Go to: BBC video

The news today could cause “an opinion shift within LRA,” and “encourage other fighters to abandon the LRA.” There will be new songs being written and sang by mothers throughout the region encouraging defection and promoting forgiveness and safe surrender, we need your help in deploying a larger team to get these recorded and on the air for broadcast out to the LRA. For this very special Mother’s Day, please consider a donation in the name of your mother to help us do this.

Uganda captures Lord’s Resistance Army commander

(Reuters) – Uganda has captured one of the top five members of the Lord’s Resistance Army, bringing it a step closer to catching Joseph Kony, the notorious rebel leader accused of war crimes, the military said on Sunday.

The Ugandan army said it caught Caesar Achellam, a major general in Kony’s outfit of about 200 fighters, in an ambush along the banks of the River Mbou in Central African Republic (CAR) on Saturday.

Achellam was armed with just an AK-47 rifle and eight rounds of ammunition, a spokesman for the Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF), said. He was being held with his wife, a young daughter and a helper.

The UPDF, which has a force hunting for Kony full-time in the jungles of CAR, backed by U.S. troops, said the capture of Achellam would encourage other fighters to abandon the LRA.

“The arrest of Major General Caesar Achellam is big progress because he is a big fish,” said UPDF spokesman Felix Kulaigye. “His capture is definitely going to cause an opinion shift within the LRA.”

Achellam, who was paraded before media, walked with a limp, which he attributed to an old wound. He was returning from the Democratic Republic of Congo when he walked into the soldiers’ ambush. UPDF said it had been on his trail for a month.

Analysts said Achellam was a close ally of Kony and had masterminded the group’s relocation from northern Uganda.

“From whichever angle you look at it, the loss of Achellam should be very troubling for Kony and a big boost for his manhunt,” said Angelo Izama, an analyst who has written extensively on the LRA.

Kony, a self-styled mystic leader who at one time wanted to rule Uganda according to the biblical Ten Commandments, fled northern Uganda in 2005, roaming first the lawless expanses of South Sudan, then the isolated northeastern tip of Congo.

In December 2008, Uganda launched Operation Lightning Thunder against the LRA, dispersing the rebels and pushing them north into CAR.

The rebels live in the jungles of CAR surviving on wild yams, stolen cattle and drinking from rivers.

The International Criminal Court at The Hague has issued arrest warrants for Kony and his top commanders for several counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes, although Achellam is not among those charged by the ICC.

Kony is accused of abducting children to use as fighters and sex slaves and is said to have a fondness for hacking off limbs.

A 30-minute YouTube video by California-based film-maker Jason Russell calling for the arrest of Kony swept across the Internet in March, attracting tens of millions of views, bringing the LRA’s atrocities to the attention of many people previously unaware of the group’s existence.

The Ugandan government, the African Union and the United States all stepped up their commitment to the hunt for Kony in the wake of the outrage caused by the video, “Kony 2012″.

(Additional reporting by Elias Biryabarema in Kampala; Writing by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

ok, about four or five times in this video, serious chills. Watch Abramz. Light. Up. This. Room. and the young people in it. The Voice Project is so proud to support this inspirational man and his movement. Music baby…Amplify. #breakdanceprojectuganda

Via: Human Rights Watch

16 civil society, human rights, and religious groups in northern Congo and Central African Republic call for solidarity with the populations of central Africa affected by the Lord’s Resistance Army. In their call, they describe the situation and outline steps that should be taken as part of a multidimensional approach to ending the LRA problem.

* * *

We, civil society organizations of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic, call on African governments, the African Union, the United Nations, human rights defenders, and other people of good will – from near and far – to demonstrate their solidarity with the populations of central Africa affected by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). We are decimated; join with us.

The LRA problem requires a multidimensional approach. First, the populations and governments of our region must prioritize the search for a durable and definitive solution to this problem. In fact, this should be this year’s number one priority for the governments of DRC, CAR, South Sudan, and Uganda. We call on the international community to engage, in line with international principles, to assist persons at risk, protect civilians, disband the LRA, and reunite our communities. We invite you to seek out the advice of the affected populations themselves. Collaborate with us, and together we can build a lasting peace.

We have seen and lived with the LRA’s atrocities: their attacks are fraught with kidnappings, mutilations, burned villages, looting, murders, rapes, and the destruction of sacred objects, places, and people. LRA forces have devastated our communities. But how have Joseph Kony and his fighters sustained themselves and their violent acts? Do they receive assistance from some invisible hand? We ask the international community to help us investigate these questions and hold accountable anyone who may be supporting the LRA.

Despite the efforts undertaken by our governments, we deplore the fact that some governments currently minimize the LRA problem, while others are indifferent to it, and still others even refuse to cooperate to put an end to the LRA phenomenon and movement. Are they seeking to gain political advantage? Is it easier to do nothing than to take effective steps to eradicate the LRA phenomenon? Our governments must understand the long-term risks if they fail to end the LRA crisis now, not only for the security of their populations, but also for the development and integrity of our affected region. We ask our governments to get to the core of the problem, and set aside political problems. We want to see the end to these atrocities, and the birth of lasting peace.

The work of a single country cannot end this crisis. We welcome the African Union initiative to encourage cooperation, and we ask them to take effective and efficient action to save lives. As such, the African Union should coordinate, facilitate, and mediate between regional governments, as well as collaborate with local civil society, all with the full backing of the international community. We support the efforts and mechanisms that the African Union is currently putting in place, and urge them, for better effectiveness, to collaborate with local civil society structures and affected communities.

Soldiers in our region have been tasked with pursuing the LRA, but to complete their mission they need to become more professional and responsible. The militaries of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, and Uganda must be protectors of civilians, and not predators.

We call on all capable countries and bodies to help improve our regional forces and support them in their mission to put an end to the devastation caused by the LRA. And all soldiers in the region who have committed themselves to stopping the LRA should be treated equitably. This will help avoid friction and enhance cooperation and mission efficacy. Help ensure that soldiers receive their pay, adequate food, usable and durable equipment, transport, and means of communication, so that their priority remains tracking the LRA, and not assuring their own survival. The United States trained one effective unit in the DRC, and similar efforts should follow and be extended across the affected region. We need responsible and professional militaries committed to protecting our communities.

United Nations peacekeepers are deployed in some of our main centers in northern Congo. However, we have noted that they are not in some villages and towns, where their presence is very necessary. Put them in the most vulnerable areas: in Bas Uele in DRC, and in eastern Central African Republic. Make them responsible and capable of accomplishing their noble mission. We ask the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Congo, MONUSCO, to use its chapter 7 mandate to protect civilians. Currently, peacekeepers do not leave the main roads, while attacks often happen in the bush. The LRA has even attacked near MONUSCO bases, resulting in no intervention on their part to protect civilians. Use the power at your disposal to protect us and pursue our aggressors.

Our region is remote, far from big cities, with disparate communities, allowing the LRA to too easily attack our communities and escape in the difficult terrain. While high-frequency radios are being installed throughout the zone, it is imperative to call on other communication companies (Airtel, TIGO, CCT) to come to the area to improve and facilitate modern communication like elsewhere, and to make it accessible to the population. This will help us immediately transmit messages about LRA attacks and attempted attacks. We welcome USAID’s commitment to put mobile phone towers in some of our communities, but it seems this project is delayed. Overcome this delay and expedite this process.

Help us rehabilitate our roads, which will improve protection and assistance to communities that are victims of the LRA’s abuses. This will also improve the ability of the United Nations and regional militaries to quickly deploy a rapid reaction force to respond to incidents and attacks when necessary.

We hope for concerted, strengthened efforts to encourage LRA combatants and captives to defect and escape. Messages diffused on FM radio are helpful, as are DDRRR efforts to welcome returnees and provide them immediate assistance. DDRRR expertise in the region would be useful for psychological help and socioeconomic reinsertion. For all efforts, it is necessary to analyze risks and benefits, and to do so in collaboration with local civil society. Above all, work with local civil society organizations to sensitize as many local communities as possible to encourage returnees and welcome them safely.

Joseph Kony and the LRA have captured thousands over the years, and many of these victims require both immediate and long-term assistance. It is necessary to strengthen local civil society structures with training, infrastructure, and equipment so they can rehabilitate these members of our communities, with psychosocial assistance, family mediation, education, and socioeconomic assistance. A pilot rehabilitation center is being constructed in northern Congo, and others exist already in Uganda and South Sudan. But we point out that currently there are few rehabilitation efforts, and no rehabilitation center, in eastern Central African Republic.

We, civil society organizations of the affected region, thank in advance all persons of good will, African governments, the African Union, the United Nations, human rights defenders, and others who respond to this call for solidarity to save lives and empathize with the communities ravaged by the LRA.

For civil society organizations of the affected region

Action to Identify and Develop Reconstruction Efforts / AIDER (DRC)
Association of Handicapped Persons / APVH (DRC)
Catholic Justice and Peace Commission / CDJP – Dungu-Doruma Diocese (DRC)
Catholic Justice and Peace Commission / CPJP – Ango Parish (DRC)
Catholic Justice and Peace Commission / CPJP – Bangadi Parish (DRC)
Central African Human Rights Organization / OCDH (CAR)
Conscience (DRC)
Coordination of Civil Society in Mopoy Chefferie / SOCICOMO (DRC)
Farmers’ Association of Haut Uele / ASSAHU (DRC)
LRA Victims Association (CAR)
Maman Bongisa / MABO (DRC)
Orphan Assistance Union of Zemio / UAOZ (CAR)
Solidarity and Integrated Assistance to Vulnerable Populations / SAIPED (DRC)
Solidarity for Mutual Assistance and Community Development / SEDEC (DRC)
Women’s Movement for Peace (Dynamique Femmes pour la Paix) (DRC)
Youth United for the Protection of the Environment and Community Development / JUPEDEC (CAR), in association with 55 partner organizations

Via: CBS News

Watch the 60 Minutes segment » There’s a remarkable symphony orchestra in the Congo, 200 musicians defying the poverty of their war-torn country and creating some of the most moving music we have ever heard. Bob Simon reports.

“Joy in the Congo” seems an unlikely — even impossible — title for a story from the Congo, considering the searing poverty and brutal civil war that have decimated that country. Yet in Kinshasa, the capital city, we found an unforgettable symphony orchestra — 200 singers and instrumentalists defying the poverty, hardship, and struggles of life in the world’s poorest country…and creating some of the most moving music we have ever heard. Follow Bob Simon to the Congo to hear the sounds and stories of the Kimbanguist Symphony Orchestra. Go to the story on CBSnews.com

We are all just trying to make the world a better place, and lessen the violence, sexual assault, human cruelty and torture and increase the human dignity, love, understanding, equality and ability for the fullest expression of the self for every individual on this planet. We are a web of interconnections that must push forward to the light as human nature, entropy and chaos pull us to the primal selfishness, self absorption, violence and war. It should never be looked at as that peace and understanding are the norm, they require extreme effort and intention and that’s what as civilizations make culture and humanity great. Without it, we are back in the dark ages, when self-interest, self-preservation and greed are primal forces and allowed to run rampant.

-Chris

UN warns of increasing attacks by Lord’s Resistance Army in Central Africa

Via: UN News Centre

A Congolese woman, displaced by LRA attacks, carries a bag of non-food items distributed by UNHCR in Dungu, DR of Congo. Photo: UNHCR/M.Hofer

30 March 2012 –
The United Nations refugee agency today spoke out about an increase in the number of attacks in recent weeks by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in central Africa, leading to the displacement of thousands of people.

The attacks have taken place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Central African Republic (CAR) and South Sudan, a spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Melissa Fleming, told reporters in Geneva.

She said that since UNHCR’s last update on 6 March, there have been 13 attacks in the DRC, which resulted in two killings and 13 abductions, and the displacement of 1,230 people, mostly from the Dungu territory in the country’s north-east. In CAR, LRA attacks have resumed after a lull since April last year, with 11 attacks recorded this year.

The LRA was formed in the 1980s in Uganda and for over 15 years its attacks were mainly directed against Ugandan civilians and security forces, which in 2002 dislodged the rebels. They then exported their activities to Uganda’s neighbouring countries, with practices that include the recruitment of children, rapes, killing and maiming, and sexual slavery.

“The security situation in south-eastern CAR remains extremely fragile,” Ms. Fleming said, adding that the one exception is the city of Obo, where United States troops were deployed in October to bolster efforts by the joint CAR-Ugandan armed forces to hunt down the LRA and its leadership.

“Our staff on the ground say that patrols around Obo by the two national armies supported by the US military advisers have enabled local authorities to ensure security within a 25-kilometre radius from Obo, compared to five kilometres before patrols were instituted,” Ms. Fleming said. “The extended security is allowing residents to tend their farms.”

The LRA has also conducted attacks in South Sudan, which last year led to 7,382 people fleeing their homes. Although no attacks have been registered this year, UNHCR noted that South Sudan’s Western and Central Equatoria states host more than 22,000 refugees from the DRC and CAR.

According to UNHCR, LRA assaults in these three countries have led to a total of 440,000 internally displaced persons or people living as refugees, of which 335,000 are found in the DRC alone.

Last week, the four countries affected by LRA activities – CAR, DRC, South Sudan and Uganda – announced that they would launch a joint military task force backed by the UN and the African Union to pursue the rebel fighters, including the group’s leader, Joseph Kony.

Ms. Fleming said UNHCR welcomed the regional and international initiatives aimed at ending LRA atrocities and urged all actors to respect human rights and minimize risk to civilian populations.

by VANESSA CONTOPULOS

“The violation of human life and relationships creates a deep sense of irreplaceable loss. Violence destroys voice, belonging and place. In essence, the search for voice seeks to restore connection, meaning and purpose; foundational elements for authentic conversation in the social sphere.”

-Angela Jill Lederach and John Paul Lederach, When Blood and Bones Cry Out

 



 

Through the inspiration of the courageous and creative mothers who are singing their children free of the Lord’s Resistance Army, The Voice Project is asking the provocative question, “Can songs end a war?” By doing so it joins a growing group of academics, artists, activists and peace practitioners who are asking a similar question, with some even going one step further: Do music, art and the creative process have a unique and vital role to play in transforming societies trapped in patterns of protracted conflict and violence? What exactly are the processes by which these individuals find their way to a place of peaceful coexistence? How do these individuals and societies heal from the trauma of direct and structural violence? Can music help build peace?

The purpose of this article is to offer an overview of the growing field of music for conflict transformation. Within that context, it will then highlight the role an organization such as The Voice Project can play in helping lead the way in the exploration of the potential of music to transform conflict.

As we begin to look at spaces where music can be transformative and healing, it is important to acknowledge that music can also be used in non-peaceful ways and can both incite and support violence. Furthermore, the use of music is not appropriate for every situation of conflict transformation. What we shall explore here is its relevance as an important tool to be considered when planning and supporting programs that contribute to building peace.

This is a new and developing area of practice and study. Musical expression is to be found in every culture. In our lived experience we can all give examples of music’s power to change our emotional state. As Peter Gabriel suggests, there’s something about music that has the capacity to connect directly to our emotions. The energies and resources we tap into when we create music find their roots in the same parts of us that we need to engage with when we try to create peace. Developing our awareness of how our relationship with music is connected with our relationship with peace and conflict is the song we must now try to write.

 

“A lot of the ways that people communicate are cerebral. They go through the head. One of the interesting things about music is that it seems to plug directly into the emotion”
-Peter Gabriel

Although it’s peanuts in comparison to what is spent on war, the international community invests huge amounts each year in a broad range of peace efforts. There is no shortage of interest in and investment in greater understanding of the complexities that contribute to building peace. Within these efforts, there is a group of academics, artists, activists and peace practitioners calling on a need for an increased attention to the creative process within peace building and conflict transformation. They are doing so because they have seen first hand the significant role that music, poetry and art play in communities emerging from conflict. More specifically, these individuals have come face to face with a lived reality that echoes the often overlooked truth that re-building relationships often has more to do with drinking tea together and the space provided for creative expression, than it does with holding conferences and workshops.

“The artistic five minutes, I have found rather consistently, when it is given space and acknowledged as something far beyond entertainment, accomplishes what most of politics has been unable to entertain.”
-John Paul Lederach

All too often art, poetry, and music are associated with and limited to the spheres of leisure and entertainment when in reality they have the potential to capture the human spirit, to inspire hope, and to create change. Around the world, people who recognize these grounded truths are gathering stories of creative transformation in order to lift up these practices as significant tools for building peace. They are raising awareness of these issues and calling us to listen to the fact that these stories and examples contain valuable lessons and signposts directing us towards the transformation and healing of broken spirits, relationships, lives and communities.

When considering the role of music in building peace, the stories that often come to mind are the stories of music used in non-violent resistance, music for social change. When we consider the role that music has played in social movements, it seems that music is supporting and creating change in a number of ways. As often happens with process of music-making, there are many layers to be found within that apparently single act. It’s important to note that it’s not necessarily the musical composition itself nor the piece of art created that is of greatest significance but the act of creation, the space that opens up through the creation. The music is merely the catalyst for transformation.

Music has a great potential to unify people. Those who have sung in a choir, played in a band or even attended a concert have experienced this. Music is so powerful because it affects us on many different levels. It affects us physiologically. We feel music in our bodies. It changes our heart rate, our feet tap and our heads nod to the beat. Music affects our emotions and memory. When the sound comes in through our ears it is processed in the part of our brain called the Temporal Lobe which is directly connected to and continually sending messages to the Hippocampus which is the part of our brain that processes emotions and where we hold memory. When the act of creating music together or experiencing music together is connected to a certain idea or social movement it can be quite powerful.

Music and, in particular singing, played a significant role in unifying the non-violent movement of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in the resistance of the communist regime. The people gathered in masses of tens and hundreds of thousands to sing national folk songs and resist the Soviet regime. The role of singing was so central to the movement that the period of resistance has come to be known as the Singing Revolution.

 



 

The Baltic Way chain at the peak of the Singing Revolution

 

Music played a significant role in the Civil Rights movement in the United States. From the songs of famous musicians on stage to the anthems of protestors on the streets, it was often the music that helped to unify and spread the message of the movement. When we hear mention of peace songs, ‘Kumbaya’ is often referred to mockingly, as if it’s just wishy-washy, fluffy nonsense. Civil Rights veteran Vincent Harding bristles every time he hears such comments. The shared act of singing ‘Kumbaya’, or the anthem of the movement, ‘We Shall Overcome’, served as a ritual; it was a profoundly powerful moment of connection to one another, to their goal and a space for looking toward a new future with hope.

Another way that music has been powerfully used in non-violent resistance and creating social change is through the music serving as a vehicle that could carry a particular message. These messages have been conveyed through actual sung lyrics or words paired with music. There are also many traditional approaches that use specific instruments and styles of playing to communicate a message of solidarity or resistance.

The history of the Negro Spiritual is a story of creative individuals understanding the power of music to act as the carrier of messages. The singing was a kind of life force and the songs were subversive, full of hidden meanings that were meant to bring freedom. The song ‘Follow The Drinking Gourd’ is full of hidden meaning. The first verse including the words, “When the sun come back, When the firs’ quail call, Then the time is come foller the drinkin’ gou’d”, suggests escaping in the Spring and heading North to freedom, The Drinking Gourd being a code name for the Big Dipper, which points to the North. Modern echoes to this can be found in similar songs in apartheid South Africa.

Most recently the international community witnessed the potential of music to carry a message as hundreds of musicians shared their music via the Internet and social media sites in the Arab Spring. Musicians across the region used the vehicle of music and their voices and the structure of song to challenge their oppressive structures, to ask questions, offer support across borders and ultimately to give voice to messages they had been unable to express in other ways.

Music can also be used as a tool for shifting and changing relationships. In my own work using strategies from music therapy in facilitated dialogue, I have seen that music can be used to create a space in which people can experience one another in new ways. I have also witnessed music’s ability to do what Peter Gabriel describes, “to plug directly into the emotion”, and in doing this, shift a person into a new way of being in which they could listen to another person differently and begin to build or change a relationship.

Musician, peace activist and former “Lost Boy” of Sudan, Emmanuel Jal describes a story in which music moved him in such a way that he began to shift his perception of “the other”. Jal admits that he willingly joined the Sudan People’s Liberation Army as a child soldier after witnessing his mother being violently kicked by a group of Arab men. From this moment, these people became his enemies. He could not imagine that there was anything good in them and he wanted revenge. This was until one day he overheard the music of these “enemies” and he found himself liking and connecting with this music. It was shocking for him because he could not imagine that he would have anything in common with these individuals. He could not imagine that there was anything good at all in them and yet he liked the music they were playing. What began to occur in that moment for Jal was what John Paul Lederach describes as “the capacity to imagine ourselves in a web of relationships that includes our enemies”. The Moral Imagination.

In the same way as art or beauty, music carries within it the potential to interrupt patterns of familiarity. It can create moments of transcendence during which we are able to view what we felt was known territory from a new and enlightening perspective.

There are a number of current organizations and movements that utilize music to help create a space in which relationships might be changed and transformed. Often the musicians explore larger themes through the making of music, such as playing a hybrid of different styles of music in order to demonstrate or serve as a metaphor for how divided societies might co-exist. At the same time, these projects often bring together musicians from different parts of these divided societies with the hope that the space created through music will serve as a place where people will begin to encounter one another.

Music also has an important role to play when it comes to healing wounded communities. Unspeakable trauma is referred to in such a way, because it often lies hidden, unwilling or unable to find its voice through everyday expressions of the spoken or written word. Healing from this trauma is not a neat 5 step process. It shares that characteristic with the wider process of transforming conflict and building peace. With both there is no simple, neat, easy, convenient, one-size fits all solution. Again, there is space for creativity and for music.

There are countless stories of places in which music has been used as a “voice” of grief or trauma or hope in the face of devastating loss and conflict, such as the story of Vedran Smailović, known as the cellist of Sarajevo.

 



 

Some of the earliest human writings reference the power of music to influence the body, mind and spirit. The use of music in healing through ritual can be seen throughout history and across cultures. The field of music therapy is a professional field that is built around this fundamental belief in the healing capacity of music. For people who have experienced unspeakable trauma, music again can play many roles in the healing process. When a person has undergone trauma, they are often disconnected from their bodies. The act of singing and the fact that one must breath in order to sing, can bring a person back into their body and therefore back into connection with their own humanity. Trauma also robs people of their sense of what is normal and robs them of their power. The act of writing a song, learning or playing an instrument all have the potential to give, in a very practical way, an opportunity to begin to regain a sense of normality, to find their voice and their power.

Finally, as we seek to elevate the role of music in building peace and supporting conflict transformation, it is interesting to make the connection between the need for increased attention to traditional or indigenous approaches to building peace and healing and the need for these creative approaches. Many indigenous and traditional approaches are creative and often times musical at their core. We can look to and elevate these rituals and practices, like the Dwog Paco songs, in order to better understand the creative process of building peace and as we elevate the role of creativity and music in peace building we can in turn elevate and draw from a world-wide knowledge transformation and healing.

As we explore the many levels at which music can be transformative, we see through a new lens all the ways in which the Dwog Paco songs are building peace. The act of singing together creates space for both personal and group healing. Both the music-making and the music itself, unifies the women and through that unity, gives them a collective power. They now have a collective voice and a clear message of reconciliation and homecoming. The music is clearly acting as a vehicle to carry their message. Through the radio and the initiatives of The Voice Project, these women’s message, carried by their music, is being amplified. This is incredibly powerful on many levels. At the level of individual healing and collective healing, as mentioned earlier in regard to trauma, these women are regaining voice and power. It is also significant at a level of participation and representation within society. Women’s voices are often left out of peace negotiations and here these women are playing an important role in what is hopefully the end of conflict in their region.

It is clear in my mind that we do not need to ask if music has a role to play in conflict transformation. It has an incredibly powerful and unique role to play.

“The real question is why has it taken so long? It is high time for the human brain and heart to join forces to explore and apply the power of music for peaceful and effective conflict transformation.” -Olivier Urbain

Music weaves its way through every twist and turn of our journeys through life. It provides the soundtrack for both our darkest and most shining days. It resonates, sustains and inspires. We live in a world where so many voices remain unheard. When we deliberately create the space in which we give voice to that silence, the beauty of the human choir deepens. The louder the choir sings, the further those voices will carry.

Vanessa Contopulos is a Board-Certified Music Therapist with a Master’s degree in Conflict Resolution and serves as an advisor to The Voice Project.