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CRS Views U.S. Response to Lord’s Resistance Army

11.22.11 | 1 min read | Text by Steven Aftergood

The U.S. government response to the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a brutal paramilitary group in Uganda, is discussed in a new report from the Congressional Research Service.

The Obama Administration has provided humanitarian and operational support to Ugandan efforts to counter the LRA.  Most recently, the U.S. has authorized the deployment of U.S. military advisers to assist the Ugandan military in the anti-LRA campaign.

“The U.S. approach to the LRA raises a number of issues for policymakers, some of which could have implications far beyond central Africa,” the CRS report said. “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.”

A copy of the new report was obtained by Secrecy News.  See “The Lord’s Resistance Army: The U.S. Response,” November 21, 2011.