Statement from Senator Feingold's Office

This afternoon, Senator Feingold (Chairman of the Senate's Committee on Africa) gave a floor statement on the LRA. It's a huge Congressional profile-builder for the issue, and does a great job of laying out the road ahead in terms of dealing with the LRA. (off the record, this is a good sneak preview of what will most likely be in the N. Uganda bill that we're going to be advocating on later in the spring).

From Sen. Feingold's office:

In response to continued concern over the massacres by the Lord’s Resistance Army in northeastern Congo and southern Sudan, U.S. Senator Feingold, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs, is calling on the United Nations Security Council to immediately develop a plan and add new resources to enhance civilian protection, the Obama administration to develop an interagency strategy, and the State Department to play a leading role in ensuring any military activities are coordinated with long-term political strategies.

In 2004, Senator Feingold authored and Congress passed the Northern Uganda Crisis Response Act, which committed the U.S. to work vigorously for a lasting resolution to this conflict. In 2007 Feingold visited displacement camps in northern Uganda and saw first-hand the impact the violence orchestrated by the LRA has had throughout the region. And in December 2008 Feingold talked with senior officials at AFRICOM’s headquarters about the important roles that it can play, especially in instances like disarming and demobilizing the LRA.

Read the full statement here.