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

We have to keep our sense of urgency…

“Without a sense of urgency, desire loses its value.”

These are the words of entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker Jim Rohn. And these words could not be more appropriate than they are for the current situation. People all over the world have come together around a common purpose and are riding the energy that this cause has conducted. There are only 52 days left before President Obama’s comprehensive plan to stop the LRA is due. This means we must not lose our sense of urgency, but rather gain even greater momentum and harness the energy and desire we are all feeling in order to make sure a legitimate plan is drafted and set in stone. So stay urgent, stay involved, and come November we can all watch together as Obama’s plan is implemented.

-Braden

Sign the pledge, and help translate words to reality

From Resolve:

Last year, the efforts of tens of thousands of people and hundreds of Members of Congress secured the passage of a bill that requires President Obama and his team to develop a comprehensive strategy to help see an end to LRA atrocities.

But as the President’s team develops their plan, a major question remains unanswered: will the President’s promise translate into a strategy that includes the major new investment of resources and leadership needed to actually achieve peace?

One thing we do know is that our silence would make the answer much more likely to be ‘no,’ and communities across central Africa will continue to face abductions and brutal attacks. But when our voices unify to call for justice, they have the power to rightly shake things up in DC.

When he signed the bill into law, the President promised to “renew our commitments and strengthen our capabilities to protect and assist civilians caught in the LRA’s wake, to receive those that surrender, and to support efforts to bring the LRA leadership to justice.”

The President’s strategy is now due in just 52 days, and its contents will impact the future for hundreds of thousands of people whose children, homes, and communities are being targeted by the LRA.

That’s why we launched From Promise to Peace. This campaign aims to raise the bar for the President, and to make sure his own words translate into the leadership needed to permanently end LRA atrocities and abductions. While 52 days is not long, there is much we can still do to accomplish this goal.

First, sign the pledge committing yourself to read the President’s strategy when it is released. They need to know that we aren’t going to stop until this crisis is ended.

Then, sign up for a local lobby meeting to convince your Member of Congress to do the same. Unless our representatives in Congress speak out, they reinforce the message that addressing the gross injustices being faced by families and children
across central Africa is not a worthy priority.

That message has helped perpetuate this crisis for more than two decades, and our voices can help change it.

LRA spokesman surrenders

Jason, Laren and Ben meet the President

On Monday, President Obama signed the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act into law.  Then he issued a public statement about the LRA-affected areas and his commitment to carrying out the law’s mandate. Last April we made it clear “We Want Obama,” and a little over a year later, he invited us into the Oval Office as he signed the bill into law. Whoa.

The CEO (Ben Keesey) and 2 of Invisible Children’s founders (Laren Poole and Jason Russell) represented IC at the signing ceremony.

About an hour after the ceremony, they video-skyped with the Invisible Children office in San Diego. They told the story, giddy as children, and we listened, also giddy as children. They re-lived what the President said, what he did, and how they felt about what he said and did. It was quite a moment. But you’ll see:

We’ll post the official pictures with President Obama as soon as we get them. Expect ‘em in about a week.

Pres. Obama, please make a public statement about the LRA

IMPORTANT ACTION STEP:

Facts: Last week, the bill passed Congress. As of today, the physical Bill is in the White House. Starting now, President Obama has 10 days to sign the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act.

But here’s what we really really want: We want Pres. Obama to make a public, personal statement of commitment to help end the LRA violence.

For a year you all have been lobbying Congress to pass this bill, and it passed unanimously. It was an enormous victory. But we won’t be satisfied, even with that. As long as there are people who don’t know about the war in central east Africa, we have to ask for more attention, more exposure, more action.

That’s why we are asking President Obama to do more than just sign the Bill. Here’s how that looks:

This is the official White House website. There’s our Bill (S. 1067) pending a signature, and below it is a place for you to submit a comment….You see where we’re going with this?

MAKE A COMMENT ON THE WHITE HOUSE WEBSITE ABOUT OUR BILL:

If you comment, and we comment, and everyone we know comments….we could send a pretty strong message to the White House.

So say something nice, like:

“I am so glad that this bill has finally made it to President Obama’s office. [Last July, along with two thousand of my peers, I went to Washington, D.C., and lobbied for this bill]. This legislation is very important to me and my generation, so I would like to request that President Obama make a public, personal statement of commitment to help end the LRA violence. Thank  you!”

Change it up, make it personal, but be sure to keep the message (“We want a statement”) clear and direct.

Now it’s time to make this happen and tell everyone we know.

Alright, team…break!

(I sure hope that the White House has a big mailbox, cause it’s about to test its limits).

Video of the LRA Disarmament bill passing Congress

Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act, by voice vote without a single objection.

Over the course of 30 minutes, seven Congress members spoke on behalf of the bill, calling on President Obama, in response to the atrocities being committed in central east Africa, to form a plan to remove Joseph Kony from the battlefield. Eight additional Members of Congress submitted written statements expressing their support for the bill.

Can you believe it? The leaders of our nation, for 30 MINUTES, stated and restated the atrocities committed by Joseph Kony and the urgent need for a strong response from the United States.

As if that weren’t enough, America’s young activists got their recognition too.

This 2-minute highlight reel cuts together some of the most spine-tingling portions of the speeches. Be proud. They are talking about you.

We can still only marvel that the youth of America made so much noise that their Congressmen and women felt compelled to mention their efforts on the floor of the House of Representatives.

We celebrate this victory with our partners Resolve: Uganda and Enough Project. You can be sure that at 3:30 PDT yesterday, the entire Invisible Children office was gathered in the conference room, breathlessly watching history be made. (The picture below was taken right after Invisible Children was mentioned by name, hence Jason’s ninja kick)

We celebrate this victory wholeheartedly, but we know that our work is not yet finished. Now we must pressure the Obama Administration to follow through on this important mandate, to set a precedent for justice, and to protect these children who have too long been trapped in a war against their will. We will see them come home.

This victory is yours, and we want you to know everything that there is to know.

This Q&A was put together by Resolve Uganda will answer every question you have about the significance of the bill and what will happen next.

You can watch all of yesterday’s speeches about the LRA/Uganda bill here (28 minutes).

This video express our thanks to you, our supporters, and illustrates just how much has been accomplished since The Rescue.

Q&A: What’s the impact of yesterday’s vote?

Below is the comprehensive answer to the questions on your mind: “What just happened?” and “What happens next?”

From Resolve Uganda:

With a final vote in the House of Representatives, the United States Congress fully passed the Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act (S.1067) earlier this evening. After almost exactly one year of intense lobbying, it passed with more support in Congress than any Africa-focused bill in United States history. Here’s a Q&A – building on this earlier one written by Ledio Cakaj over at Enough Project – to help you better understand the significance and impact of this accomplishment.

Here’s what we have:

• How significant is this accomplishment?
• What happens next with the bill?
• What will the bill actually DO?
• What will the bill NOT do?
• What is Resolve Uganda’s hope for how the President will implement the bill?

Put this in context. How significant is it?
Simply put, it is historic. This bill’s passage is the result of more than five years of efforts to inform our leaders about this crisis and build a public mandate for action through nationwide awareness and lobbying campaigns, and a year of intense activism from tens of thousands of people. Only 3.3% of all bills introduced in the last full session of Congress actually passed, so seeing this bill across the finish line is truly remarkable. Our hats are off to our champions in Congress and all the activists who had a part in making it happen.

The level of Congressional support activists generated for the bill is also historic. In addition to being the most widely cosponsored Africa-focused bill in United States history, it is the most widely cosponsored policy bill (aka not counting Congressional Gold Medals and other ceremonial bills) yet to pass this session of Congress, which began in January of 2009.

Most importantly, tonight’s vote was historic in the context of our efforts to seek peace for communities devastated by this conflict. Increased attention and responsible action from our leaders is key to seeing LRA violence ended and affected communities rehabilitated, and the passage of this bill constitutes the most significant step taken by our Congress on this crisis since the conflict began more than two decades ago.

Though the biggest test for our success will come in how President Obama ultimately chooses to implement the bill, today’s accomplishment is a huge step. We feel it is the most significant achievement our organization has been part of making happen.

(more…)

Watch the House vote LIVE on C-Span

Today the House is going to vote on the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act. We expect it to hit the floor around 6:30 PM EDT. Aaaand, you can watch the historic vote live at this C-Span link.

Look for the ticker at the bottom of the screen that says, “This brought to you by democracy, the internet, and the youth of the world.” Not really – but  there should be.

Here are a couple of things to keep in mind as you watch:

Our bill (S. 1067) is a suspension bill. Suspension bills are generally considered non-controversial (this is where the letters and hometown shakedowns have paid off).

The 40 minutes allotted for debate will be equally divided between Democrats and Republicans. Members of both parties will make statements about the bill, and then it will be put to a vote.

If 2/3 of the congress members present vote in favor of the bill, then it will go straight to the President’s desk. He will have 10 days to sign it into law.

The petition worked!

The Bill is now an enormous step closer to Obama’s desk. Thank you for your 5,400+ signatures!

Breaking news from Resolve Uganda: