Lords Resistance Army and Conflict and Peace Building in Uganda

During the imperialism in Africa, a lot of different events happened in Uganda. The imperialism had effects on the country, some of the effects benefited the country, and some did not. Mostly, it did not benefit the country. The British did most things to only benefit themselves, and did not care about what happened to the citizens of Uganda. The British only wanted power over the country, and to make a profit.

In over twenty-five countries, many children are abducted and beaten into submission to be used in real life wars. A very famous viral video called “Kony 2012” was trying to get people to help catch the Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony, who has kidnapped thousands of children over the past twenty years. Child soldiers are defined as: children under the age of 18 who are recruited by state or non-state armed groups and used as fighters, cooks, suicide bombers, human shields, messengers, spies, or even for sexual purposes.

This warlord of Uganda is just another Hitler of our world. Kony is a man with a mission to stay in power. He will do all he can to maintain a superior status.Kony has not committed these crimes himself, but has become the rising leader for Lord's Resistance Army

In 1966, a military coup established a republic that was increasingly dominated by the Tutsi. As time went on, an “informal group of Tutsi politicians and army officers…were particularly noted for their aggressive ambition” (Russell 2015:439). The group of politicians were known as the ‘Groupe de Bururi’. They opposed their enemies want to restore the monarchy with an exiled king, Ntare V. When Ntare returned to the country in March 1972, he was arrested and charged with leading an army to overthrow the established republic. In response, the government received a threat about an uprising in the Bururi province.

It is approximated that about 40% of all child soldiers are located in Africa, and out of an estimated 300,000 child soldiers globally, around 250,000 of them are active in Africa. "According to the 2008 Global Report on Child Soldiers by the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, the LRA has abducted about 25,000 children since the 1980s." (www.accord.org.za) The percentage of children that are used as soldiers in Africa is shocking. Child soldiers in Africa are not fighting for the freedom of their country, though. The majority of children recruited as child soldiers are fighting alongside rebel groups who hope to take control of their country. These children do whatever the rebels tell them to do, and a failure to comply often results

The Kony 2012 video viewed by nearly 100 million people stunned the world and brought back into focus the egregious use of children as combatants. The blatant terror and savagery taking place in a moral vacuum of sorts, where thousands of children are maimed, raped, killed and abused is a microcosm of a problem afflicting many parts of the world. It even spurred some U.S. Senators to act upon the decades of crimes against humanity committed by the notorious Lord’s Resistance Army in Northern

The adverse effects of military occupation in Uganda can be traced back to the beginning of colonization. European countries like Britain, Belgium, and France all rushed into Africa at the end of the 19th Century trying to get their slice of Africa. Some nations were worse than others, but the two common themes that tied African imperialism together were racism and exploitation. For decades, the Ugandan people were under rulers that exploited them and treated them as if they could not be trusted in society. The torn society of Uganda has been affected by years, even decades, of war and militarized occupation. They face a corrupt government, broken economy, and execrable poverty. Military occupation of land is a powerful tool

by Hutus. This event has had an everlasting effect on the African country, resulting in many

The Lord’s Resistance Army is one of the longest running and most violent armed groups in Africa. The US State Department reports that it has been active since 1986, it was formed in northern Uganda to fight Uganda’s government. It has a sordid and violent history including the forcible recruitment of over 66,000 children for both sex slaves and child soldiers. The longevity and continued activity of the Lord’s Resistance Army can be attributed to its leader, Joseph Kony.

Over 1.8 million people in Northern Uganda have been displaced, in fear of attacks from the Lord’s Resistance Army, into internally displaced people’s camps. This extremist group has been causing havoc in Northern Uganda by ransacking villages, kidnapping children, and brutally killing innocent people. Their violent acts are fueled by their radical religious beliefs. The notorious Joseph Kony founded the Lord’s Resistance Army, also know as LRA, in 1986, with the intentions of creating a new government based on the Ten Commandments. Since 1986, he has created a powerful army of almost 3,000 soldiers, most of them who are children. They specifically target the Acholi people, an ethnic tribe located in Northern Uganda and some parts of Sudan.

The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) is a rebel group that abducts children to use as fighters and sex slaves; it attacks schools, hospitals, and communities in Uganda, South Sudan, Central African Republic, and DRC. Invisible Children is an organization that protects children who are in danger of the LRA in central Africa. It has created the LRA Crisis Tracker to locate and broadcast the LRA’s attacks. Also, they use Early Warning Network radios that allow DRC and Central African Republic communities to notify others of LRA attacks. Throughout the years, Invisible Children has convinced many LRA members to surrender by giving them instructions to safe reporting sites. It established Community Defection Committees to heal victims of the LRA, such as child soldiers. With the help of NGOs and programs that ensure security and children’s rights, humankind can end the recruitment of child soldiers. These solutions should be introduced to more vulnerable communities to prevent disaster and preserve the safety of

A war in Darfur that had terrible types of war crimes and genocide began to appear in US media and write the Darfur war . american and the the western culture were shocked by these stories and started a change to stop the fighting. the conflict in Darfur became one of the most mistaken conflicts . That's because the activist campaigns exaggerated it in order to push the movement forward . Such difference helped the media effort, but it arguably hurt the very people who actually needed the help. Activists inflated death rates, often claiming that more people died rather than how many real Darfurians had died. What they usually forgot was that the most of the casualties occurred as a result of disease and and not enough food. which makes the

The pain and suffering of the families in Uganda reach to the hearts of people throughout the world. Not only are these children lost to their families physically, but are stolen from their hearts and memories as well. Kony, dreadful leader of his group, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), have caused pain and suffering to hundreds of men, women and children over the course of around 30 years (Russel, 2015). Kony and his followers of forcibly armed child soldiers have abducted, murdered, and tortured adults as well as other children in or from their homes (Russel, 2015). In 2012 a campaign was launched to bring awareness to Kony and bring him down (Russel, 2015). It was a huge hit almost instantaneously, but Kony is still out there. If Kony is

Uganda is subject to armed fighting among hostile ethnic groups, rebels, armed gangs, militias, and various government forces that extend across its borders;

When I think about conflict in Northern Uganda, I vividly recall the distant look and aloofness that my childhood neighbor and friend, Grace, always donned. My primary school was entirely a boarding school affair. We left the comfort of our parents’ homes to move to an entirely new community, living with other children my age, 7 years, sharing, caring and looking out for each other. Yet, deep down, each of us had their untold story. Grace’s story, which she told, piece by piece, a little unsure whether she could trust me, was different. She talked about one of the biggest and longest conflicts was in Northern Uganda, a civil war by the Lord’s Resistance Army led by Kony .They carried out widespread abduction, mutilation and kidnapping of children who became child soldiers, sex slaves and child mothers. Some were civilians with fresh bullet wounds who had been caught in a rebel ambush; others were land mine victims. Her mother was a nurse at Gulu Regional Referral Hospital, so she spent most of her childhood at the medical quarters. Each time the ambulance arrived at the hospital; local residents would rush to the hospital gate to observe in sorrow as dying victims were rolled into the surgery ward. Watching this daily routine was the beginning of her distrust in humanity and social withdrawal. I had no help to offer besides a listening ear.