On March 3, Congressmen Ed Royce (R-CA) and Jim McGovern (D-MA) introduced H.R.895, the “Sudan Cessation of Support for the Lord’s Resistance Army Certification Act of 2011.” This legislation requires the Obama Administration to certify to Congress that the Sudanese government is “no longer 
engaged in training, harboring, supplying, financing, or supporting in any way the Lord’s Resistance Army, its leader Joseph Kony, or his top commanders” before Sudan could be removed from the U.S. State Sponsor of Terrorism List (SSTL).
In the weeks since introducing this legislation, Congressmen Royce and McGovern have recruited 27 additional cosponsors in the House of Representatives. The new cosponsors (see full list below) include a wide range of Republicans and Democrats from across the country.
The government of Sudan, based in Khartoum in the northern Sudan, armed and supplied the LRA between 1994 and 2005, giving it safe haven and using it as a proxy force to disrupt South Sudan. Though Sudanese support to the LRA is thought to have stopped since then, LRA commanders met with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in South Darfur in 2009 and 2010 and allegedly requested renewed support from Sudan. The LRA is on the State Department’s “Terrorist Exclusion List,” and its leader, Joseph Kony has been named a “specially designated global terrorist.” Kony and two other LRA commanders are also indicted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In January, South Sudan voted overwhelmingly in an historic self-determination referendum to secede from Sudan and will form Africa’s newest country on July 9, 2011. President Obama indicated to Khartoum that the U.S. would accelerate the process of removing Sudan from the SSTL if it fully implements its 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) with South Sudan and respects the results of the referendum vote. Existing law requires the President to certify that the Sudanese government has not supported international terrorism for the prior six months, but last month’s legislation seeks to spur greater efforts to ensure the most recent contacts between the LRA and the Sudanese government do not result in a renewed alliance.
The support of these cosponsors sends a message to President Obama that many eyes are following – and encouraging – his efforts to ensure Sudan and the LRA remain far apart.
– Paul
Full list of cosponsors
Rep Ann Marie Buerkle [R-NY-25]
Rep Dan Burton [R-IN-5]
Rep Ken Calvert [R-CA-44]
Rep Michael Capuano [D-MA-8]
Rep Steve Chabot [R-OH-1]
Rep John Conyers, Jr. [D-MI-14]
Rep Barney Frank [D-MA-4]
Rep Elton Gallegly [R-CA-24]
Rep Scott Garrett [R-NJ-5]
Rep Christopher Gibson [R-NY-20]
Rep Wally Herger [R-CA-2]
Rep Duncan Hunter [R-CA-52]
Rep Jesse Jackson, Jr. [D-IL-2]
Rep John Lewis [D-GA-5]
Rep Daniel Lungren [R-CA-3]
Rep Tom Marino [R-PA-10]
Rep Jim McDermott [D-WA-7]
Rep James McGovern [D-MA-3]
Rep Brad Miller [D-NC-13]
Rep Christopher Murphy [D-CT-5]
Rep Sue Wilkins Myrick [R-NC-9]
Rep John Olver [D-MA-1]
Rep Jared Polis [D-CO-2]
Rep Charles Rangel [D-NY-15]
Rep Ed Royce [R-CA-40]
Rep Bobby Rush [D-IL-1]
Rep Aaron Schock [R-IL-18]
Rep Brad Sherman [D-CA-27]
Rep Tim Walberg [R-MI-7]
Rep Frank Wolf [R-VA-10]