One of the most important parts of advocacy work is having the capability and confidence to communicate with our government representatives. As citizens, we have the right to address our representatives with the issues we feel passionate about. As representatives, they have the duty to listen. So how do you know whether your congressmen have an interest in Africa? How do you find out if they have supported legislation on issues that you feel are crucial to the well-being of the African people? Here are some ways to get started.

First, know who your representatives are. To find out, go to www.congress.org for your senators and www.house.gov for your house representatives.
There is no comprehensive list of all votes placed on African issues for each representative, so you may have to do some searching. A good place to start is with your representatives’ website. Explore their stances on issues and see if you can find anything under the headings of “foreign policy” or “humanitarian aid” or something of the sort. This will usually give you a clue as to how they swing on issues relating to developing countries and Africa.

Another great place to start is at www.govtrack.us where you can search by representative or subject. So if you find the “Africa (Sub-Saharan)” category, you can see all of the bills relating to issues such as ours and who sponsored or co-sponsored the legislation.
You can also go to the Library of Congress website. Here you can type in a keyword (i.e. “Africa”) and find bills relating to it. Often, the introducers of the bill will be included in the text. The Government Printing Office provides a similar service if you like this method of searching.

Finally, The Washington Post has an Africa issues vote database. Each bill relating to sub-Saharan Africa is documented and vote roll calls are listed.

1. Song and dance. Most colleges and universities have a capella groups or bands who might be interested in putting on a benefit concert for northern Uganda. Charge a small fee at the door, or “encourage donations” and publicize!

2. Get creative. Find an artist on campus who would be willing to design a t-shirt. www.spreadshirt.com allows you to upload a design onto a number of different styles of t-shirts. Go to “Product Assortment” at the top of the page to find the shirt you want! American Apparel (AA) is a great brand of clothing (the t-shirts are very soft) and relatively inexpensive when ordered in bulk. The design is up to you – this year, at the Dayton GuluWalk, a University of Dayton student designed a shirt with two footprints, and in the footprints were the words “help the children forced to make war a chance to make peace.” Not only are they great shirts, but wearing them is a good way to raise awareness on campus.

3. Stay creative. Design a bumper sticker. Many websites can print your designs – one good one is www.zazzle.com. Click the “Create a Product” tab and continue from there! Some ideas are quotes on peace, quotes from children in northern Uganda, maps of Africa, or “I support (organization’s name where profits will be donated, ex: Uganda Conflict Action Network, GuluWalk, or Invisible Children).” If the stickers were bought for about $3, try selling them for $5 or even $10 and you’ll be surprised at the money you can raise! Remember, bumper stickers don’t have to go on a car bumper! They can make great dorm door decorations or Nalgene adornments.

4. Support creativity from Uganda. Organizations such as Bead for Life (www.beadforlife.org) sell products made in northern Uganda. They encourage people like YOU to sell their hand-made jewelry at community and campus events. Invisible Children also sells bracelets made by individuals suffering from the war. The money goes right back to the community.

5. Food. Host a dinner or a Hunger Banquet on your campus. Oxfam has a Hunger Banquet designed to raise awareness for poverty in developing nations. We are working on adapting that Banquet to the situation in northern Uganda. Check back for details!

6. More food. Many campus dining halls will allow students to eat only bread and soup for lunch and donate the money that would have been used for other food to an organization of your choice. Typically, students must sign an agreement saying they will not eat in the regular dining hall. Also, take donations at the door for those who wish to give a little more.

7. Easy, yet profitable. Make a display of pictures, statistics, and a map of Africa to put up outside of the dining halls during meals. Station someone there who can answer questions about the conflict. And of course, have a donation box ready!

Be sure to advertise exactly where the money is going. If you just say “money will go toward helping people in northern Uganda,” people are often wary as to what their dollar will really be doing. So, specify!

It is your choice as to where you’d like to donate the money you’ve raised. There are many campaigns and organizations out there working on the conflict. Here are a few for starters:

--Uganda Conflict Action Network – Make check payable to:
Uganda Conflict Action Network
3035 Fourth St. NE
Washington, DC 20017
OR, donate online at Africa Faith and Justice Network (www.afjn.org) and specify UgandaCAN.

--GuluWalk – Make check payable to:
GuluWalk c/o Athletes for Africa
1234 Kingston Road, Suite 102
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
OR, call (416) 686-1533 to donate by credit card.

--Invisible Children – Make check payable to:
Invisible Children
2705 Via Orange Way, Suite B
Spring Valley, CA 91978
OR, visit their website to donate online at: http://www.invisiblechildren.com/theMovement/donate/

--World Vision – Make a one-time gift to help former child soldiers: http://www.worldvision.org/worldvision/wvususfo.nsf/stable/globalissues_uganda

--The International Rescue Committee – Visit:
http://www.theirc.org/where/the_irc_in_uganda.html and click “Donate Now.”

Remember, the most important thing is not to raise money but to raise awareness. Yes, money helps, but it is your efforts to educate others that will make the biggest difference. Tell everyone you know about the conflict, wear your t-shirts, buy a nameplate (dog tag) from the Name Campaign (www.namecampaign.org), and ensure that northern Uganda is no longer forgotten.

Click here for a pdf versions of this page.

Negotiations currently taking place in Juba, Sudan to end the twenty year war between the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army and Government of Uganda offer the best chance ever to settle the conflict peacefully. Yet the United States Government, a strong partner of the Government of Uganda with far-reaching regional influence, has yet to definitively endorse the negotiations or to offer support to strengthen the prospects for the talks’ success. A lack of priority focus on the issue and initial skepticism regarding the viability of the negotiations has led to deadly complacency amongst government officials.

Members of the U.S. Congress, compelled by growing concern amongst the American public, have urged the Bush Administration to act more decisively in support of the talks, but have received no response.

Facing a historic opportunity to end the reign of terror experienced by the people of northern Uganda and southern Sudan, U.S. State Department officials have made only four public statements in six months related to the talks:

• June 20th, 2006: During her first visit to northern Uganda, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Jendayi Frazer, moved by the suffering she witnessed, made this statement: “We believe that the priority has to be peace. And so, as for the pursuit of that peace, we are quite open on how we achieve it. But that is the priority: to stop the war. And if the government of Uganda can come to some agreement with the LRA that has to be the priority.” However, days later, the State Department backtracked, denying this was a statement of support for negotiations.

• November 2nd, 2006: Four months later, finally breaking official silence on the talks, the State Department released a two-sentence statement that “welcomed” the ceasefire, but fell short of officially endorsing the talks. “On November 1, 2006, the Government of Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army agreed to renew the Cessation of Hostilities first formulated on August 26. We welcome this development and urge adherence to the agreement as a step toward a peaceful solution to the long-standing conflict in northern Uganda and the region.”

• November 16th, 2006: Speaking in Kampala, U.S. Ambassador to Uganda Stephen Browning announced that the U.S. would provide $90 million to address post-conflict challenges if the talks succeed (note: only if they succeed), and commented, “The [International Criminal Court] is not a hurdle to the talks, instead it is the reason why we have peace talks today…The U.S. is very pleased to see the talks getting underway and the engagement of the rebels and government in order to end the fighting.”

• November 22nd, 2006: Responding to UN Humanitarian Coordinator Jan Egeland’s report to the Security Council on the talks, Jackie Wolcott Sanders, a leading U.S. official at the UN, “voiced support for the Juba peace process and welcomed the 1 November signing of the renewed Cessation of Hostilities Agreement…Pending a successful agreement, support would also be given to reconstruction efforts.”

Overwhelming local support for the process should be matched by strong statements and active engagement by the USG and international community. Significant hurdles remain to be overcome, and U.S. actions will have serious impact on the outcome.

If ensuring the war ends is to truly be a priority for the Bush Administration, the following steps should be taken to strengthen the Juba peace process:
• A public statement should be made clearly endorsing the talks. Public support for the process can build the confidence of the parties to the talks, and would act as a form of accountability by sending the message that the actions of the parties will affect future U.S. policies.

• Constructive dialogue with the Sudanese government in Khartoum should take place to prevent the Khartoum regime from taking measures to derail the process.

• Pressure should be placed on the Government of Uganda to abide by the terms of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement, specifically to ensure that Ugandan soldiers are pulled away from ceasefire zones to expedite the process of LRA gathering in the designated zones.

• Logistical and technical support should be provided to bolster the mediation of the Government of South Sudan and the effectiveness of the Cessation of Hostilities Monitoring Team.

• Financial support should be offered to the UN’s Juba Initiative Fund as funding gaps emerge and especially if there is an extension to talks.

• A massive increase in humanitarian and development assistance for war-affected areas should be announced, especially if the Juba talks succeed. Targeted humanitarian assistance can assist the early stages of resettlement for displaced people, community reconciliation, the protection of land rights, and other needs.

• Policymakers should develop a clear plan of action regarding how to deal with International Criminal Court indictments for rebel leaders, which could include advocating that the UN Security Council suspend the arrest warrants for one year to give negotiations space to proceed and explore alternative justice mechanisms.

AllAfrica.com - 80 Percent Street Families in Kampala Are From Karamoja

BBC News - Surviving Uganda's cattle wars

IRIN - Violence taking toll on education in northeast

ReliefWeb - Uganda: Battle to stay alive in northeast

Reuters AlertNet - U.N. says 55 civilians killed in Uganda army sweep

The simmering conflict in Karamoja is rooted in a history of arms proliferation, politicized ethnic conflicts and cattle rustling, and heavy-handed attempts by the Government of Uganda (GoU) to impose “law and order” on this northeastern region of Uganda. Karamajong resistance to the Ugandan military’s forcible disarmament program has led to a dangerous escalation of violence, threatening hopes for peace in the region generated by the ongoing Juba peace talks between the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and GoU.

Though often lumped into the homogenous term “Karamajong”, the peoples of Karamoja come from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. Pastoralism is the cultural and economic bedrock for many people in Karamoja, which is semi-arid and closely linked to pastoral cultures in Kenya and Sudan. Small arms first arrived in this diverse region with the arrival of British colonialists, and the fall of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in 1979, resulting in even further arms proliferation. The Ugandan military reportedly armed the Karamajong as proxies in their battles against northern Ugandan rebel groups in the late 1980s. Current conflicts in northern Uganda, southern Sudan, and Somalia have created a thriving arms market in the region. The proliferation of arms in the region has fueled Karamajong cattle raids in the neighboring Iteso and Acholi regions of Uganda, as well as within Karamoja.

Although cattle rustling has been a pervasive dynamic in the region for over 150 years, intense arms proliferation and heavy-handed government attempts at imposing law and order in the region have entrenched violence and conflict. Attempts by colonial and post-independence governments to impose governance and Western dress and cultural ideals have created an atmosphere of suspicion and resistance to central governments among the Karamajong.

The latest wave of violence stems from the disarmament programme launched in 2000 by the passage of the Disarmament Act in the Ugandan Parliament. Encouraged by a NGO-driven sensitization program, residents of Karamoja were given until the end of 2001 to voluntarily give up their guns. Almost 8,000 guns were turned in, but in February 2002, the Ugandan military began a forcible disarmament programme. Patterns of disarmament were very uneven due to inconsistent GoU commitment and resistance from Karamajong warriors. This encouraged groups that did give up their arms to quickly re-arm to avoid raids by neighboring groups who had not disarmed.

The latest attempt at disarmament was launched by the UPDF in 2006. Resistance to the program crystallized in late October after a fierce battle between military forces and Karamajong warriors. Since then, the region has seen a marked escalation of violence that Ugandan Minister of Defence Ruth Nankabirwa called an act of “war on (the) UPDF.” 150 people were killed and 1000 others displaced during fighting between military forces and Karamajong warriors in the month following the battle. Military “cordon and search” operations have destroyed homesteads and granaries and resulted in the death of thousands of cattle. UPDF soldiers and Karamajong warriors have been implicated in gross human rights abuses during the fighting, including extrajudicial executions, rape, illegal arrests and detentions, torture, forced labor and extortion of money.

In November 2006, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour accused the Ugandan military of "indiscriminate and excessive" force during the cordon and search operations. Arbour and Karamajong leaders have since called for the suspension and review of the UPDF’s disarmament programme. These criticisms have been ignored by the Ugandan government, and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has repeatedly stated that that cordon and search operations to disarm the Karimojong will be intensified. The military maintains that the program has been a success, claiming that is has collecting 3,500 guns, many of them assault rifles, since May.


Click here for links to news articles and reports about the conflict in Karamoja.