President Obama’s LRA Strategy Report Card

President Obama’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) Issue #1 - February 2011

strategy, released in November 2010, outlines a comprehensive approach to stop atrocities perpetrated by the LRA and help
affected communities rebuild. However, serious concerns remain about whether he is willing to dedicate the funding, senior
leadership and political will to achieve a lasting end to the conflict. Issue #1 grades the content and initial rollout of President
Obama’s LRA strategy, while future report cards will assess the strategy’s implementation and impact on the ground.

The Grading Rubric for President Obama’s LRA Strategy & Implementation
A: Significant progress C: Little or inadequate progress F: Efforts backsliding
B: Encouraging progress D: Efforts at a standstill
Expand U.S. engagement Grade: D
• Dedicate significant new staff The strategy outlines in broad terms the need for interagency coordination within
and resources the U.S. government and greater collaboration with the UN, regional partners, the
• Keep the VIPs involved African Union and Europe. However, President Obama did not commit the neces-
sary staff and resources for its implementation. He should swiftly designate a
• Work with regional and
Great Lakes envoy and dedicate more funding and resources to the crisis, and also
international partners
encourage the African Union, France, and others to step up their commitments.

Protect civilians Grade: C

• Massively expand radio and
mobile phone networks
• Improve the effectiveness of
national militaries and UN
peacekeepers
• Ensure local voices are heard
The strategy highlights the expansion of telecommunications and early warn­ing
systems in LRA-affected areas as priority actions. It recognizes the need to
increase the capacity and effectiveness of national militaries and peacekeepers
in protecting civilians, focusing on increasing their mobility as another priority
action. However, the U.S. has given little indication of what specific steps it will
take to concretely improve the track record of military and peacekeeping forces
or work with local communities to keep them safer.

Stop senior LRA Grade: C

commanders The strategy commits to providing operational and intelligence support for
• Apprehend Joseph Kony and top efforts to apprehend senior LRA commanders, including Joseph Kony and those
LRA commanders indicted by the ICC, and protect civilians from reprisal attacks. It also prom­ises
• Encourage LRA commanders to ensure the LRA “receives no safe haven.” However, it relies on the Ugandan
to defect military to apprehend LRA commanders, despite strong indications that it is
• Cut off external support to the unable to do so and increasingly preoc­cupied with other priorities at home and
LRA in Somalia. There is little mention of how outreach specifically to senior LRA
commanders can encourage them to defect.

Facilitate escape Grade: B

• Help people escape from the LRA
• Ensure those who escape can
return home
The strategy outlines a comprehensive approach – encouraging escape from
the LRA, transporting escapees safely home, and providing appropriate
assistance to help them reintegrate into their communities. The challenge is in
implementation and the Administration will have to dedicate significant new
resources to see progress on all three fronts.

Help communities survive Grade: B

and rebuild The strategy outlines a comprehensive approach – providing emergency
• Find a way to reach people in assis­tance, improving cross-border coordination and helping people return home
need of emergency aid if security improves. It also reiterates the U.S. commitment to reconstruction and
• Increase aid to disrupted transitional justice in northern Uganda. To improve on this “B” grade, President
communities Obama will need to dedicate significant new resources to implement­ing this
• Address the conflict’s root causes approach in the coming months.
For a more detailed analysis of what President Obama’s strategy should include and how we’re grading him,
please see the Guide to President Obama’s LRA Report Card.