Uganda's War with Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army
The long journey from War to Peace in Northern Uganda
20 some years of living in Fear of the Joseph Kony and the LRA- Now a new day has come...
War has become a part of life in Northern Uganda.
The North of Uganda had become a warzone. It began with Alice Auma
Lakwena, who inspired thousands of Acholi people to enter into a war
with the government armed with only sticks and stones. Led by the
spirit of a dead Italian Officer – Lakwena claimed to have
supernatural powers, after some initial victories she was defeated by
the government army near the town of Jinja. Inadvertently, this
simple woman turned rebel general, barren in life, gave birth of the war
of wars in Uganda, the clouds of which still hang over Uganda today and
have spilled into other countries such as the DRC, South Sudan and the
Central African Republic
After Alice Lakwena's defeat and subsequent escape to Kenya , Joseph Kony, a supposed cousin of Alice took over the mantle of the spirit of Lakwena who had departed from Alice Lakwena. Unlike Alice Lakwena, who operated by a strict moral code, Joseph Kony created his own where violence became the rule of the day.
Joseph Kony claims to be led by the Holy Spirit, claims to have divine powers but the only power he has, is raw violence against his own the people, the Acholis, against the Langi people, and against the people of the Teso region of Uganda. Joseph Kony, the former altar boy, today inducts boys into in unholy Army of terror, girls are kidnapped as concubines, sex slaves, cooks, forced wives and are taught to kill. There is nothing of the Lord in the Lord’s Resistance Army, even though some reporters call him a Christian, his theology is one of demonic terror, not of brotherly love as demonstrated in Christianity. The observances of Christian or Islamic practices are simply a façade but the reality of either religion is not demonstrated in the day-to-day ways of Joseph Kony and his LRA.
Since 1986, Joseph Kony has held the north in a grip of terror and fear. His methods are brute force, terrifying violence and the power of myth and his invincibility
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30,000 children have been abducted and enlisted through brainwashing and the threat of violence into the LRA. (The figures used can vary from 25,000 to 66,000)
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30,000 some people have been killed as direct action of the LRA. A total of 100,000 died due to direct and indirect actions of the LRA.
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Thousands have been maimed physically with lips, ears, mouths and limbs being cut off since they were seen as traitors or informers. betraying the cause of Joseph Kony.
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2 Million People were displaced either voluntarily or through government action into camps where life was simply hell on earth.
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Countless of children are unaccounted for, dying in combat, or from diseases such as malaria. Many children escaped, 24,000 ex-LRA members have been granted amnesty in Uganda.
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40,000 children became Night Commuters, leaving their villages at night and staying in towns such as Gulu at centers, hospitals, storefronts, verandas. Many of them would be abused during their nightly stay.
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Villages were burned, crops destroyed, livestock taken.
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More schools were closed than remained open during the time of the war causing children never to learn. Schools in camps did not have the resources to do a proper job of teaching children.
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Relief supply convoys were regularly attacked by the LRA curtailing food supplies for the camps and the region in general.
In July of 2006, the LRA and the Ugandan government
signed a cessation of hostilities agreement while peace negotiations we
re
going on between the LRA and Uganda in Juba, South Sudan. The peace
agreement has never been signed and peace-talk negotiations ceased in
2008. However, since the summer of 2006 peace has been back inside of
Uganda. Unfortunately, Joseph Kony simply moved his army terror into South
Sudan, then the Democratic Republic of Congo, also excursions into the
Central African Republic where the same tactics that were used in Uganda
continued.
The peace in Northern Uganda continued even as the Ugandan army attacked Kony’s camps inside of Garamba National Park in the DRC joined by forces from the DRC and South Sudan, but in the aftermath hundreds were murdered by the LRA in revenge killings. (Kony fears the International arrest warrant from the ICC and refuses to sign a peace treaty)
Since July 1996, the following has taken place in the North of Uganda.
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The Internally Displaced People Camps are empty or being emptied and people are returning to their villages and towns. Land disputes have arisen by different people claiming property and land that the refugees had left behind.
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Schools have reopened, even though at times no building is available, children will meet for school in diverse settings, even under trees.
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Compensation for the loss of livestock has been made in some cases. Seeds and seedlings have been given to farmers. Goats were distributed. Beekeeping has become a profitable business.
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People are planting again, tending their livestock and hoping for continued peace.
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Businesses have opened where there was nothing during the war. Banks from Kampala have opened new branches.
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The Mobile Phone companies have expanded their network for coverage in the north.
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The roads have become safe for travel and transportations of goods. Bridges are being restored to use.
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Escapees from the LRA are being rehabilitated and reintegrated into society. A very tough one at times, since often the ex-LRA soldiers killed, maimed, looted in their own villages. (24,000 Ex-LRA members have been given amnesty by the Uganda Amnesty Commission 17,000 of those were combatants. The re-integration process is not an easy one but with some traditional ways in the Acholi area an effort toward healing is made.)
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The government of Uganda is putting money into the rebuilding process, not enough, but a beginning.
Ever so slowly, the north is rebuilding, hospitals are opening, schools have reopened, businesses starting, investors coming. It will take many years for the North to be restored and actually it will take some kind of Marshall Plan. Volunteers are pouring in from abroad to assist in the rebuilding process. It looks hopeful, the absence of a final peace agreement leaves the potential clouds of a new war over Uganda and that brings a sense of sadness. Nevertheless, the north of Uganda has put its foot forward and there is a determination to see the region thrive and grow. The town of Gulu is a bright spot and the town is growing and becoming ever more modern, daily new businesses are opening, even tourism is slowly returning to the North of Uganda…one can only hope that everyone would give peace a chance…from Kampala…jon
More pages on the LRA and Joseph Kony, Alice Lakwena and Child Soldiers
Alice Auma Lakwena: The warrior priestess who led thousands of Acholi warriors into battle with sticks and stones. Joseph Kony was her cousin but the two were very different, Alice Lakwena before her death repeatedly asked Joseph Kony to give up his destructive ways.
Who
is Joseph Kony? Profile and Background of Joseph Kony
and the Child Soldiers of the Lord's Resistance Army. Joseph
Kony has enslaved thousands into becoming child soldiers, made girls
into concubines, displacing millions from their homes in Uganda.
Joseph Kony's
Mother's dying Wish.
Uganda's
Child Soldiers (Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army): 20
some years of children being robbed of their innocence turned into
assailants and murderers by the madman Joseph Kony and his LRA. What was
it like for a child in the LRA? This was first written in 2005.
Catherine Ajok: 13 years in captivity with the LRA, recently set free. A forced wife of Joseph Kony, read her story of being kidnapped one night from her secondary school, her captivity and eventual freedom from being enslaved by Joseph Kony and the LRA.
Richard
Akena: Former Lord's Resistance Army Child Soldier
who escaped and now helps the victim of the LRA conflict in Uganda.
Even though the conflict has ended in Northern Uganda, the wounds of war
both external and internal remain, Richard has invested himself in the
lives of the victims.
Where are the children of the LRA?
Over 30,000 children were abducted and enslaved by the LRA in
northern and then eastern Uganda. The question on the mind of
Ugandans and South Sudanese is this -Where are the Children that were
enslaved by the LRA?
Northern
Uganda - Peace - Give it a Chance It has been a long night
for northern Uganda. The return to the villages and towns is an
adjustment from the Internally displaced camps. It is slowly
happening, there are struggles, but the fruits of the peace brought
about a cessation of hostilities can be seen.
Amnesty for LRA Child Soldiers? What you may not realize 24,000 former LRA members have been given amnesty by the Uganda Amnesty Commission. Find out what traditional ways are used to bring healing to the community.
The Night Commuters of Northern Uganda Every evening they would walk for miles to stay safe from the attacks and abductions of Joseph Kony' Army. Sleeping in the streets, bus parks, schools, hospitals and simply under the awning of store-fronts, doing their homework by the light of gas stations.
Child Soldiers - Victims or Assailants: A look at child soldiers in history, where child soldiers are found with lessons learned from the LRA and Joseph Kony. From Colombia to the Congo, from Afghanistan to Darfur, Child soldiers are a reality.
Background information to the LRA and child soldiers.
Uganda 2009 and Joseph Kony LRA: Where is Joseph Kony? The present situation regarding the war with
the LRA in northern Uganda. What is going on with Joseph Kony and his
LRA? How large is the LRA at this time?
Joseph Kony, is fortunately alive and well inside of the DRC, continuing his rampage of killing and destruction and abduction on the population of the DRC around Garamba National Park.
Joseph Kony LRA News
Updates: Latest updates regarding the LRA, Joseph Kony
and activities of the LRA now in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Joseph Kony is no longer just a menace to Uganda's north, that was bad
enough, now he is terrorizing a region of North Eastern Democratic
Republic of Congo and continuing his path of destruction and death.
It is still not Christmas in Northern Uganda:
Written - Christmas
2006, Peace talks were under way, there was a glimmer of hope.
The people of the north were weary of the future. The cessation of
hostilities agreement had been signed, but it was not known what it
meant and if it would hold. Over the years there had been many
promises, but little fulfillment of them.
It does not feel like Christmas-Joseph Kony-Christmas 2008:
Operation Lightning Thunder began against the LRA on December 14, 2008.
The peace talks have failed, Joseph Kony refusing to sign the treaty due
to his fears regarding the indictments against him by the International
Criminal Court and his impending arrest. He also wants more
clarification on the Amnesty program inside of Uganda and how and if it
would apply to him.
Uganda is more than Idi Amin, Joseph Kony and the LRA:
The images that westerners have of Uganda is amazing. Rarely do
those images reflect the reality of Uganda. People see Uganda as a
dangerous place, they do not see as a country that is thriving in many
areas, as a country that is rebuilding the North of Uganda with the help
of many. They do not see the pearl of Africa, but filter it all
through the lenses of Joseph Kony, Idi Amin, LRA.
Living in a Warzone - Uganda:
Recently I received an email from a woman, that just happened to be from my hometown in the USA, Bellingham, WA. She challenged me to
prove that Uganda had been enjoying peace and that the north was slowly
rebuilding. Her email is indicative of what people in the west,
especially in the USA think is going on. When you search the
internet, you rarely find that Uganda has enjoyed a fragile peace for
over two years.
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The War in Northern Uganda with Joseph Kony - LRA
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