2. Situation
• The LRA, or Lord’s Resistance Army, is a religious extremist group located
in northern Uganda, south Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, and the Central African Republic.
• Their mission initially was to rebel against the central Ugandan
government, due to marginalization on the Acholi people to help improve
the lives of south Ugandan ethnic groups.
• The LRA was originally founded by Alice Lakwena in 1986. She believed
that the Acholi people could overthrow the Ugandan president, Museveni.
• Now, their main goal is to form a theocratic state, or a state governed by
divine rights and rulings, based on the Ten Commandments and the Acholi
tradition.
5. Joseph Kony
• Joseph Kony began to form the Lord’s Resistance Army, or the LRA, loosely
based off of the teachings of Alice Lakwena. Unlike Lakwena, Joseph Kony
believe in the use of violence as a means to achieve their goal.
• Lakwena made it very clear that she was in no way affiliated with Joseph
Kony, and she believed that the spirit did not want them to kill civilians.
• Kony tried to compare himself to Lakwena to gain followers, and even
went as far as to say that they were cousins.
• On April 1, 1987, after claiming that he had been possessed by spirits and
became a spiritual medium, Kony gained many followers in his local village
of Odek.
• A few days later, Kony recruited members of the Uganda National
Liberation Front, and then managed to carry out a raid on the Ugandan
city of Gulu.
7. Kony Gains Power
• In 1988, after the Holy Spirit Movement was defeated, Kony took this
opportunity to recruit an remnants of the party into the LRA.
• The LRA began to attack civilian villages in order to gain supplies and to
recruit soldiers.
• In the mid-1990’s, the LRA gained the support of the Sudanese
government as a form of retaliation against the Ugandan government.
This allowed the LRA to strengthen and grow.
• Since then, the LRA has lost any sense of purpose and has continued
attacking villages, plundering their goods, and stealing their children to be
used as child soldiers. LRA soldiers continue to rape, mutilate, and kill
many civilians across Southern Uganda and other parts of Africa.
• It is estimated that the LRA has caused the displacement of 95% of the
Acholi people. Approximately 60,000-100,000 child soldiers have been
taken, and approximately 100,000 civilians have been displaced.
9. What Can Be Done?
• The U.S. government has ignored this issue for quite some time. It was only just
recently brought to the media’s attention when it was popularized by the Kony
2012 Movement.
• Since then, local support in the U.S. has risen and on May 12, 2012, LRA
Commander Caeser Achellam was captured. This was a significant milestone in
the fight against the LRA, but more can be done.
• We propose that the U.S., Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Sudan
governments place many small infantry units around the most affected areas by
the LRA. Their main job would not be to seek out the LRA as has been previously
attempted, but merely to stop the LRA from continuing to attack villages. If the
village were to be attacked by the LRA, they would be ready to defend the civilians
and capture any LRA members involved.
• Although this method will take time, it is one of very few methods that has not
been tried yet.
10. What Can Be Done?
• Another possible option would be for the previously stated countries to supply
local villages with firearms and teach them how to use them. This would allow
soldiers to aid many more villages than the previous method of being stationed in
only one village.
• Possible cons involved in this method is that the civilians may not be able to
affectively use these firearms in a moment of need, and if captured, they would be
supplying the LRA with more firearms.
• This method is, however, better than sitting back and doing nothing about.
Whatever the case is, we need to continue to send help to Uganda and other
affected African countries. The LRA will not stop on their own; they need
someone to intervene.
11. Child Soldier Rehabilitation
• In several areas in South Africa, child soldier rehabilitation
centers are being set-up. This is a great effort to aid the
people that are probably the most affected by the LRA.
• These child soldiers, many whom have had to kill their own
family, have been through so much and this effort is the first
step in transforming Africa into a more peaceful country.
• This next video will explain more about these Child
Rehabilitation Centers.
