A meeting between leaders of the Lord’s Resistance Army and the United Nations near the Sudan-DR Congo border three years ago: The LRA now stands accused of a 10-month rampage of killings, rape and mutilation in the two countries. (Photo Courtesy Euan Denholm)

The cross-border nature of the Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA —currently active in northeastern Congo, the Central African Republic, and southern Sudan — is a clear threat to international peace and security, but the United Nations Security Council has yet to take seriously its responsibility to protect civilians from the LRA and marshal the will and the resources to put in place an effective counterinsurgency strategy.

The latest strategy paper from the Enough Project, “The Lord’s Resistance Army and the Threat Against Civilians in Southern Sudan,” argues that both the Government of Southern Sudan and the United Nations should urgently step up efforts to protect civilians.

“The situation is dire and poised to get much worse in the months ahead. Increased troop presence and improved relationships with the communities at risk of attack are prerequisites to a more effective strategy,” says the paper’s author, Enough field researcher Ledio Cakaj.

Improving civilian protection is only one part of a comprehensive strategy to address the LRA threat. “Civilians in the region will never be safe so long as the LRA continues to operate as a transnational terrorist group,” says Enough Co-Founder John Prendergast. "A comprehensive counterinsurgency strategy is needed. The U.N. Security Council must also identify and sever external lines of support, increase opportunities for rank-and-file to defect, and increase effective military pressure on Joseph Kony and his high command."