The LRA has been unable to regain the support it long had from the Islamic conservative government of Sudan. LRA, long a self-described heretical Christian organization, tried to reposition itself as Islamic radicals, but the Sudanese government didn't believe them. The LRA had become a problem in southern Sudan, where LRA gunmen had begun to pillage Sudanese. This was not a problem in the past, because the Sudanese government was fighting separatist Christian tribes in southern Sudan. But now the Sudanese government has made peace with the southern rebels, and cracking down on the LRA is part of the deal.