News and Notes 5/25 - 5/31
Cross-posted from KnoxJazzforJustice.org:
As of late, there has been a flurry of pertinent stories and happenings in relation to the Jazz for Justice Project.
-Jazz for Justice received some surprising publicity last week when a photo of Rose, a child-mother in northern Uganda, appeared in Newsweek. In the magazine, Rose is seen receiving a prosthetic arm while a donning a yellow Jazz for Justice t-shirt. The University of Tennessee web site covered the unexpected publicity.
-Also occurring last week, a new piece of legislation was introduced in Washington that “requires the Obama administration within six months to come up with a strategy to address LRA violence, and protect civilians from future attacks and also assist communities that have been displaced by LRA attacks with $10 million in emergency humanitarian assistance.” Resolve Uganda Senior Policy Analyst Paul Ronan discusses the proposed bill with Voice of America.
-The World Bank approved a $100 million credit to go towards the PRDP (Peace, Recovery and Development Plan for Northern Uganda). The PRDP aims to assist northern Uganda in recovering from the over-twenty-year war and close the development gap between the north and the rest of the country.
-Despite calls from the U.S. and various human rights groups, the Ugandan army says they have no intentions of embarking on a second offensive against the LRA in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. This statement was made around the same time as new LRA attacks in DRC displaced 12,000 more Congolese civilians.
-Uganda has warned former LRA combatants against renewing the war in northern Uganda. This comes on the heels of reports that two former LRA commanders have been meeting with former rebels in Gulu.
-The United Nations has commited $12 million in assistance to the 200,000 people uprooted by LRA attacks in eastern DRC.
-The SOS Children’s Village has finally opened in Gulu nearly two years since the project went underway.
-The New Vision ran a piece on the difficulties faced by child-mothers when returning to their families in northern Uganda.
-Jazz for Justice’s Lindsay McClain arrived in Uganda last week. You can keep up with her trip here. Next week, both Dustyn Winder and Erin Cagney will arrive in Uganda to begin their projects for the summer. You can go here to find out more about what all three of them will be working on while in Uganda.
Be on the lookout this week for a new page here on the Jazz for Justice web site compiling various examples of music-related projects, and remember that you can find similar art projects on the new Art-Related Projects page.
UPDF reports LRA is defeated while attacks continue in southern Sudan
Cross-posted from KnoxJazzforJustice.org:
Despite reports last week of attacks in southern Sudan, the Ugandan government insists that Kony and the LRA are on their last legs and have been defeated.
According to The New Vision:
Rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army on Wednesday attacked villages in the southern Sudanese town of Yambio, abducting an unknown number of people, according to the Sudan Tribune publication.
The Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) maintain that northern Ugandans should fear no threat of future attacks by the LRA in northern Uganda. The UPDF believes that the recent attacks are a sign of weakness by the LRA, and according to UGPulse.com:
The Spokesperson for the UPDF, Major Felix Kulaiyigye says the army is confident that the LRA can not attack Uganda. He says the LRA rebels have been severely weakened and are using the attacks on villages to confuse forces that are hunting for the remaining rebels.
Regardless of the cause of last week’s attacks, the fact remains that people continue to be abducted while the UPDF stands by their claims that they are ‘beating’ the rebels. It makes one wonder exactly what their definition of victory is.
Additional troops sent to Garamba
Cross-posted from KnoxJazzforJustice.org:
According to The New Vision, on the heels of the UPDF’s withdrawal from the DRC, 3,000 Congolese troops and 100 MONUC peacekeepers have been deployed to Garamba National Park to take the place of the Ugandan forces.
While the deployment of additional peace keepers is vital for the safety of the residents of eastern DR Congo, additional troops will fail to be beneficial if the same risks of indiscriminate killing of LRA abductors and abductees continue to occur as they did with Operation Lightning Thunder. It’s also imperative that protection is provided to Congolese civilians. Additional troops do far more harm than good when they fail to protect civilians from the violence.
The New Vision goes on to say (bottom of article) that the LRA’s self-appointed spokesperson, David Matsanga, has reached out to UN special envoy, Joachim Chessano, to do what he can to reestablish peace talks with the LRA. Matsanga also claims that Kony has called for a ceasefire in order to reassemble at a neutral location.
While a resumption of the peace talks leading to Kony signing the agreement seem unlikely in the face of history, it’s encouraging to see a move in the direction of peaceful solutions over military means.
