KINSHASA: International non-government organizations on Thursday said a US plan to disarm Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army rebels in Africa should be implemented urgently.
US President Barack Obama on Wednesday presented the plan to Congress following a law he proposed and Congress passed six months ago to defuse the spiraling bloodshed in central Africa, protect the civilian population and bring LRA leaders to justice.
The plan’s objectives include promoting "the defection, disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of remaining LRA fighters" as well as to "increase humanitarian access and provide continued relief to affected communities".
"Thanks to unprecedented grassroots mobilization and bipartisan Congressional leadership, President Obama has a clear mandate to help bring a long overdue end to this crisis," said David Sullivan, research director at the Enough Project.
"Now there is an urgent need to move quickly on implementing the strategy and ending the LRA’s threat to civilians," he said.
Paul Ronan, director of advocacy at Resolve, praised the president’s commitment to "address the LRA scourge".
"But the challenge now is to turn this piece of paper into improvements on the ground," he said.
Long since driven out of Uganda where they first took up arms two decades ago, the LRA rebels have sown terror across a vast region where the borders of Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic meet.
They are notorious for kidnapping boys to serve as child soldiers and girls to act as sex slaves.
Meanwhile, Uganda on Friday welcomed a plan by US President Barack Obama to disarm the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels.
"It’s a good move. A welcome move," James Mugume, permanent secretary at Uganda’s ministry of foreign affairs, told AFP.
Mugume applauded the US for not solely focusing on the military aspect of the LRA rebellion.
"Dealing with demobilized combatants, post-war recovery in northern Uganda, these are key parts of the LRA conflict," he said.
