Actions for The Lord's Resistance Army : the U.S. response [May 15, 2014]

Email RIS file
Bookmark
Report an Issue

The Lord's Resistance Army : the U.S. response [May 15, 2014] / Alexis Arieff, Lauren Ploch

Author
Arieff, Alexis
Published
[Washington, District of Columbia] : Congressional Research Service, [2014]
[Getzville, New York] : William S. Hein & Company, [2015]
Physical Description
1 online resource (19 pages).
Additional Creators
Blanchard, Lauren Ploch and Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service
Access Online

Availability

I Want It
I Want It

Finding items...

Series
Summary
The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), led by Joseph Kony, is a small, dispersed armed group in central Africa that originated 24 years ago in Uganda. It has drawn the attention of Members of Congress and other U.S. policymakers due to its infliction of widespread human suffering and its potential threat to regional stability. The group is infamous for its brutal attacks on civilians and mass abductions of children. Despite its Ugandan origins, the LRA currently operates in remote regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, and South Sudan. When the LRA was based in northern Uganda, the United States provided humanitarian relief and aid for reconciliation and recovery in the war-torn region. As the LRA has moved across central Africa, the United States has taken a more active role in countering its impact. The U.S. approach to the LRA raises a number of issues for policymakers, some of which could have implications far beyond central Africa. A key question, for some, is whether the response is commensurate with the level of threat the LRA poses to U.S. interests, and whether the deployment of U.S. military personnel could lead to unintended consequences. More broadly, decisions on this issue could potentially be viewed as a precedent for U.S. responses to similar situations in the future. Other issues for Congress include the timing and rationale for U.S. action; the role and likely duration of U.S. deployments in the region; the benchmarks for success and/or withdrawal of U.S. forces; funding levels for counter-LRA activities and for potential future humanitarian aid and related commitments; and the relative priority of counter-LRA activities compared to other foreign policy and budgetary goals. Other possible policy challenges include regional militaries' capacity and will to conduct U.S.-supported operations, and these militaries' relative level of respect for human rights.
Subject(s)
Genre(s)
Note
"May 15, 2014."
Bibliography Note
Includes bibliographical references.
View MARC record | catkey: 17277947