WASHINGTON, D.C. – For nearly 20 years, conflict between the government of Uganda and a terrorist organization, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), has gripped northern Uganda.  This brutal conflict has displaced more than 1.8 million people, caused skyrocketing HIV and AIDS rates, and is costing more than $100 million per year.

War continues to be waged in Uganda by these abducted children who have been turned into “kill or be killed” mercenaries.  Children, afraid to sleep in their own beds for fear of being abducted, become “night commuters,” walking miles to cities and protected camps to sleep.

The State Department has designated the LRA as a terrorist organization since December 2001. Because more than 80 percent of the LRA’s ranks are composed of abducted children, its troops are simultaneously hostages and terrorists. This presents a unique and delicate situation for the international community. The leadership of the LRA must be pursued and treated as terrorists, while the abducted soldiers within its ranks must be addressed as hostages and innocent children.

WHAT: Representative Christopher Smith (R-NJ), Chairman, Subcommittee on Africa, Global
               Human Rights and International Operations

              Grace Akallo, Former Abducted Child Soldier for the LRA, World Vision,
              Additional participants TBA

WHEN: Wednesday, April 26, 2006
              11:30 AM

WHERE: Cannon Terrace

Later in the day, at 2 PM, Rep. Smith will conduct a hearing on the endangered children of Northern Uganda.  Witnesses include: Mr. Jeffrey Krilla, Deputy Assistant Secreatary, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights & Labor, US Dept of State; His Excellency Amama Mbabazi, Minister of Defense of Uganda; Ms. Grace Akallo, former abducted child soldier for the LRA, representing World Vision; Dr. Rick Brennan, Director of Health International Rescue Committee; Ms. Michelle Brown, U.N. Advocate, Refugees International.