United States’ 497 million-dollar investment in Northern Uganda’s recovery.

The protection of civilians remains central to U.S. strategy and helps anchor our long-term partnership with Uganda. We continue to call on LRA fighters to peacefully disarm, leave the organization’s ranks, and return home.  We continue to work with Government of Uganda and regional governments to ensure fighters who escape from the LRA have the necessary support to be reunited with their families and reintegrated into society.  At the same time, we are committed to helping the victims of the LRA begin to return to normal life.