IMPLEMENTATION OF THE STRATEGY AGAINST THE LRA

Experts meet in Uganda from 25 to 27 July

The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG) and Head of the UN Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA), Mr. Abou Moussa, and the Special Envoy of the African Union (AU) for the LRA issues, Ambassador Francisco Madeira, will co-chair a meeting of experts from 25 to 27 July in Entebbe (Uganda), on the implementation of the regional strategy on the fight against the LRA developed by the UN.

Apart from the UN and AU Focal Points, representatives of countries affected by the activities of the LRA, Non-governmental organizations, the development partners and the International Working Group on the LRA (see picture) were invited to attend the Meeting. This event comes in the wake of the adoption of the Strategy by the Security Council on 29 June 2012 at the end of its deliberations on the Second Report of the UN Secretary-General on the activities of UNOCA presented by Mr. Abou Moussa. On that occasion, members of the Security Council strongly encouraged him to work with all stakeholders to convert this important document into a working programme with a detailed budget plan.

The meeting of Entebbe was initiated to instigate a collective reflection on this issue. This will focus on the operationalization of the key pillars outlined in the regional strategy against the LRA: efforts to promote the protection of civilians; expansion of disarmament, demobilization, repatriation, resettlement and reintegration (DDRRR) activities to cover all LRA-affected areas; formulation of a coordinated humanitarian and child protection response in all LRA-affected areas and supporting LRA-affected Governments to enable them to extend State authority across their territory.

Support to the AU Initiative against the LRA

Discussions will also revolve around the adoption and implementation of measures to facilitate the coordination of the interventions of the various actors involved in the fight against the LRA as well as support to the AU for the operationalization of its Regional Cooperation Initiative against the LRA.

One of the current concerns is, indeed, the effective mobilization of all forces (5000 men and women) requested in the framework of the Regional Task Force (RTF) set up by the AU to hunt down the LRA, considered a "terrorist group". The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Central Africa and Head of UNOCA, and the Special Envoy of the African Union for the LRA will take stock of the situation with the Ugandan government during their stay in Entebbe.