CONGRESS PRESSES OBAMA ON AFRICAN CONFLICTS

National Journal
02_8891.php
June 4 2009
DC

Despite Obama’s Campaign Pledges, Action Has Been Slow; Lawmakers
And Activists Are Pushing For Moreby David Herbert

President Obama promised to take a hard line on genocide and other
war crimes during the campaign, but since then he has been slow to
tackle some of Africa’s most intractable conflicts, leaving many
activists impatient and Congress calling for more action.

Most recently, lawmakers have focused on the two-decade-long insurgency
in northern Uganda, where the Lord’s Resistance Army has kidnapped and
conscripted thousands of children and displaced more than 2 million
people. Obama talked tough on such atrocities during the campaign
last fall, pledging to resolve the crisis in Darfur and recognize the
Armenian genocide. And sure enough, the administration features some
heavy hitters from the anti-genocide community, like Samantha Power,
author of A Problem from Hell: America in the Age of Genocide and
now an adviser on the National Security Council, and Ambassador to
the U.N. Susan Rice.

But in April, Obama avoided bringing up the Armenian genocide during
and after a trip to Turkey to avoid offending a key regional ally. With
a growing to-do list of other issues, Obama has been slow to act on
current crises as well, and some activists are tapping their fingers.

"They’re realizing that there aren’t easy answers, that there needs to
be bold action, and they haven’t taken it." — Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif.

"I think some of us are pretty antsy to have this administration get
their ducks in a row, and while you have these champions in government,
it may take time," said Julia Spiegel, a Uganda-based field researcher
for the Enough Project, an anti-genocide effort of the Center for
American Progress.

A bill introduced two weeks ago by Sens. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., and
Sam Brownback, R-Kan., and Reps. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., Brad Miller,
D-N.C., and Ed Royce, R-Calif., would require Obama to develop a
comprehensive strategy to end the brutal two-decade-long war in Uganda.

The U.S. has collaborated with Kampala to take out Lord’s Resistance
Army leader Joseph Kony before, with disappointing results. In
December, the U.S. Africa Command provided financial and logistical
support to the Ugandan army in a botched cross-border raid that
failed to catch Kony and indirectly led to the slaughter of hundreds
of Congolese villagers by retreating LRA fighters.

The Uganda bill is just the latest prod from Congress encouraging
Obama to take action on African conflicts.

Five representatives publicly chided the president in March for not
having appointed a special envoy on Sudan. A week later, Obama tapped
former Air Force Major Gen. Scott Gration for the post.

Despite the president’s perhaps understandable focus on other domestic
and international issues, Royce sees the reliance on Congress
for encouragement and leadership problematic. And at a time when
the administration doesn’t appear to have the appetite to pursue
aggressive solutions, the California Republican worries that Obama
is considering loosening sanctions on the Sudanese government as a
sign of good faith, something he considers a mistake.

"I noticed that candidate Obama was very critical of [George W.] Bush’s
Sudan policy," said Royce, who has been active in resolving conflicts
in Liberia and Sierra Leone. "Now they’re realizing that there aren’t
easy answers, that there needs to be bold action, and they haven’t
taken it."

Obama’s early moves on Darfur haven’t been a hit with activists either,
particularly the fact that there was no envoy yet in place when the
International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese
President Omar Al-Bashir in March. The military strongman expelled
13 aid organizations in retaliation, worsening the humanitarian
crisis. Jerry Fowler, president of the Save Darfur Coalition, said he
and others had unsuccessfully lobbied the administration for months
to appoint an envoy before the widely expected warrant was handed down.

Gration’s belated appointment also raised some eyebrows among activists
— the general had previously lobbied for the top job at NASA — and
they are anxious for the president to follow through on a campaign
pledge and present a plan to end the genocide in Darfur.

"There’s a critical need for the administration to articulate what
their strategy is on Sudan," Fowler said. "[For Obama,] just using
his voice would be of huge importance."

The Enough Project had hoped that Obama would mention Darfur in his
Cairo speech today, and he did, if fleetingly. Northern Sudan is
overwhelmingly Muslim, as is most of Darfur.

Regardless of complaints that the administration isn’t making these
conflicts a priority, there are signs that the administration and
Congress aren’t communicating well enough with African leaders. In
Uganda, many government and military officials were caught off guard
by the recent bill, which they learned about from belated local press
accounts, according to Angelo Izama, a Ugandan political reporter and
founder of a think tank on security issues in the Great Lakes region.

"It took everyone by surprise," he said. "If anything, it shows you
how removed some of this activism is from the players here."