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Viewing cable 08STATE131979, GREAT LAKES: TALKING POINTS FOR DECEMBER 17

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
08STATE131979 2008-12-17 13:32 2011-08-24 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED Secretary of State
VZCZCXYZ0001
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHC #1979 3521340
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O P 171332Z DEC 08
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK IMMEDIATE 0000
INFO RUEHKM/AMEMBASSY KAMPALA PRIORITY 0000
RUEHKH/AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM PRIORITY 0000
RUEHKI/AMEMBASSY KINSHASA PRIORITY 0000
UNCLAS STATE 131979 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: UNSC PREL PHUM CG CT CD SU RW XA XW ZF
SUBJECT: GREAT LAKES: TALKING POINTS FOR DECEMBER 17 
BRIEFING 
 
1. (U) This is an action request.  USUN may draw from the 
points in para 2 and 3 during the UN Security Council 
consultations on the Great Lakes December 17. 
 
2. Begin points: 
 
-- I would like to thank UN Special Envoy Chissano for his 
briefing on the state of the Juba Peace Process and the 
current activity of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), and for 
his dedication to the peace process. 
 
-- First, the LRA must immediately end the war against 
innocent civilians it has waged for 22 years in four 
countries -- the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the 
Central African Republic (CAR), Uganda, and Sudan.  This 
conflict has left 60,000 dead, up to 2 million displaced, and 
lead to thousands of abducted children across the region. 
 
--The LRA continues to foment regional instability by 
committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, including 
gender-based violence, especially rape and other forms of 
sexual abuse; torture; mutilation; and the abduction and 
recruitment of children for use as soldiers and porters. 
 
-- The United States demands that the LRA immediately put an 
end to its long history of war crimes and crimes against 
humanity.  We also demand the LRA abide by provisions 
outlined in the Final Peace Agreement, including assembly in 
Ri-kwangba, Southern Sudan. 
 
-- During the 22-year conflict, LRA rebels have killed over 
60,000, up to two million have been displaced from their 
homes, and thousands of children have been abducted in the 
DRC, Central African Republic, Southern Sudan, and Uganda. In 
February and March of this year (2008) and while Kony 
requested a resumption of the peace talks, the LRA abducted 
155 people in Central African Republic, including 55 
children; and 97 were abducted in southern Sudan.  These 
atrocities, combined with LRA leader Joseph Kony,s failure 
to participate in Juba Peace Process -related meetings, 
clearly demonstrates to the international community his 
refusal to support the Juba process. The LRA must stop 
committing these atrocities and release all children in their 
custody immediately. 
 
-- The Juba process ended in late February, and LRA leader 
Joseph Kony,s refusal to participate in Juba-related 
meetings have clearly demonstrated he is not interested in 
peace.  Joseph Kony has used the peace process to stall, 
regroup, and rearm the LRA.  Given this lack of progress, we 
would welcome the UN Secretariat,s views on the long-term 
viability of the Envoy position. 
 
-- We note the government of Uganda,s two year commitment to 
the Juba process through dialogue and negotiation, despite 
Kony,s repeated efforts to undermine this process. 
 
-- The U.S. understands the ICC,s desire to arrest and 
capture Kony. 
 
-- We support justice and accountability in the face of such 
heinous crimes. 
 
-- The international community must make it very clear to the 
LRA that they must disarm and demobilize immediately. 
 
-- The US Government will continue to encourage the region to 
cooperate to address the LRA regional threat. 
 
-- Separate from the menace of the LRA is the critical issue 
of fostering genuine closure and reconciliation in Northern 
Uganda.  The Government of Uganda must continue to capitalize 
upon the progress the Juba Process made in closing this 
chapter on the conflict and bringing relative peace to the 
north.  The Government of Uganda and the international 
community must continue to support the Ugandan Government's 
Peace, Recovery, and Development Plan (PRDP) to rebuild the 
war-torn north.  Support is also needed from the 
international community to improve northern infrastructure. 
We note for this fiscal year, the USG will provide $163 
million in PRDP support to open roads, provide health 
services, rebuild the agriculture sector, increases access to 
clean water, improve education, increase local government 
capacity, and reintegrate former combatants. 
 
-- Northern Uganda,s communities need to feel their 
grievances are being addressed and that they are not being 
marginalized.  The Northern Uganda Reconstruction Program 
needs a careful review to ensure it is accomplishing what it 
was intended to address. 
 
3.  (U)  Contingency Guidance on Recent Military Action 
 
     In over twenty years, Kony and the LRA have terrorized 
the civilian populations of these three nations resulting in 
the deaths of more than 65,000, the displacement of more than 
2.5 million people, and the abduction of more than 22,000 
children. 
 
     We agree with other expert assessments that Kony and 
the LRA represented a real and growing threat to regional 
stability and to the internal stability of all three 
participating nations. 
 
     Like many other nations, the United States has been 
troubled by increasing reports that the LRA was 
reconstituting and strengthening its forces with the intent 
of further terrorizing innocent civilian populations. 
 
     As recently as last month the LRA attacked civilians in 
Congo, burning two villages and abducting more than 20 new 
child recruits. 
 
     The United States shares the view of the states in the 
region that the current peace process had failed. 
 
     Kony was given five opportunities to sign a final peace 
agreement with the Government of Uganda and he failed at each 
occasion to sign. 
 
     Kony has been using the peace process to rest, re-arm, 
and re-supply his army with the intention of expanding his 
reach. 
 
     The United State welcomes the cooperative efforts by 
regional states to take action against Joseph Kony and the 
Lord,s Resistance Army. 
 
     The LRA must now realize that there is no safe haven 
for its activities. 
 
     The only recourse open to the LRA is to accept 
immediately and without conditions the Ugandan government,s 
most recent peace offer. 
RICE