President Obama references the mission to stop the LRA

President Obama referenced the mission to stop the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast yesterday. This is a big sign that things are going well.

“And when I decide to stand up for foreign aid, or prevent atrocities in places like Uganda, or take on issues like human trafficking, it’s not just about strengthening alliances, or promoting democratic values, or projecting American leadership around the world, although it does all those things and it will make us safer and more secure. It’s also about the biblical call to care for the least of these — for the poor; for those at the margins of our society.”

Read the full transcript of President Obama’s speech here via The Washington Post.

Washington Post article discusses international effort to bring Kony to justice

Washington Post published this article by writer Michael Gerson about Joseph Kony and the international effort to bring him to justice. The article discusses the status of military personnel, the myths that surround Kony, and the commitment to put a stop to this man, this war. Our upcoming campaign, KONY 2012, is centered around the mandatory need for Joseph Kony to be captured and held accountable for his decades of torture as the leader of the LRA. Michael Getson hits the nail on the head with this brilliant and heartbreakingly written article, and it goes hand-in-hand with everything that we are determined to see happen this year. Read the article [excerpted below] and may you get as pumped up as we are to launch KONY 2012 and bring the world’s worst war criminal to justice.

From The Washington Post:

The net tightens around Joseph Kony

By Michael Gerson, Published: January 26

DUNGU, Congo

Francoise, age 16, talks quietly, revealing a shy smile only after praise for her tight cornrows. While walking to school four years ago, she and some classmates were captured by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The girls were distributed to soldiers as “wives.” In the mornings, Francoise cooked. In the afternoons, she carried packs on the march. When she tried to escape, the soldiers melted a water container and poured the plastic on her shoulders. Once, when the fighters saw two infants along the path, they crushed them with a pestle. “I witnessed that,” she says.

She recalls seeing Joseph Kony “maybe once a year.” Kony is the leader of the LRA and perhaps the most hated and hunted man on earth. His followers, she explains, think that “he is a supernatural being. He has a power over them.”

Francoise describes a six-week walk to an LRA camp in a remote part of the neighboring Central African Republic (CAR). Then the sounds of an attacking plane and helicopter. In the chaos, she escaped, arriving home just before Christmas.

Her story is eyewitness confirmation of an important event. During the summer, Kony recalled his commanders to the CAR for his first major leadership meeting in two years. On Sept. 12, forces of Uganda’s military (known as the UPDF) scattered the LRA fighters. Kony survived and fled. But the net around him tightens.

The pursuit of the LRA ranges over 240,000 square miles of jungle terrain in three countries. According to officers at the Joint Intelligence and Operations Center in Dungu, there were more than 300 LRA attacks last year. Units operate in small bands both east and west of Dungu. But Kony is still thought to be in the CAR. Experts on the conflict speculate his current location to be somewhere west of the Chinko River, a few hours by helicopter from his pursuers’ nearest military outpost.

Read the full article here and see the shout-out Invisible Children gets for their strides with the LRA Crisis Tracker. And yes, that’s Ben Affleck in the photo.

-Krista

(Photo Credit: The Washington Post)

One year later, Obama administration reports on the accomplishments of the strategy to help stop LRA attrocities

Today is the one year anniversary of the release of the strategy to help stop the atrocities being perpetrated by the LRA. As required, the Obama administration released an updated report on the accomplishments that have occurred since then, which just goes to show that thanks to Invisible Children supporters’ hard work, we were the only NGO mentioned by name in the entire report.  Read the update from the Resolve office below. -NS

One year ago – after acknowledging the “hundreds of thousands of Americans who have mobilized to respond to this unique crisis of conscience” – President Obama issued a landmark White House strategy to help stop atrocities being perpetrated by the Lord’s Resistance Army and support the communities in central Africa being targeted by the violence. Today, as required by law, his Administration released a formal report documenting what has been accomplished since.

You can read the five-page report in full here. Its contents include plenty of reason to be encouraged. As it says, “The United States remains committed to pursuing the multi-year, comprehensive strategy submitted to Congress last year.” It also underscores a number of key challenges – such as limited funding – that Resolve is dedicated to help address moving forward.

Some of the other highlights:

* As expected, the President’s recent announcement that he is deploying 100 advisers to help regional governments stop LRA atrocities plays prominently.

* The State Department is asking Congress to authorize payment of financial rewards to anyone who shares information that leads to the arrest of Joseph Kony and two other LRA commanders indicted by the International Criminal Court.

* The U.S. is funding the expansion of communications technology in LRA-affected areas to help provide early warning to communities at risk of attack and to help LRA abductees escape and return home; similar programs run by our friends at Invisible Children are notably commended.

* Since the LRA moved out of Uganda in 2006, U.S. investment has helped reduce the poverty rate there from over 60% to 46%, helping people overcome decades of violent conflict.

All in all, these are some amazing accomplishments. But more remains to be done. Yesterday, Resolve joined with partner groups to release the third LRA Strategy Report Card, providing our assessment of what President Obama has done in the past year, and highlighting the steps that need to be taken next.

Congress mandated both the White House strategy and today’s one-year implementation report in last year’s LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act, and the release of today’s report fulfills the final provision from that Act. But the fight to see it fully implemented will continue.

- Michael

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Source

Front Page Feature on AltPress: The Musician Coalition

We can’t even begin to properly show our gratitude for Dustin Kensrue, Thrice and Alternative Press.

When we first presented the idea of Dustin playing private acoustic sets as a fundraising idea for Thrice’s Musician Coalition page, we thought that we could maybe see 3-5 happening over the entirety of the tour. Never would have thought that Dustin would be willing to play almost every single night!

Then when talking with Alternative Press about covering our NYC secret show, we thought that we might have the video covered in an article or two. But once again our small dreams exploded into an ocean of press coverage, tweets and thousands of video views.

Thank you all for genuinely investing in Invisible Children, believing in the healing power of music and making The Musician Coalition successful.

xKenny, Alex, Nathan & Eugene

“Over the span of the last few years, we’ve been involved with an organization called Invisible Children. They have been working to end the longest running war in Africa. This particular war is being fought by children who have been abducted against their will and conscripted to fight alongside a rebel group called the Lord’s Resistance Army (or LRA). These kids are forced to commit terrible atrocities, so Invisible Children and many others across the world have taken it upon themselves to finally put an end to it. By putting pressure on Congress (President Obama has just deployed 100 U.S. Troops to Uganda) and creating development programs on the ground in central Africa, much has been done. But we aren’t finished yet.

(more…)

An LRA survivor speaks out to Rush Limbaugh…

This is very powerful. No-one speaks to the truth of the LRA’s atrocities like the victims.

A 22-year old survivor, abducted by the LRA while a child, tells the conservative radio host he is wrong about the group.

Dear Mr. Limbaugh: Evelyn’s Appeal from Strongheart on Vimeo.

Evelyn Apoko is 22 years old, but she was only a child when the Lord’s Resistance Army came into her home late one night and dragged her out into the jungle. The LRA, a bizarre and violent cult that emerged out of Uganda’s 1986 civil war, enslaved Evelyn as they had the 66,000 children that came before and after her.

Most children who are abducted by the LRA are forced to either fight, aid in fighting, or serve as concubines. Evelyn does not say what happened during her years of enslavement with the LRA, but, one day, a bomb went off near her during one of the battles that are a regular part of the group’s life. She attempted to protect an infant that was with the group, in the process exposing her face to the blast, which disfigured her. Denied medical care and fearing that she would be killed for her unattractive appearance, Evelyn escaped, miraculously making it through the jungle on foot and alone.

Today she works for a Liberia-based non-profit called the Strongheart Fellowship Program, which rehabilitates young people from what it calls “extremely challenging circumstances.” Last year, she was honored on the floor of the Canadian parliament for her work.

This morning, Evelyn recorded a video responding to comments by Rush Limbaugh, who criticized President Obama’s decision to send 100 U.S. troops to aid governments fighting the LRA. In a segment titled “Obama Invades Uganda, Targets Christians,” Limbaugh defended the group. “They are fighting the Muslims in Sudan. And Obama has sent troops, United States troops, to remove them from the battlefield, which means kill them. So that’s a new war, a hundred troops to wipe out Christians in Sudan, Uganda,” he said, going on to praise the group’s stated objective “To remove dictatorship and stop the oppression of our people.”

Limbaugh’s comments attracted immediate controversy in the U.S. and, apparently, in Africa as well.

“My heart breaks when I hear your message about the LRA. I experienced first-hand the pain and hatred of humanity in the LRA,” Evelyn says into the camera. “I have witnessed the spirit of Joseph Kony and it is not from God. Abducting young people from their home and forcing them to become something that is not meant to be.”

“Brainwashing children and murdering innocent people,” she says. “The LRA is not Christian.”

Evelyn pleaded for the world to see the LRA as it is and to help Central Africa’s struggle against the group that now operates out of South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Central African Republican. She says of the child soldier and slaves still held by the group, “Who is going to help them if we don’t raise our voices against the LRA? It had been long enough. The world needs to open their eyes.”

“I don’t want any more children to go through what I went through,” she says through tears. “Please help to save their lives. I know that they cannot do without you.”

From: The Atlantic.

LRA Crisis Tracker featured on Mashable, MTV ACT

Considering Mashable is a blog I read everyday, and Sophia Bush’s tweeting about the Crisis Tracker is getting on the MTV blog, it’s a very exciting day for us here at Invisible Children. Here’s a glimpse of the impact the Crisis Tracker is already making in the press. Spread the word and then check out the LRA Crisis Tracker for yourself.

To see the Mashable post, “Crisis Tracker Maps Atrocities in Africa,” click here.

To see the MTV post, “Sweet Tweet of the Day: Sophia Bush Spotlights ‘LRA Crisis Tracker,’” click here.

Let us know where you see posts about the LRA Crisis Tracker. -NS

Why there is opportunity with The Machine Gun Preacher

This article in the Daily Beast by John Prendergast and Ashley Brenner of the Enough Project illuminate the value of the film The Machine Gun Preacher. Love it or hate it, the film has raised the profile of the LRA conflict. The challlenge is now whether or not governing powers will take adavantage of the opportunity because if they don’t, “the status quo will condemn thousands more kids to the horrors of abduction and child soldierhood.” -NS

Child Soldiers—Where Is the Help?

Sep 23, 2011 7:00 PM EDT

Court frees ex LRA rebel Kwoyelo

The Daily Monitor reported today that Thomas Kwoyelo, former LRA rebel, was released because he applied for amnesty, renouncing his past involvement with the rebel group. Amnesty is usually only given to those who willingly defect from the LRA. Kwoyelo was arrested, but because he implied that he wanted to renounce the rebels and apply for amnesty, he was freed. His attorneys are now looking to dismiss his case with the ICC. -NS

By ANTHONY WESAKA

Posted  Thursday, September 22  2011 at  12:22

U.S. defense budget is set; $35 million approved to help stop the LRA

This is a press release we think you’ll want to read. But first, here’s the intro. from who we turn to when we need stuff like this explained, our friends at Resolve:

In a major victory for Resolve’s S2F campaign, the Senate Armed Services Committee passed its version of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act today — essentially the budget for the U.S. defense community — and included an unprecedented provision aimed at helping stop LRA atrocities. According to a release on the Committee website, the amendment — put forward by Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK), and championed by Senator Carl Levin (D-MI), the Chair of the Committee — authorizes $35 million to provide support to regional forces working to protect people from LRA atrocities.

Read the rest of what Resolve is saying on their blog. And now to the release…

Peace and Conflict: Breaking Ground on the Rehab Center

Last year more than 650 children were abducted in northeastern DR Congo and with no professional psychosocial support systems to facilitate their reintegration back into society, children who have experienced high levels of trauma face extreme difficulties upon their return home. To address this area of great need, Invisible Children broke ground on the first rehabilitation center for LRA-affected communities in northeastern Congo last month. A few days ago we received the first pictures from the refurbishment of the main administrative and rehabilitation block that will facilitate much of the treatment for children who have experienced trauma at the hands of the LRA as former abductees.

As always, we’ve partnered with local Congolese leaders to work alongside to ensure that this project maintains cultural integrity and sensitivity to maximize the project’s effectiveness.

Here are the original plans that we received from local engineers working with our partner organizations the Commission of the Diocese for Justice and Peace.

Our Director of Congo Initiatives, James De Le Vingne worked for 2 years managing IC’s Schools for Schools program in Uganda. Below are the plans that he and the team of Schools for Schools engineers worked on for the center, as well as correspondence regarding the center he recently wrote to our staff in the US.

“The good news is that construction of the center is well under way; your dollars are now transforming a dilapidated skeleton of a building into what will soon be a hub for rebuilding lives. Despite the many challenges of working and living in Dungu, we’re making rapid progress. Construction is providing much needed jobs for internally displaced persons who commute from nearby camps each day to work as part of the huge workforce needed to make the center a reality. If all goes to plan, the centers doors should open in late July.”

Visit our blog next week where we will post video of the center’s construction.

-Sean