Addis Ababa, 11 March 2016:  The Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union (AU), H.E. Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, commends the United Nations (UN) Security Council for designating the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and its leader, Joseph Kony, as of 7 March 2016, as subject to sanctions imposed by UN Resolution 2262 (2016), including the measures contained in paragraphs 5 and 8 of the same Resolution, pertaining to travel ban and asset freeze, respectively.

The Chairperson applauds the steps taken by the United States (US) Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, on 8 March 2016, to complement the UN listing of Joseph Kony and the LRA for sanctions by imposing a freeze on any LRA assets within U.S. jurisdiction and prohibiting US persons from engaging in transactions with the group.

The Chairperson calls upon all AU Member States to ensure that funds, financial assets or economic resources are prevented from being made available for the benefit of Kony and LRA, by their nationals, any individuals or entities within their territories. She once again recalls the Communiqué on the 299^th Meeting of the AU Peace and Security Council which, on 22 November 2011, authorized the AU Regional Cooperation Initiative for the Elimination of the LRA (RCI-LRA) and designated the LRA as a terrorist organization.

The Chairperson of the Commission remains optimistic that the UN sanctions will contribute to dismantling the LRA’s network through which the group has been resupplying itself by trafficking minerals looted from the eastern part of the Central African Republic and ivory poached from the Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, to exchange for weapons and other essential supplies. She stresses that, this will, in turn, hasten the elimination of the LRA, leading to the creation of conditions conducive for the security, peace, stability, and development of the affected region.

Posted by Lulit Kebede

Last updated by Tchioffo Kodjo

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