28 07 12 NGOs: Investigating alleged LRA activity in Sudan critical to new UN LRA strategy

NEW YORK 26 July 2012 –Joseph Kony and combatants from
the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) may be active in Sudan’s South Darfur region,
which could impede a new regional strategy to stop LRA violence approved by the
United Nations (UN) Security Council, a coalition of NGOs said today. The groups
called upon the Council to ensure the hybrid UN and African Union peacekeeping
mission in Darfur (UNAMID) has the mandate to thoroughly investigate these
allegations, despite objections by the Sudanese government.

“Tasking UNAMID with investigating alleged LRA activity
in Darfur would send a clear message that the
UN is truly committed to implementing its new LRA strategy,” said Michael
Poffenberger, Executive Director of Resolve. “The Council should not be
intimidated by Sudan’s
objections, which ignore the persistent reports of an LRA presence in South
Darfur and raise questions about Sudan’s commitment to resolving the
crisis.”

Speaking to the press on July 24, Sudan’s ambassador to the UN denied any LRA
presence in Sudan and warned
the Council against tasking UNAMID with investigating LRA activity, saying,
"Including this issue is going to be an impediment and cause of refusal, which
may affect our cooperation with UNAMID and its actions in Darfur. If we truly wish to establish peace, stability,
and security then let us discard this issue far away from Darfur and UNAMID.” Reports indicate that
China and Russia are using
their position on the Council to block language tasking UNAMID with
investigating LRA activity.

Sudan has a long history of providing support to the LRA, and as recently
as 2010 the UN Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of Congo
(Congo) documented a meeting
between LRA forces and Sudanese military representatives in South Darfur. In April 2012, Ugandan government officials
claimed that LRA forces were operating in South
Darfur and receiving support from the Sudanese government. A woman
who escaped from the LRA that month also alleged that Kony was in South Darfur.

In a
joint letter addressed to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and African Union
Commission Chairperson Jean Ping, the NGOs also highlighted better investigation
of LRA activity as a critical step in improving cross-border cooperation between
governments affected by the LRA. Senior Congolese officials have downplayed the
extent of LRA attacks on civilians, and forced Ugandan troops pursuing the rebel
group to withdraw from Congolese territory in September 2011.

“Apprehending Kony and his top
deputies will be impossible without a real commitment by the governments of
LRA-affected areas and greater collaboration between them, “ said John Bradshaw,
Executive Director of the Enough Project. “The UN and AU should convene a side
meeting at the UN General Assembly in September to address the primary obstacles
of inadequate troops and the inability of the Ugandan army – the only army
conducting offensive operations against the LRA – to access LRA safe havens.
President Obama should personally attend the meeting.”
 

The letter also calls upon regional governments to do
more to protect civilians from LRA attacks. National military forces deployed in
LRA-affected areas of Congo,
Central African Republic (CAR), and South Sudan
are often too poorly equipped and paid to protect civilians effectively. Mobile
phone networks and road systems critical for rapid responses to LRA attacks on
remote communities are also lacking across the region.

"Protecting civilians from mass atrocities committed by
the LRA should be a priority for every government in the region" said Dr. Simon
Adams of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect. "There can not be
peace and security in Darfur or anywhere else in Central
Africa while the LRA still have a license to
kill."

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PRESS
CONTACTS

Resolve: Paul Ronan, Director of Policy, +1
315.569.8051, paul@theresolve.org

 

Enough Project: Jonathan Hutson, Director of Communications, +1 202.386.1618, jhutson@enoughproject.org

 

Global Centre for the
Responsibility to Protect: Naomi Kikoler, Director of Policy and Advocacy,

+1 212.817.1943, nkikoler@gc.cuny.edu