Enough experts expose the ongoing violence and turmoil caused by the Lord's Resistance Army in central Africa.
Arrow Boys are local militia that have organized to defend communities against the LRA.
John Prendergast speaks to activists about the LRA at the How It Ends lobby days event, organized by the Enough Project, Invisible Children, and Resolve Uganda.
[pagebreak]Introduction
A spate of brutal attacks by the Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA, in southern Sudan is further evidence of the urgent need for a comprehensive strategy to protect civilians and end the LRA crisis once and for all through an internationally backed counterinsurgency effort. LRA leader Joseph Kony and two of his deputies are wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity, yet his 22-year-old campaign of violence against civilians continues in northeastern Congo, the Central African Republic, and southern Sudan. With mounting anecdotal evidence that Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party is again backing proxy militias—including the LRA—to destabilize southern Sudan in the run up to elections next year and a self-determination referendum in 2011, the regional threat to innocent civilians from the LRA is escalating. The international community must respond accordingly.
Source: Enough / Ledio Cakaj
Failing to Protect:
The case of southern Sudan
In the aftermath of Operation Lightning Thunder—a U.S.-backed joint offensive against the LRA in northeastern Congo by Ugandan, Congolese, and southern Sudanese forces in December 2008—the LRA stepped up a campaign of extreme violence, targeting civilians in northeastern Congo, southern Sudan, and the Central African Republic.[1]
The Government of Southern Sudan:
A perceived lack of will
U.N. Peacekeepers: Simply inadequate
Local Militias: Filling the void
Protecting Civilians in Western Equatoria
and Beyond