IRC, Partners Tell U.S.: "Don't Forget Northern Uganda

The International Rescue Committee and 34 other leading nongovernmental organizations have written a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urging the U.S. government to dedicate focused, high-level attention to ending the conflict in northern Uganda.
 
The conflict has displaced more than 1.7 million people—eighty percent of the population—from their homes and forced tens of thousands of children to commute to town centers each night to avoid violence and abduction.

The January 30 letter said in part: “Establishing a secure environment requires urgent leadership from the U.S. government to put in place a comprehensive regional approach that addresses LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) cross-border movements and prioritizes a resolution to the conflict, while simultaneously ensuring civilian protection, humanitarian access, and the reintegration of former combatants.”

Copies were also sent to United Nations Ambassador John Bolton; Dr. Cindy Courville, Director of the Africa Bureau for the National Security Council; the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; and the House International Relations Committee.