WASHINGTON, D.C. – Tomorrow, Senators Feingold (D-WI) and Brownback (R-KS) will address the faltering peace talks in Juba and the landmark truce between the Ugandan government and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) as it passes its February 28th expiration. Efforts to consolidate peace in Uganda remain on shaky groun and rebel forces now appear to be planning a return to war.
Urgent efforts are required – by the rebels, the Ugandan government and the international community – to construct an over-arching peace strategy that can bring an end to this two-decade long war once and for all.
Prospects for Peace in Northern Uganda is the second in a series of events sponsored by ENOUGH, a new joint initiative of the Center for American Progress and International Crisis Group. By synthesizing targeted field research and political analysis with high-level advocacy and grassroots activism, ENOUGH aims to end ongoing crimes against humanity in Darfur, northern Uganda and eastern Congo, and to prevent mass atrocity crimes from occurring in the future.
Co-Hosted by Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Sam Brownback (R-KS)
Featured Speakers:
Betty Bigombe, Senior Fellow, United States Institute of Peace
John Prendergast, Senior Adviser, the International Crisis Group and Co-Founder of ENOUGH
Michael Poffenberger, Executive Director of Resolve Uganda
Moderated by:
Gayle Smith, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress and Co-Founder of ENOUGH
Time
March 1, 2007, 1:00pm – 2:30pm
Location
Dirksen Senate Office Building
Room 562
Washington, DC 20515
Map & Directions
Nearest Metro: Blue line to Capitol South or Red Line to Union Station
RSVP for this Event
Biographies
Betty Bigombe is a Senior fellow at the United States Institute of Peace. She has been involved in peace negotiations in Uganda to end the Lord’s Resistance Army’s (LRA) insurgency since the early 1990s. Prior to taking on these negotiation initiatives, she was appointed cabinet minister in Yoweri Museveni’s government for pacification of North and Northeastern Uganda, resident in the North. She provided technical support to the Carter Center in the peace efforts between the governments of Uganda and Sudan. She then held a fellowship at Harvard University’s Institute for International Development in Public Policy in 1997. Bigombe joined the World Bank in 1997 as a senior social scientist at the Bank’s newly created Post-Conflict Unit and also worked with the Social Protection and Human Development Units.
John Prendergast is a Senior Adviser at the International Crisis Group. He worked in the White House and the State Department in the Clinton administration from 1996-2001 and has worked for a variety of NGOs and think tanks in Africa and the U.S. He has authored or co-authored seven books on Africa and is currently co-authoring a book with actor Don Cheadle. He is a co-founder of ENOUGH.
Michael Poffenberger is a co-founder and Executive Director of Resolve Uganda, an emerging grassroots campaign for peace in northern Uganda. Michael previously served as Associate Director of the Africa Faith and Justice Network, and co-founded the Uganda Conflict Action Network.
Gayle Smith is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, she has spent much of her career in international affairs in the field. Smith served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council from 1998-2001, and as Senior Advisor to the Administrator and Chief of Staff of the U.S. Agency for International Development from 1994-1998. She is a co-founder of ENOUGH.