America Must Act as Peacemaker to Solve Conflicts in Central Africa

Please send a message of concern to President Obama.

Express your support for non-military approaches to resolving the serious  conflicts in Central Africa.

Ask President Obama to apply diplomatic pressure on the government of Uganda and its regional allies to defuse, rather than escalate the war with the LRA, by returning to peaceful methods of resolving the long-running war.

The Current Situation in Central Africa is Dire

CONGO

• Congolese rebel groups, the LRA and the Congolese national army have been implicated in several attacks on villages; abductions of children and adults have increased dramatically in recent attacks

• Hundreds of Congolese civilians have been murdered in the aftermath of the Uganda air strikes against the Lord’s Resistance Army in Congo. 250,000 people are displaced in Congo and South Sudan and hundreds more men, women and children have been abducted from Congo.

• The military strikes, sponsored by the United States have brought back the chaos of renewed war, and the people of the Great Lakes are faced with insecurity once again.

UGANDA

• Hunger is reaching epidemic levels in Uganda due to a drought, but Ugandan Ministers have been slow to act, denying the crisis exists

• An estimated 80% of Northern Ugandans have moved back home as of July 2009, but sources of clean water, schools and education are non-existent in most places.

• The Ugandan government has promised assistance for the resettlement process, but has done little since declaring all camps closed by December 31, 2006.

PEACE TALKS

• The Juba Peace Talks, between the Ugandan government and the Lord’s Resistance Army though stalled, ushered in a relative, precious peace in Northern Uganda.
• For the sake of LRA abductees and people directly displaced by LRA violence, progress must be made towards resuming negotiations, which yielded the longest period without violence. Increased military action will only worsen the humanitarian crises in Congo and its bordering nations.