End the war in northern Uganda

Sign this petition to pressure President Bush and the U.S. Congress to take action and help end the war in northern Uganda that has already led to the abduction of more than 25,000 children.

Tell President Bush, Senators and Congress Members You Want the United States to Take the Lead in Ending the Worst Abuse of Children in the World.

Tell Them to Step Up and Lead Efforts to End the War in Northern Uganda.

For 19 years, a war has flared in northern Uganda between a rebel group called the Lord's Resistance Army, led by Joseph Kony, and President Yoweri Museveni's government. The war's main targets are not the combatants. The targets are children.

Over the course of the fighting, an estimated 25,000 boys and girls have been abducted and forced into being soldiers and sex slaves. Thousands of children and their families have been killed; hundreds of thousands live in squalid, unsafe camps.

President Bush has directed some dollars and programs to assist the people of northern Uganda. But he could be a decisive leader in promoting an end to this conflict in 2005 if he made it an American moral priority.

This could be ended if the United States - one of Uganda's top foreign aid donors - gave sustained political and diplomatic attention to it. The White House and Capitol Hill lawmakers should take these actions:

-- President Bush should allocate finances and appoint a high-profile envoy to support Ugandan attempts to hold peace talks. Bush should invest a small amount of his time by personally talking to Museveni and letting him know the United States has made a moral priority of protecting children in northern Uganda by ending the war there. He also should call Sudanese leaders in the capital of Khartoum and in the south to get a pledge from them to fully end support to Joseph Kony and his LRA.

-- The Senate and the House of Representatives should prepare a plan for tying further U.S. military aid to human rights monitoring and Government of Uganda's commitment to peace talks; the latter demonstrated by the convening of negotiations attended by top officials from both sides of the conflict.

With these actions as a start, President Bush and members of the House and Senate could demonstrate that the United States seeks to help children in need wherever they are. Please sign the attached petition and urge our elected officials to act immediately.

Add my voice to Americans of all political and personal backgrounds who want you to make resolving the war in northern Uganda a priority, and begin by taking the above actions.