Cozy Ties between Khartoum and the LRA: Guess Who Pays?

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. The World Food Program is now suspending its ground operations in parts of southern Sudan because of attacks by the Lord’s Resistance Army. And who has been the LRA’s most consistent patron over the years? The ruling National Congress Party in Khartoum, which has used the LRA as a weapon against the South. With an independence referendum for the South less than two years away, the NCP has every reason to try and again destabilize the South and make the situation too messy, violent, and chaotic for the referendum to take place. With more weapons flowing into the South and clashes on the ground escalating, it looks like Khartoum is again stepping up its well-worn proxy tactics, leaving the civilians of southern Sudan in the crossfire. Very little public comment from the U.S. government on these emerging trends to date.