[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 98 (Monday, June 18, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H6607-H6610]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




CALLING ON GOVERNMENT OF UGANDA AND LORD'S RESISTANCE ARMY TO RECOMMIT 
                TO POLITICAL SOLUTION IN NORTHERN UGANDA

  Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the 
concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 80) calling on the Government of 
Uganda and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) to recommit to a political 
solution to the conflict in northern Uganda and to recommence vital 
peace talks, and urging immediate and substantial support for the 
ongoing peace process from the United States and the international 
community, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the concurrent resolution.
  The text of the concurrent resolution is as follows:

                            H. Con. Res. 80

       Whereas for over two decades, the Government of Uganda has 
     been engaged in an armed conflict with the Lord's Resistance 
     Army (LRA) that has resulted in up to 200,000 deaths from 
     violence and disease and the displacement of more than 
     1,600,000 civilians from eastern and northern Uganda;
       Whereas former United Nations Undersecretary-General for 
     Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan 
     Egeland called the crisis in northern Uganda ``the biggest 
     forgotten, neglected humanitarian emergency in the world 
     today'';
       Whereas Joseph Kony, the leader of the LRA, and several of 
     his associates have been indicted by the International 
     Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity, 
     including rape, murder, enslavement, sexual enslavement, and 
     the forced recruitment of an estimated 66,000 children;
       Whereas the LRA is a severe and repeat violator of human 
     rights and has continued to attack civilians and humanitarian 
     aid workers despite a succession of ceasefire agreements;
       Whereas the Secretary of State has labeled the LRA 
     ``vicious and cult-like'' and designates it as a terrorist 
     organization under the Immigration and Nationality Act;
       Whereas the 2006 Department of State report on the human 
     rights record of the Government of Uganda found that 
     ``security

[[Page H6608]]

     forces committed unlawful killings . . . and were responsible 
     for deaths as a result of torture'' along with other 
     ``serious problems'', including repression of political 
     opposition, official impunity, and violence against women and 
     children;
       Whereas in the 2004 Northern Uganda Crisis Response Act 
     (Public Law 108-283; 118 Stat. 912), Congress declared its 
     support for a peaceful resolution of the conflict in northern 
     and eastern Uganda and called for the United States and the 
     international community to assist in rehabilitation, 
     reconstruction, and demobilization efforts;
       Whereas the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement, which was 
     mediated by the Government of Southern Sudan and signed by 
     representatives of the Government of Uganda and the LRA on 
     August 20, 2006, and extended on November 1, 2006, requires 
     both parties to cease all hostile military and media 
     offensives and asks the Sudan People's Liberation Army to 
     facilitate the safe assembly of LRA fighters in designated 
     areas for the duration of the peace talks;
       Whereas the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement expired on 
     February 28, 2007, without ever having been fully 
     implemented, and though the parties resumed peace talks on 
     April 26, 2007, and signed a preliminary agreement on May 2, 
     2007, they have not yet arrived at a sustainable negotiated 
     settlement and observers remain concerned that hostilities 
     between rebel and government forces could resume;
       Whereas a return to civil war would yield disastrous 
     results for the people of northern Uganda and for regional 
     stability, while peace in Uganda will bolster the fragile 
     Comprehensive Peace Agreement in Sudan and de-escalate 
     tensions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; and
       Whereas continuing violence and instability obstruct the 
     delivery of humanitarian assistance to the people of northern 
     Uganda and impede national and regional trade, development 
     and democratization efforts, and counter-terrorism 
     initiatives: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
     concurring),  That Congress--
       (1) disapproves of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) 
     leadership's inconsistent commitment to resolving the 
     conflict in Uganda peacefully;
       (2) urges the LRA and the Government of Uganda to engage in 
     good-faith negotiations to pursue a political solution to 
     this conflict;
       (3) encourages all parties in the region to immediately 
     cease human rights violations and address, within the context 
     of a broader national reconciliation process in Uganda, 
     issues of accountability and impunity for those crimes 
     against humanity already committed;
       (4) urges leaders on both sides of the conflict in Uganda 
     to renounce any intentions and halt any preparations to 
     resume violence and to ensure that this message is clearly 
     conveyed to armed elements under their control; and
       (5) calls on the Secretary of State, the Administrator of 
     the United States Agency for International Development, and 
     the heads of other similar governmental agencies and 
     nongovernmental organizations within the international 
     community to continue to augment efforts to alleviate the 
     humanitarian crisis in northern Uganda and to support a 
     peaceful resolution to this crisis by publicly and forcefully 
     reiterating the preceding demands.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Watson) and the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-
Lehtinen) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from California.


                             General Leave

  Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include 
extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution, 
and I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I first want to thank the distinguished gentleman from 
Georgia, Mr. Hank Johnson, for sponsoring this important and timely 
resolution on the nightmarish conflict in northern Uganda.
  Two decades of horrific battle between the Lord's Resistance Army and 
the Ugandan government have taken up to 200,000 lives and displaced 
nearly 2 million civilians from their homes. But the human tragedy in 
Uganda cannot be simply represented but numbers and statistics. It is 
about the daily pain and terror of victims and their families.
  Like other rebel forces that have fought the tragic civil wars of 
Africa, the Lord's Resistance Army built its ranks with child soldiers, 
both girls and boys, and used vicious and unspeakable methods to 
alienate these children from their families and their villages. Time 
and again, Uganda child victims have been forced to commit unthinkable 
acts, to kill their parents and other relatives before being abducted 
themselves.
  Over two decades of war, more than 30,000 children have been 
kidnapped and faced a horrible fate, becoming absorbed into the LRA. 
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of terrified children leave their home 
villages each evening at dusk and walk to distant towns to avoid being 
kidnapped by the LRA and pressed into service. They are known in Uganda 
as the ``night commuters.''
  Mr. Speaker, every parent in the United States labors to reassure 
their young children that they are safe at home when sleeping in their 
own beds. The greatest crime of the Lord's Resistance Army is to take 
even this basic right away from children and families of northern 
Uganda.
  While the LRA is responsible for the overwhelming majority of 
violence and abuse of children and their families, the government of 
Uganda also has been cited time and again for human rights violations. 
In August of last year, South Sudan's President brokered a cessation of 
hostilities agreement between the government and the rebel forces, but 
the accord broke down and only last month did the 10-month effort 
resume.
  I believe the Uganda people deserve both peace and justice. It is 
incumbent upon the international community to work with Uganda people, 
particularly the people of northern Uganda, along with the 
International Criminal Court and the Ugandan judiciary, to make sure 
both a lasting peace and real justice are achieved.
  The healing and the recovery of the Uganda people, particularly the 
children, from this tragic war, requires that we make their personal 
peace the priority right now. It is the only path to lasting stability 
for northern Uganda. That is why I urge the passage of this 
legislation, to put Uganda on a path to peace once again.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H. Con. Res. 80, which calls 
on the government of Uganda and the Lord's Resistance Army, the LRA, to 
recommit to a political solution to the conflict in northern Uganda by 
engaging in good faith negotiations, and it urges support for the 
ongoing peace process from the United States and the international 
community.
  As my good friend from California, Ambassador Watson, has pointed 
out, since 1986, northern Uganda has been embroiled in a vicious 
conflict which pits the forces of Uganda President Museveni against the 
rebel Lord's Resistance Army, LRA, of Joseph Kony. Kony claims to hold 
mystical powers and asserts that he has been guided by God to protect 
the Acholi people of northern Uganda who have been marginalized by 
Museveni's government. However, it is the Acholi themselves who have 
suffered disproportionately at the hands of the LRA.
  The LRA, which has been designated as a terrorist group subject to 
the State Department Terrorist Exclusion List, moves in small, well-
coordinated groups from bases in southern Sudan and more recently in 
eastern Congo. They hold no clear political agenda and make no attempt 
to hold territory, but they mutilate, torture, murder, rape and loot 
with impunity.
  The LRA has abducted more than 20,000 people, mostly children, Mr. 
Speaker, to work as laborers, soldiers and sex slaves. Children are 
forced to the front lines, and those who do manage to escape from the 
LRA find it difficult, if not impossible, to return to their villages 
after having been forced to commit atrocities in front of their 
families.
  One of the most visible signs of the collective trauma suffered by 
the people of northern Uganda was pointed out by Ambassador Watson, and 
this is the ``night commuter'' phenomenon. At the peak of the conflict, 
over 20,000 children would walk up to 15 kilometers from their village 
to the relative safety of the towns each and every night. They would 
spend the night under grossly overcrowded tents, sleeping on concrete 
floors, before getting up at dawn to make the return journey to

[[Page H6609]]

their villages. It was not for food, nor for the promise of social 
services that drew these children to these towns, but it was fear of 
abduction by the LRA.
  While security conditions in northern Uganda have improved and the 
number of ``night commuters'' has decreased over the past years, 
roughly 90 percent, 90 percent, Mr. Speaker, of the local population 
remains homeless.

                              {time}  1715

  These 1.4 million people have been forced from their homes and herded 
by the Government of Uganda into camps for internally displaced 
persons. Despite attempts to ``decongest,'' the conditions in these 
camps are abysmal.
  A health survey conducted by the Ugandan Ministry of Health in 2005 
asserts that up to 1,000 people have died in the camps each week due to 
treatable illnesses such as diarrhea and malaria. The HIV/AIDS rate in 
the camps is more than double the national average. Sexual violence and 
domestic violence against women has increased dramatically, and the 
IDPs complain that camp life has all but destroyed the social fabric of 
the region.
  For its own part, the Ugandan Government has failed in its efforts to 
defeat the LRA militarily, and to provide adequate protection for the 
citizens of northern Uganda. Instead, the government has embraced a 
highly questionable three-pronged approach towards resolving the 
conflict, and this includes: number one, pursuing a military campaign 
against the LRA; two, supporting indictments by the International 
Criminal Court, the ICC, against the LRA's top leaders; while, three, 
participating in peace talks while offering amnesty to LRA rebels.
  It should come as no surprise that these mutually incompatible 
efforts have complicated matters and have failed to yield lasting 
results. Ill-timed military campaigns have undermined numerous 
mediation efforts, and the ICC indictments have led the LRA to question 
the sincerity of the amnesty deal offered by the government leaders.
  Further, both the Government of Sudan and the LRA have routinely 
violated the agreement that is called the Cessation of Hostilities 
Agreement which has now expired without ever having been fully 
implemented. These actions have prompted skeptics to warn that both 
sides may be using the pretext of talks to rearm and replenish their 
forces.
  If this is in fact the case, both the LRA and the Ugandan Government 
should be reminded of the fact that a military solution has alluded 
them for over 20 years. It is unlikely that a military solution will be 
any more viable now.
  Thankfully, peace talks between the Government of Uganda and the LRA 
have resumed in Juba, Southern Sudan, and appear to be gaining 
momentum. Despite numerous challenges, not the least of which is the 
fact that delegations allegedly representing the two parties have 
questionable credibility, the Juba process is being hailed as the best 
chance yet to ending the conflict by political means.
  H. Con. Res. 80 serves as an expression of support for this political 
dialogue. It expresses disapproval of the LRA leadership and its 
inconsistent commitment to resolving the conflict and it urges both the 
LRA and the Government of Uganda to engage in good-faith negotiations. 
It encourages all parties to immediately stop human rights violations 
and address the issues of accountability, and it calls on both the LRA 
and the Government of Uganda to renounce any intentions and halt any 
preparations to resume this violence.
  Finally, Mr. Speaker, the resolution calls on the State Department, 
on the United States Agency for International Development, and other 
similar government and nongovernment organizations within the 
international community to continue and to augment efforts to alleviate 
the humanitarian crisis in northern Uganda and to support a peaceful 
resolution to this humanitarian crisis.
  According to the U.N. Office of Humanitarian Affairs, the conflict of 
northern Uganda is characterized by a level of cruelty seldom seen, and 
few conflicts rival it for its sheer brutality.
  Despite all of this, Mr. Speaker, it remains one of the most 
overlooked humanitarian and human rights crises in the world today. H. 
Con. Res. 80 seeks to shed some well-deserved attention on the crisis 
in northern Uganda. It affirms the resolve of this Congress that the 
victims of this atrocious conflict shall not be forgotten.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank you for bringing this important resolution to 
the floor. I urge support by all of our Members.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from 
Georgia (Mr. Johnson).
  Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished 
gentlewoman from California and also the honorable gentlewoman from 
Florida for their support for this resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H. Con. Res. 80, a 
resolution that I introduced which calls on the Government of Uganda 
and the Lord's Resistance Army, or the LRA, to recommit to a political 
solution to the conflict now raging in northern Uganda, and to 
recommence and sustain vital peace talks.
  It also urges immediate and substantial support for the ongoing peace 
process from the United States and the international community.
  When it comes to international affairs, Mr. Speaker, the Congress is 
somewhat limited in the action that it can take to address issues of 
concern. As we all know, it is primarily and rightfully a function of 
the executive branch. However, we do have the right and the ability to 
use this platform to focus attention on human suffering around the 
globe, if only for a moment.
  So now is our moment to put a spotlight on the situation in northern 
Uganda. The situation has been explained by both the gentlewoman from 
California and the gentlewoman from Florida so I will not duplicate 
what they have said.
  My sincere hope is that H. Con. Res. 80 will help bring peace to the 
ravaged region of northern Uganda. Specifically, this bill calls on the 
Government of Uganda and the LRA to recommit to a political solution to 
the conflict in northern Uganda and to sustain the vital peace talks 
that are now ongoing. It also urges immediate and substantial support 
for the ongoing peace process from the United States and the 
international community.
  Mr. Speaker, the tragedy in Darfur rightfully has been receiving a 
great deal of attention as of late, but to the southeast of that 
region, another tragedy has been developing for nearly two decades. 
More than 200,000 Ugandans have died from the violence and disease 
brought about by the conflict between the Ugandan Government and the 
LRA.
  Almost 2 million people have been displaced from their homes and 
villages, having been forced to flee the violence. What is particularly 
disgusting about this conflict is the forced recruitment of children by 
the LRA. As many as 38,000 children have been abducted. The boys are 
turned into killing machines and the girls into sex slaves.
  Former U.N. Under Secretary General Jan Egeland has called the crisis 
in northern Uganda ``the biggest forgotten, neglected humanitarian 
emergency in the world today.''
  Today, with the passage of H. Con. Res. 80, I hope to take a small 
step toward changing this unfortunate truth, and I respectfully ask 
that my colleagues support the resolution.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to 
the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith).
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, having personally visited Uganda in April 2006, I 
chaired a hearing on the endangered children of northern Uganda for the 
Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International 
Operations. We heard from a number of witnesses and we raised it and 
continue to raise it with the administration.
  But one of our witnesses was a particularly noteworthy person, Grace 
Akallo. Grace is, or was, a child soldier, an abducted young girl, who 
was totally mistreated by the Lord's Resistance Army. She was turned 
into a child soldier. And just a couple of days ago, announced her new 
book called ``Child Soldier'' which makes chilling reading for anybody 
who wants to know what really goes on in northern Uganda, and how 
crazed Joseph Kony

[[Page H6610]]

and his people are; and how, as the distinguished gentleman said just a 
moment ago, they turn girls into sex slaves and killers and the young 
men into killing machines. It is a terrible, horrible indictment on how 
low the individual can sink to.
  And Joseph Kony, as we all know, has been indicted by the 
International Criminal Court for serious crimes against humanity. And, 
regrettably, this killing continues to go on.
  I urge Members to read the book. It is an awakening not just on how 
she suffered, but also how a person when surrounded by people who love 
her and give her the kind of support that any individual like herself 
needs to get, how they can come back, the resiliency of the human 
spirit. She is a soft-spoken, poised, gentle, lovely young woman who 
has a great future, but she has been through a nightmare. We ought to 
keep her and her friends in our prayers.
  She also pointed out just last week in a meeting that we had 
announcing her book that she cries out and prays every day for her 
friends, many of whom she does not know what happened to them. They are 
still there, she thinks. They may be dead. But she has no idea. I think 
that puts additional impetus on us to do more, to save these children, 
this lost generation.
  Mr. Speaker, over the last 20 years as many as 1.5 million persons, 
an estimated 90 percent of the population of the Acholi area in 
northern Uganda have been forced into internally displaced camps as a 
result of the violence between the Lord's Resistance Army and the 
Government of Uganda. Nearly half of these internally displaced persons 
are children under the age of 15, people like Grace Akallo.
  One quarter of the children in northern Uganda over 10 years of age 
have lost one or more parents. About a quarter of a million children 
receive no education at all. The fact that 60 percent of the schools in 
northern Uganda no longer function is directly attributable to the war. 
I point out that those that do function do so in a very meager way.
  Because of the war in the north, Uganda has developed a lost 
generation that has grown up in dire circumstances with fear and 
deprivation as their constant companions. Nearly half of the children 
in one town are stunted from malnutrition. They are likely to never 
recover.
  The latest 2006 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices summarized 
in a chilling fashion the horror that has been perpetrated on the 
people of northern Uganda, particularly by the head of the Lord's 
Resistance Army, Joseph Kony. It states that ``at the height of the 
war, the LRA, led by Joseph Kony, committed serious abuses and 
atrocities, including abduction, rape and the killing of civilians. The 
LRA used children as soldiers, held children and others in slave-like 
conditions, and subjected female captives to rape and other forms of 
severe sexual exploitation.''
  This resolution tries to put additional focus, additional girth, 
behind the effort to finally find a negotiated solution to this ongoing 
killing fields, and we all hope and pray this will have at least a 
happier ending than thus far.
  Again, I urge Members to read the book by Grace Akallo, ``Girl 
Soldier.''
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Watson) that the House suspend the 
rules and agree to the concurrent resolution, H. Con. Res. 80, as 
amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the concurrent resolution, as amended, was 
agreed to.
  The title was amended so as to read: ``Concurrent resolution calling 
on the Government of Uganda and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) to 
recommit to a political solution to the conflict in northern Uganda by 
engaging in good-faith negotiations, and urging immediate and 
substantial support for the ongoing peace process from the United 
States and the international community.''.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________