Worldfocus

Guards at a displaced persons’ camp in Kitgum try to protect its residents from LRA attacks.

This week, Uganda, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo mounted a joint offensive against Uganda’s anti-government rebel group, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), in northeastern Congo. The LRA’s leader, Joseph Kony, is hiding in a Congolese jungle after fleeing Uganda.

Twenty-two years of fighting between the LRA and the Ugandan government have killed thousands and displaced millions. In recent months, the rebels have attacked Congolese civilians and abducted hundreds of people.

Glenna Gordon is a writer and photojournalist based in Kampala, Uganda. She writes at World Politics Review that regional cooperation far beyond this week’s offensive is needed to resolve the situation lest LRA violence further destabilize other countries.

LRA: Everyone’s Problem, No One’s Responsibility

Rumors abound about Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army, a group that has terrorized northern Uganda for the past 20 years and now is thought to be active in Congo, Sudan and Chad. [...]

One reason so many rumors persist is to fill the void left by a paucity of verifiable information. Another reason is to fill the void left by the paucity of the LRA’s agenda.

While few rebel groups have what would be considered a sound ideology, the LRA has a particularly dubious set of beliefs. Among other things, they believe they are protecting the Acholi people of northern Uganda from a government run by southerners. Yet the LRA’s actions are a big reason nearly 2 million Acholis have lived in internally displaced persons camps for decades. 

The Ugandan government has contributed to the problem as well. Unable — or perhaps unwilling — to defeat the LRA militarily, it called on the International Criminal Court to issue a warrant for Kony’s arrest. A ceasefire was subsequently announced, and Kony agreed to sign the preliminary framework for a peace treaty. 

But on the dozen occasions when he has been set to sign the final deal, Kony has balked, arguing that he wants the ICC warrant removed before he’ll consider coming out of the bush. [...]

The people of northern Uganda are clearly still suffering, living in claustrophobic IDP camps with few opportunities for education or even self-sufficiency. But on the other hand, the LRA has not attacked a village in Uganda since 2005. 

Instead, they’ve been active in Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, and Central African Republic. Where once there were horrible tales in Uganda of children kidnapped and forced to kill their family members, of innocent villagers mutilated, and of entire swathes of countryside destroyed, those stories are now surfacing in other countries.

By letting this conflict go on for so long, Museveni, the ICC and every player in the Uganda peace negotiations have contributed to allowing Kony to operate as before — so long as he doesn’t do it in Uganda.

Kony was Uganda’s problem. Now, he’s become Central Africa’s problem. Of course, everyone’s problem risks becoming no one’s responsibility.

To read more, see the original post. 

For more on the LRA’s actions and its use of child soldiers, see Wide Angle’s “Lord’s Children.”

The views expressed by contributing bloggers do not reflect the views of Worldfocus or its partners.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user John & Mel Kots under a Creative Commons license.