Lord's Resistance Army

Lord's Resistance Army
Participant in the Lord's Resistance Army insurgency,
First Sudanese Civil War and Second Sudanese Civil War
Flag of Lord's Resistance Army
Flag of Lord's Resistance Army
Active 1987-present
Leaders Joseph Kony
Vincent Otti†
Raska Lukwiya†
Okot Odhiambo
Dominic Ongwen
Odong Latek†
Headquarters Northern Uganda
Strength 500-3,000[1]
Originated as Holy Spirit Movement
Uganda People's Democratic Army
Allies Sudan (1994-2002)
Opponents Uganda Uganda People's Defence Force
Flag of the SPLAM.svg Sudan People's Liberation Army
Democratic Republic of the Congo Military of DR Congo
United Nations MONUC[2]

The Lord's Resistance Army (also Lord's Resistance Movement or Lakwena Part Two) is a sectarian militant group based in northern Uganda.

The group was formed in 1987 and is engaged in an armed rebellion against the Ugandan government in what is now Africa's longest-running conflicts. It is led by Joseph Kony, who proclaims himself the "spokesperson" of God and a spirit medium, primarily of the Holy Spirit, which the Acholi believe can represent itself in many manifestations.[3]

The group is based in apocalyptic Christianity[4][5][6][7][8][9][10], but also is influenced[11] by a blend of Mysticism,[12] and traditional religion,[13] and claims to be establishing a theocratic state based on the Ten Commandments and Acholi tradition.[3][14][15] The LRA is accused of widespread human rights violations, including murder, abduction, mutilation, sexual enslavement of women and children, and forcing children to participate in hostilities.[16]

The LRA operates mainly in northern Uganda, but also in parts of Sudan, Central African Republic and DR Congo.[17][18] The LRA is currently proscribed as a terrorist organization by the United States.[19][20]

Contents

Etymology

The LRA has been known by a number of different names, including the Lord's Army (1987 to 1988) and the Uganda Peoples' Democratic Christian Army (UPDCA) (1988 to 1992) before settling on the current name in 1992. They are also sometimes referred to as Lord's Resistance Movement/Army (LRM/A or LRA/M).

Some academics have included the LRA under the rubric Lakwena Part Two. For simplicity's sake, this article refers to all of these various manifestations as the "Lord's Resistance Army".

History

In 1986 Alice Lakwena established a resistance movement claimed to be inspired by the Holy Spirit of God. She portrayed herself as a prophet who received messages from the Holy Spirit of God. She believed that the Acholi could defeat the government run by Museveni by casting off witchcraft and spiritualism embedded in their culture. According to her messages from God, her followers should cover their bodies with shea nut oil as protection from bullets, never take cover or retreat in battle, and never kill snakes or bees.

Joseph Kony would later preach a similar superstition encouraging soldiers to use oil to draw a cross on their chest as a protection from bullets. During an interview with Jimmie Briggs, Alice Lakwena distanced herself from Kony, claiming that the spirit doesn’t want them to kill civilians or prisoners of war. Meanwhile, Kony gained a reputation as having been possessed by spirits. He became a spiritual figure or a medium. Lakwena scored several key victories on the battlefield and began a march towards Kampala. Kony seized this opportunity to recruit members of the Ugandan People's Democratic Party (UPDA) and Holy Spirit remnants. In 1997, when Lakwena was defeated in Jinja and fled to Kenya, Kony became the leader of the Holy Spirit Mobile Force II.

The Lord's Resistance Army has the distinction of having the youngest soldier, only five years old forced to fight with small arms.[21] At times the government army has also committed abuses, which has benefited Kony's credibility. One of the earliest mass abductions happened in 1987 when the LRA attacked the Sacred Hearts Girls Boarding School in the town of Gulu. They attacked again a year later and have attacked numerous schools since then.[22]

According to UPDF spokesman Lt. Col. Shaban Bantariza, mediation efforts by the Carter Center and the Pope have been spurned by Kony.[23] Recently Invisible Children Inc. has begun a campaign to overthrow Kony and release the child soldiers.[24]

Ideology

The LRA's ideology is disputed amongst academics.[23][25] While most academics and media outlets regard LRA as primarily a Christian militia,[4][5][6][7][8][9][10] the LRA reportedly evokes Acholi nationalism on occasion,[26] but the sincerity of this behavior is considered dubious by some observers.[27][28] During its brief alliance with the Muslim country of Sudan it also claimed to be Islamic as well, an apparent contradiction.[29]

Robert Gersony, in a report funded by United States Embassy in Kampala in 1997, concluded that "the LRA has no political program or ideology, at least none that the local population has heard or can understand."[30] The International Crisis Group has stated that "the LRA is not motivated by any identifiable political agenda, and its military strategy and tactics reflect this."[31]

IRIN comments that "the LRA remains one of the least understood rebel movements in the world, and its ideology, as far as it has one, is difficult to understand."[23] UPDF Lt. Col. Shaban Bantariza has said that "you can't tell whether they want political power. Its only aim is to terrorize and brutalize the civilian population and to loot their homes."[23]

During an interview with IRIN, Vincent Otti was asked about the LRA's vision of an ideal government, to which he responded

"Lord’s Resistance Army is just the name of the movement, because we are fighting in the name of God. God is the one helping us in the bush. That’s why we created this name, Lord’s Resistance Army. And people always ask us, are we fighting for the [biblical] Ten Commandments of God. That is true – because the Ten Commandments of God is the constitution that God has given to the people of the world. All people. If you go to the constitution, nobody will accept people who steal, nobody could accept to go and take somebody’s wife, nobody could accept to innocently kill, or whatever. The Ten Commandments carries all this."[15]

In a speech delivered by James Alfred Obita, former Secretary For External Affairs And Mobilisation, and Leader of Delegation of the Lord's Resistance Army, he adamantly denied that the LRA was "just an Acholi thing" and stated that claims made by the media and Museveni administration asserting that the LRA is a "group of Christian fundamentalists with bizarre beliefs whose aim is to topple the Museveni regime and replace it with governance based on the Bible's ten commandments" were false.[32]

In the same speech, Obita also stated that the LRA's objectives are:

  1. To remove dictatorship and stop the oppression of our people.
  2. To fight for the immediate restoration of competitive multi-party democracy in Uganda.
  3. To see an end to gross violation of human rights and dignity of Ugandans.
  4. To ensure the restoration of peace and security in Uganda.
  5. To ensure unity, sovereignty and economic prosperity beneficial to all Ugandans
  6. To bring to an end to the repressive policy of deliberate marginalization of groups of people who may not agree with the LRA ideology.

Troop strength

The government of Uganda claims the LRA has only 500 or 1,000 soldiers in total, but other sources estimate that there could be as many as 3,000 soldiers, along with about 1,500 women and children.[1] The bulk of the soldiers fighting for the LRA are children. According to Livingstone Sewanyana, executive director of the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative, Yoweri Museveni was the first to use child soldiers in this conflict.[33] Since the LRA first started fighting in 1986 they may have forced well over 10,000 boys and girls into combat, often killing family neighbors and school teachers in the process.[34]

Many of these children were put on the front lines so the casualty rate for these children have been high. They have often used children to fight because they are easy to replace by raiding schools or villages.[22] The soldiers are organised into independent brigades of 10 or 20 soldiers.[1] Sudan has provided military assistance to the LRA, in response to Uganda lending military support to the SPLA.[35]

ICC arrest warrants

Number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), and IDPs as a percentage of total population in northern Ugandan districts (based on data from 2004).
Lord's Resistance Army
insurgency
Ugandan districts affected by Lords Resistance Army.png
Events

1987–1994
1994–2002
2002–2005
Juba talks
2008–
Related articles

Lord's Resistance Army
Holy Spirit Movement
Alice Auma
Joseph Kony

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants on 8 July and 27 September 2005 against Joseph Kony, his deputy Vincent Otti, and LRA commanders Raska Lukwiya, Okot Odhiambo and Dominic Ongwen. The five LRA leaders are charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder, rape, sexual slavery, and enlisting of children as combatants. The warrants were filed under seal; public redacted versions were released on 13 October 2005.[36]

These were the first warrants issued by the ICC since it was established in 2002. Details of the warrants were sent to the three countries where the LRA is active: Uganda, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The LRA leadership has long stated that they would never surrender unless they were granted immunity from prosecution; so the ICC order to arrest them raised concerns that the insurgency would not have a negotiated end.[37]

On 30 November 2005 LRA deputy commander, Vincent Otti, contacted the BBC announcing a renewed desire among the LRA leadership to hold peace talks with the Ugandan government. The government expressed skepticism regarding the overture but stated their openness to peaceful resolution of the conflict.[38]

On 2 June 2006, Interpol issued five wanted person red notices to 184 countries on behalf of the ICC, which has no police of its own. Kony had been previously reported to have met Vice President of Southern Sudan Riek Machar.[39][40] The next day, Human Rights Watch reported that the regional Government of Southern Sudan had ignored previous ICC warrants for the arrest of four of LRA's top leaders, and instead supplied the LRA with cash and food as an incentive to stop them from attacking southern Sudanese citizens.[41]

At least two of the five wanted LRA leaders have since been killed: Lukwiya on 12 August 2006[42] and Otti in late 2007.[43] Odhiambo was rumoured to have been killed in April 2008.[44]

In 2006 a United Nations team of U.S.-trained Guatemalan Special Ops soldiers were sent to assassinate Kony, but instead all of them were killed by Kony's men.[45]

Massacres

Pre-2008

This list is not complete.

In January, 1997 the LRA attacked Lamwo, in northern Uganda. More than 400 people are killed, and approximately 100,000 people are displaced.[46]

In May, 2002 the LRA attacked Eastern Equatoria in Sudan. An estimated 450 people were killed, and witnesses state some villagers were forced to walk off a cliff.[46]

2008

On December 25, 2008, the LRA massacred 189 people and abducted 120 children during a concert celebration sponsored by the Catholic church in Faradje, Democratic Republic of Congo, continuing the attack on December 26. Shortly afterwards, the LRA struck three additional communities: 75 people killed in a church north of Dungu, and the church burned; 48 people killed in Bangadi, and 213 people in Gurba.[47] The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimated the death toll as 189 in Faradje, Doruma and Gurba.[47] However, Caritas International estimated the number of victims to be about 500.

On December 28, 2008, the Ugandan army published details of the Doruma attack, accusing LRA rebels of hacking to death 45 people in a church there.[48] An aid official speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity confirmed the December 26 massacre, saying the killings took place in a Catholic church in the Doruma area, around 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the Sudanese border. "There are body parts everywhere. Inside the church, the entrance and in the church compound," the aid official said. "We got information the rebels cut 45 people into pieces," added army spokesman Captain Chris Magezi.[48]

Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon stated that he "condemns in the strongest possible terms the appalling atrocities reportedly committed by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in recent days".[49] Caritas International said that it was "shocked by its staff reports" of the massacres.[50]

Congo's army, along with armed forces from Uganda and Sudan, launched raids against LRA rebels in December 2008 intended to disarm the LRA and end its rebellion. The raids were unsuccessful.

2009

Efforts by the Ugandan army in early 2009 ('Operation Lightning Thunder') to inflict a final military defeat on the LRA were not fully successful. Rather, the US-supported operation resulted in brutal revenge attacks by the LRA, with over 1,000 people killed in Congo and Sudan. The military action in the DRC did not result in the capture or killing of Kony, who remained elusive.[18]

In December, 2009, the LRA massacred "at least" 321 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to a BBC investigation published in March, 2010 (see Makombo massacre).[46] The deaths were verified by the Red Cross and Human Rights Watch. Victims were hacked or battered to death, and survivors were made to carry loads for their attackers. At least eighty children of both sexes were captured, the boys as fighters, the girls to be sex slaves for the LRA members.[46] The sixty-mile (95 km) round-trip series of attacks began December 13, 2009, in Mabanga Ya Talo, and continued until December 18, traveling southeast down to the village of Tapili and back northwest again to the point of origin — a crossing over to the LRA camps on the north side of the Uele River near Mavanzonguda.[46]

2010

In May 2010 it was reported that an investigation was being undertaken by a senior UN official over the massacre of over 100 people in February 2010.[51] The massacre is said to have been carried out by Ugandan rebels in Kpanga, near DR Congo's border with the Central African Republic and Southern Sudan.[51]

See also

  • Children of War
  • Alice Auma
  • Holy Spirit Movement
  • Cases before the International Criminal Court
  • Uganda People's Defence Force
  • Guerrilla warfare
  • Invisible Children
  • uNight
  • Uganda Conflict Action Network
  • Global Youth Partnership for Africa
  • GuluWalk
  • Global Night Commute
  • War/Dance
  • laboura Farms

Bibliography

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 IRIN (2 June 2007). UGAND-SUDAN: Ri-Kwangba: meeting point . Retrieved 10 June 2008.
  2. ↑ ReliefWeb » Document » Guatemalan blue helmet deaths stir Congo debate
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Ruddy Doom and Koen Vlassenroot (1999). Kony's message: A new Koine? The Lord's Resistance Army in northern Uganda. 98. Oxford Journals / Royal African Society. pp. 5–36. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 http://afraf.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/98/390/5 "THE LORD'S RESISTANCE ARMY IN NORTHERN UGANDA"
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19960401&slug=2321945 "Christian Cult Killing, Ravaging In New Uganda"
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Ten Commandments of God: Mass Suicide in Uganda
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/non-fiction/article3449276.ece
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Christian Rebels Wage a War of Terror in Uganda - NYTimes.com
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Museveni refuses to hand over rebel leaders to war crimes court | World news | The Guardian
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Ugandan Rebel Reaches Out to International Court - washingtonpost.com
  11. ↑ Haynes, Jeffrey (2002). Politics in the developing world. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 121. ISBN 978-0631225560. 
  12. ↑ McLaughlin, Abraham (2004-12-31). "The End of Uganda's Mystic Rebel?". Christian Science Monitor. Global Policy Forum. http://www.globalpolicy.org/intljustice/wanted/2004/1231mystic.htm. Retrieved 2009-03-04. 
  13. ↑ Muth, Rachel (2008-05-08). "Child Soldiers in the Lord’s Resistance Army: Factors in the Rehabilitation and Reintegration Process". George Mason University: 23. http://hdl.handle.net/1920/3005. Retrieved 2009-03-04. 
  14. ↑ Martin, Gus (2006). Understanding Terrorism: Challenges, Perspectives, and Issues. SAGE. pp. 196–197. ISBN 978-1412927222. 
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 "Interview with Vincent Otti, LRA second in command" and " A leadership based on claims of divine revelations" in IRIN In Depth, June 2007
  16. ↑ International Criminal Court (14 October 2005). Warrant of Arrest unsealed against five LRA Commanders. Retrieved 2 June 2009.
  17. ↑ JAMES C. MCKINLEY JR. (April 1, 1996). "Uganda's Christian Rebels Revive War in North". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE2DA1039F932A35757C0A960958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1. 
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 "Uganda to continue Congo LRA hunt". BBC. March 5, 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7926173.stm. 
  19. ↑ Philip T. Reeker (December 6, 2001). "Statement on the Designation of 39 Organizations on the USA PATRIOT Act's �Terrorist Exclusion List�". U.S. Department of State. http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2001/6695.htm. 
  20. ↑ Lord's Resistance Army rebels kill 10 in Central African Republic | World news | guardian.co.uk
  21. ↑ Singer, Peter W. Children at War. (2006) p.20; second youngest is 6 and third is 8 per investigation by Henric Haggstrom.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Jimmie Briggs "Innocents Lost: When Child soldiers Go to war" 2005 p. 105-144
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 23.3 "UGANDA: Nature, structure and ideology of the LRA". IRIN. http://www.irinnews.org/InDepthMain.aspx?InDepthId=23&ReportId=65772. Retrieved 2009-03-18. 
  24. ↑ Invisible Children - Invisible Children
  25. ↑ "Meeting Report: Day 3". Africa, 2007 Consultation. Kibuye, Rwanda: Quaker Network for the Prevention of Violent Conflict. 2007-03-29. http://www.quaker.org/peace-network/eighth1.htm. Retrieved 2009-03-18. 
  26. ↑ Fraser, Ben (2008-10-14). "Uganda's aggressive peace". Eureka Street 18 (21): 41–42. http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=8936. Retrieved 2009-03-18. 
  27. ↑ Chatlani, Hema. "Uganda: A Nation In Crisis" (PDF). California Western International Law Journal 37: 284. http://californiawestern.edu/content/journals/Chatlani.pdf. Retrieved 2009-03-18. 
  28. ↑ Ghana, C. (2002-08-09). "Don't Praise The Lord". Africa Confidential 43 (16). 
  29. ↑
  30. ↑ Gersony, Robert (August 1997). "Results of a field-based assessment of the civil conflicts in northern Uganda" (PDF). The anguish of northern Uganda. Kampala, Uganda: USAID. http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNACC245.pdf. Retrieved 2009-03-18. 
  31. ↑ "Northern Uganda: Understanding and solving the conflict". ICG Africa Report N°77. Nairobi/Brussels: International Crisis Group. 2004-04-14. http://www.up.ligi.ubc.ca/ICGreport.pdf. Retrieved 2009-03-18. 
  32. ↑ Obita, James. "The Official presentation of the Lord's Resistance Movement/Army (LRA/M)". A Case for National Reconciliation, Peace, Democracy and Economic Prosperity for All Ugandans. Kacoke Madit. http://www.km-net.org.uk/conferences/KM97/papers_htm/casefor.htm. Retrieved 2009-03-15. 
  33. ↑ Jimmie Briggs "Innocents Lost: When Child soldiers Go to war" 2005 p. 109-110
  34. ↑ Peter W. Singer "Children at War" 2006 p.20 Peter Singer puts the number over 14,000 children Jimmie Briggs only cites 10,000 + children.
  35. ↑ Otunnu, Ogenga (August 1998). "The Path to Genocide in Northern Uganda". Refuge 17 (3): 7. https://pi.library.yorku.ca/ojs/index.php/refuge/issue/view/980. Retrieved 2009-03-04. 
  36. ↑ Situation in Uganda, International Criminal Court
  37. ↑ Court moves against Uganda rebels, BBC, 7 October 2005
  38. ↑ Ugandans welcome rebel overture, BBC, 30 November 2005
  39. ↑ Journeyman Pictures : short films : Meeting Joseph Kony
  40. ↑ Interpol push for Uganda arrests, BBC News, 2 June 2006
  41. ↑ Regional Government Pays Ugandan Rebels Not to Attack, Human Rights News, 3 June 2006
  42. ↑ International Criminal Court (7 November 2006). Statement by the Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo on the confirmation of the death of Raska LukwiyaPDF. Retrieved 10 June 2008.
  43. ↑ BBC News (23 January 2008). Uganda's LRA confirm Otti death. Retrieved 10 June 2008.
  44. ↑ BBC News (14 April 2008). Ugandan LRA rebel deputy 'killed' . Retrieved 10 June 2008.
  45. ↑ Scott Johnson (2009-05-16). "Hard Target". Newsweek. http://www.newsweek.com/id/197885/page/2. 
  46. ↑ 46.0 46.1 46.2 46.3 46.4 Plaut, .[1]
  47. ↑ 47.0 47.1 Mukasa, Henry (2008-12-30). "Uganda: Kony Rebels Kill 400 Congo Villagers". allAfrica.com. http://allafrica.com/stories/200812310002.html. Retrieved 2009-01-03. 
  48. ↑ 48.0 48.1 BBC News (29 December 2008). Ugandan LRA 'in church massacre'.
  49. ↑ Ugandan rebels kill 400 in DR Congo: charity, Yahoo, 30-12-2008
  50. ↑ "Congo-Kinshasa: Caritas Reports Christmas Day Massacre by Ugandan rebels". allAfrica.com. 2008-12-30. http://allafrica.com/stories/200812310101.html. Retrieved 2009-01-03. 
  51. ↑ 51.0 51.1 BBC News - Top UN man investigates massacre claims in DR Congo

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