Micro Analysis-Week # 79-80; Dated 2nd Aug-15th Aug; Zone 2-Africa

Micro Analysis- Uganda’s 'Lord’s Resistance Army': a two decade rebellion

The Lord's Resistance Army began in 1987 in northern Uganda and southern Sudan, primarily as a group of Acholi supporters of the former head of state, Tito Okello, who was forced out of office by Museveni's NRA in 1986. The group consisted of remnants of the Holy Spirit Movement, with Joseph Kony as its current Spiritual leader. It is accused of widespread human rights violations including murder, mutilation, abduction, sexual enslavement and the conscription of child soldiers. Its leader is also wanted by the International Criminal Court.

After the LRA lost its base in Southern Sudan a couple of years ago, the rebels turned the focus of their attacks mainly on the Democratic Republic of Congo, but also increasingly on Sudan and the Central African Republic.

During a meeting with Congolese President Joseph Kabila earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stressed the need for continued cooperation between Ugandan, Congolese, and Central African Republic troops battling LRA rebels. Some 12,500 people in eastern DR Congo have been uprooted since from their homes in attacks by the Ugandan rebel force, spilling over into neighboring Sudan as well. China also has voiced its concerns about the prolonged crisis stating that the ICC indictment of the rebel leader Kony was detrimental to seeking peace, and urged for a political solution.

Over time, the LRA has become a sinister cult with Kony at the centre of its command. With no clear political agenda, the LRA remains one of the least understood rebel movements in the world, Apart from the original LRA manifesto, in which Kony proclaimed that he wanted to overthrow President Yoweri Museveni's government and replace it with one governed by the Biblical Ten Commandments, little else is known of the LRA's philosophy.

The turning point in Kony's rebellion came when he was used as a proxy force by the Sudanese government to attack the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). However following a 1999 agreement between Uganda and Sudan to cease supporting rebel groups operating on each other's territory, and subsequently improved diplomatic relations, Khartoum says that it has long since stopped supporting the LRA, a claim that Uganda’s government is skeptical about. With many failed attempts at peace settlements, conflict continues to ravage the region.

Questions for discussion:

Does the LRA case depict a trend towards the use of ideology as a convenient tool being used in defence against a dysfunctional system? Is the Nigerian Boko Haram comparable to the Ugandan LRA in this context?

International involvement in conflict resolution seems to hold greater weight and influence in Africa than other parts of the world? Is such international involvement good or bad for a) world peace b) welfare of local states where intervention is made?

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