The White House’s Office of Public Engagement recently published a blog post about the ceremony held last week where President Obama signed into law the Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act. The post includes a photo taken in the Oval Office of President Obama and the guests invited to the signing ceremony, including Enough Co-founder John Prendergast and representatives of our partner organizations, Invisible Children and Resolve Uganda.
Starting from the day the bill was signed, the Obama administration has 180 days to devise a strategy for eliminating the threat posed by the Lord’s Resistance Army in central Africa and bolstering efforts to protect civilians.
The signing ceremony represented a major victory for the tens of thousands of activists around the United States who mobilized to push the LRA bill through Congress. Getting the bill to President Obama’s desk was no small feat – just ask the students who camped out in front of Senator Coburn’s office in Oklahoma for 11 days last winter – but the advocacy work is far from over. Attention must now be focused on ensuring that the strategy put forth by the administration is designed to effectively neutralize the LRA leadership, encourage lower level LRA fighters to defect, help abducted children in the LRA ranks return to their homes, and assist communities terrorized by the LRA rebuild.