[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1067 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
111th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1067
To support stabilization and lasting peace in northern Uganda and areas
affected by the Lord's Resistance Army through development of a
regional strategy to support multilateral efforts to successfully
protect civilians and eliminate the threat posed by the Lord's
Resistance Army and to authorize funds for humanitarian relief and
reconstruction, reconciliation, and transitional justice, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 19, 2009
Mr. Feingold (for himself and Mr. Brownback) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign
Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To support stabilization and lasting peace in northern Uganda and areas
affected by the Lord's Resistance Army through development of a
regional strategy to support multilateral efforts to successfully
protect civilians and eliminate the threat posed by the Lord's
Resistance Army and to authorize funds for humanitarian relief and
reconstruction, reconciliation, and transitional justice, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament
and Northern Uganda Recovery Act of 2009''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) For over 2 decades, the Government of Uganda engaged in
an armed conflict with the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in
northern Uganda that led to the internal displacement of more
than 2,000,000 Ugandans from their homes.
(2) The members of the Lord's Resistance Army used brutal
tactics in northern Uganda, including mutilating, abducting,
and forcing individuals into sexual servitude and forcing a
large number of children and youth in Uganda, estimated by the
Survey for War Affected Youth to be over 66,000, to fight as
part of the rebel force.
(3) The Secretary of State has designated the Lord's
Resistance Army as a terrorist organization and placed the
Lord's Resistance Army on the Terrorist Exclusion list pursuant
to section 212(a)(3) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8
U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)).
(4) In late 2005, according to the United Nations Office
for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the Lord's Resistance
Army shifted their primary base of operations from southern
Sudan to northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, and the
rebels have since withdrawn from northern Uganda.
(5) Representatives of the Government of Uganda and the
Lord's Resistance Army began peace negotiations in 2006,
mediated by the Government of Southern Sudan in Juba, Sudan,
and signed the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement on August 20,
2006, which provided for hundreds of thousands of internally
displaced people to return home in safety.
(6) After nearly 2 years of negotiations, representatives
from the parties reached the Final Peace Agreement in April
2008, but Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord's Resistance
Army, refused to sign the Final Peace Agreement in May 2008 and
his forces launched new attacks in northeastern Congo.
(7) According to the United Nations Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Relief, the new activity of the
Lord's Resistance Army in northeastern Congo and southern Sudan
since September 2008 has led to the abduction of at least 711
civilians, including 540 children, and the displacement of more
than 160,000 people.
(8) In December 2008, the military forces of Uganda, the
Democratic Republic of Congo, and southern Sudan launched a
joint operation against the Lord's Resistance Army's bases in
northeastern Congo, but the operation failed to apprehend
Joseph Kony, and his forces retaliated with a series of new
attacks and massacres in Congo and southern Sudan, killing an
estimated 900 people in 2 months.
(9) The escalated activity of the Lord's Resistance Army
over recent months and the inability of military operations to
stop them or protect civilians has perpetuated fears amongst
communities in northern Uganda that the rebels could cross back
into Uganda in the future, which complicates ongoing recovery
efforts.
(10) Despite the refusal of Joseph Kony to sign the Final
Peace Agreement, the Government of Uganda has committed to
continue reconstruction plans for northern Uganda, and to
implement those mechanisms of the Final Peace Agreement not
conditional on the compliance of the Lord's Resistance Army.
(11) Since April 2008, recovery efforts in northern Uganda
have moved forward with the financial support of the United
States and other donors, but have been hampered by a lack of
strategic coordination, logistical delays, and limited capacity
of the Government of Uganda.
(12) Continued economic disparities between northern Uganda
and the rest of the country and a failure to take meaningful
steps toward reconciliation and accountability, if unchanged,
risk perpetuating longstanding political grievances and fueling
new conflicts.
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY.
It is the policy of the United States to work vigorously for a
lasting resolution to the conflict in northern and eastern Uganda and
other affected areas by--
(1) eliminating the threat posed by the Lord's Resistance
Army to civilians and regional stability through political,
economic, military, and intelligence support for a
comprehensive multilateral effort to protect civilians in
affected areas, to apprehend or otherwise remove Joseph Kony
and his top commanders from the battlefield, and to disarm and
demobilize Lord's Resistance Army fighters; and
(2) further supporting comprehensive reconstruction,
transitional justice, and reconciliation efforts as affirmed in
the Northern Uganda Crisis Response Act of 2004 (Public Law
108-283) and subsequent resolutions, including Senate
Resolution 366, 109th Congress, agreed to February 2, 2006,
Senate Resolution 573, 109th Congress, agreed to September 19,
2006, Senate Concurrent Resolution 16, 110th Congress, agreed
to in the Senate March 1, 2007, and House Concurrent Resolution
80, 110th Congress, agreed to in the House of Representatives
June 18, 2007.
SEC. 4. REQUIREMENT OF A REGIONAL STRATEGY FOR DISARMING THE LORD'S
RESISTANCE ARMY.
(a) Requirement for Strategy.--Not later than 180 days after the
date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall develop and
submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a regional strategy to
guide United States support for multilateral efforts to protect
civilians from attacks by the Lord's Resistance Army, to eliminate the
threat to civilians and regional stability posed by the Lord's
Resistance Army, and to enforce the rule of law and ensure full
humanitarian access in LRA-affected areas.
(b) Content of Strategy.--The strategy should include the
following:
(1) A viable plan to protect civilians from attacks by the
Lord's Resistance Army and eliminate the threat posed by the
Lord's Resistance Army, while building institutions in the
affected areas that can help to maintain the rule of law and
prevent conflict in the long term.
(2) An interagency framework to plan, coordinate, and
execute all diplomatic economic, intelligence, and military
elements of United States policy across the region regarding
the Lord's Resistance Army.
(3) A description of the type and form of diplomatic
engagement to work with regional mechanisms, including the
Tripartite Plus Commission and the Great Lakes Pact, and to
coordinate the implementation of United States policy toward
the Lord's Resistance Army across the region.
(4) A description of how this engagement will fit within
the context of broader efforts and policy objectives in the
Great Lakes Region.
(5) A framework to evaluate the progress and effectiveness
of the United States strategy toward eliminating the threat
posed by the Lord's Resistance Army.
(c) Form.--The strategy under this section shall be submitted in
unclassified form, but may include a classified annex.
SEC. 5. HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE FOR AREAS OUTSIDE UGANDA AFFECTED BY
THE LORD'S RESISTANCE ARMY.
(a) Authority.--In accordance with section 491 of the Foreign
Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2292) and section 2 of the Migration
and Refugee Assistance Act of 1962 (22 U.S.C. 2601), the President is
authorized to provide assistance to respond to the humanitarian needs
of populations in northeastern Congo, southern Sudan, and Central
African Republic affected by the activity of the Lord's Resistance
Army.
(b) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be
appropriated $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2010 to carry out this
section.
SEC. 6. ASSISTANCE FOR RECOVERY AND RECONSTRUCTION IN NORTHERN UGANDA.
(a) Authority.--It is the sense of Congress that the President
should support efforts by the people of northern Uganda and the
Government of Uganda--
(1) to assist internally displaced people in transition and
returnees to secure durable solutions by spurring economic
revitalization, supporting livelihoods, helping to alleviate
poverty, and advancing access to basic services at return
sites, specifically clean water, health care, and schools;
(2) to enhance the accountability and administrative
competency of local governance institutions and public agencies
in northern Uganda with regard to budget management, provision
of public goods and services, and related oversight functions;
(3) to strengthen the operational capacity of the civilian
police in northern Uganda to enhance public safety, prevent
crime, and deal sensitively with gender-based violence, while
strengthening accountability measures to prevent corruption and
abuses;
(4) to rebuild and improve the capacity of the justice
system in northern Uganda, including the courts and penal
systems, with particular sensitivity to the needs and rights of
women and children;
(5) to establish mechanisms for the disarmament,
demobilization, and reintegration of former combatants,
including vocational education and employment opportunities;
and
(6) to promote programs to address psychosocial trauma,
particularly post-traumatic stress disorder.
(b) Future Year Funding.--It is the sense of Congress that the
Secretary of State and Administrator of the United States Agency for
International Development should work with the appropriate committees
of Congress to increase assistance in future fiscal years to support
activities described in this section if the Government of Uganda
demonstrates a commitment to transparent and accountable reconstruction
in war-affected areas of northern and eastern Uganda, specifically by--
(1) finalizing the establishment of mechanisms within the
Office of the Prime Minister to sufficiently manage and
coordinate the programs under the framework of the Peace
Recovery and Development Plan for Northern Uganda (PRDP);
(2) increasing oversight activities and reporting to ensure
funds under the Peace Recovery and Development Plan for
Northern Uganda framework are used efficiently and with minimal
waste; and
(3) committing substantial funds of its own, above and
beyond standard budget allocations to local governments, to the
task of implementing the Peace Recovery and Development Plan
for Northern Uganda such that communities affected by the war
can recover.
(c) Coordination With Other Donor Nations.--The United States
should work with other donor nations, on a bilateral and multilateral
basis, to increase contributions for recovery efforts in northern
Uganda and strengthen accountability mechanisms to ensure the
transparent and timely use of those funds.
(d) Termination of Assistance.--It is the sense of Congress that
the Secretary of State should withhold bilateral assistance to the
Republic of Uganda for the purposes described under this section if the
Secretary determines that the Government of Uganda is not committed to
transparent and accountable reconstruction and reconciliation in the
war-affected areas of northern and eastern Uganda.
SEC. 7. ASSISTANCE FOR RECONCILIATION AND TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE IN
NORTHERN UGANDA.
(a) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that the
President should support efforts by the people of northern Uganda and
the Government of Uganda to advance efforts to promote transitional
justice and reconciliation on both local and national levels, including
to implement the following mechanisms outlined in the Annexure to the
Agreement on Accountability and Reconciliation between the Government
of Uganda and the Lord's Resistance Army/Movement, signed at Juba
February 19, 2008, namely--
(1) a body to investigate the history of the conflict,
inquire into human rights violations committed during the
conflict by all sides, promote truth-telling in communities,
and encourage the preservation of the memory of events and
victims of the conflict through memorials, archives,
commemorations, and other forms of preservation;
(2) a special division of the High Court of Uganda to try
individuals alleged to have committed serious crimes during the
conflict, and a special unit to carry out investigations and
prosecutions in support of trials;
(3) a system for making reparations to victims of the
conflict; and
(4) a review and strategy for supporting transitional
justice mechanisms in affected areas to promote reconciliation
and encourage individuals to take personal responsibility for
their conduct during the war.
(b) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be
appropriated $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2010 through 2012 to
carry out this section.
SEC. 8. REPORT.
(a) Report Required.--Not later than 1 year after the submission of
the strategy required under section 4, the Secretary of State shall
prepare and submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report
on the progress made toward the implementation of the strategy required
under section 4 and a description and evaluation of the assistance
provided under this Act toward the policy objectives described in
section 3.
(b) Contents.--The report required under section (a) shall
include--
(1) a description and evaluation of actions taken toward
the implementation of the strategy required under section 4;
(2) a description of assistance provided under section 5
and section 6;
(3) an evaluation of bilateral assistance provided to the
Republic of Uganda and associated programs in light of stated
policy objectives;
(4) a description of the status of the Peace Recovery and
Development Plan for Northern Uganda and the progress of the
Government of Uganda to take the steps outlined in section
6(b); and
(5) a description of amounts of assistance committed, and
amounts provided, to northern Uganda during the reporting
period by the Government of Uganda, each donor country, and all
relevant organizations.
SEC. 9. OFFSET.
Of the total amount appropriated to purchase excess secondary
inventory for the Department of the Air Force, the amount available for
obligation and expenditure shall be reduced by $40,000,000.
SEC. 10. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Appropriate committees of congress.--The term
``appropriate committees of Congress'' means the Committee on
Appropriations and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the
Senate and the Committee on Appropriations and the Committee on
International Relations of the House of Representatives.
(2) Great lakes region.--The term ``Great Lakes Region''
means the region comprising Burundi, Democratic Republic of
Congo, Rwanda, southern Sudan, and Uganda.
(3) LRA-affected areas.--The term ``LRA-affected areas''
means the territory affected by the activity of the Lord's
Resistance Army in the past and as of the date of the enactment
of this Act, comprising all or parts of northern Uganda,
southern Sudan, northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, and
southeastern Central African Republic.
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