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LORD

RESISTANCES
ARMY

STEPHANIE WONG Y.10 HOPE

CHAPTER 1

5 DIMENSIONS OF A CONFLICT
Dimension 1: Who or how many parties are involved?
Dimension 2: What are the sources of conflict? What is it over?
Dimension 3: Relationships between/among conflicting parties.
Dimension 4: What is the history of the conflict?
Dimension 5: How do we choose to deal with the conflict?

Section 1

Facts about LR A
1. After 25 years the Lords
Resistance Army are the
longest continually operating
criminal group to commit such
crimes in the world.
2. In the past two decades it is
estimated that Joseph Kony
and the Lords Resistance
Army has been responsible for
the abduction of between
20,000 and 60,000 children.
3. The Lords Resistance Army
has been found to physically
disfigure victims, rape women,
massacre villages, and abduct
and force children to kill their
own family members.
4. The Lords Resistance Army is
currently estimated to have as
few as 300 active members.
5. Joseph Kony became leader of
the Lords Resistance
Army (LRA) in 1988. He was
in his mid-20s.
6. It is estimated that child
soldiers make up to 90 percent
of the Lords Resistance Army.
7. The Joseph Kony
documentary, KONY 2012,
tallied more than 45 million
views after being online just
three days.

Joseph Kony
Joseph Rao Kony, born in 1961 in Uganda, He is
the head of Lords Resistance Army, a Ugandan
guerrilla group which was supposed to be a group
to overthrow the bias government who treats the
Acholi people unfairly and then governing the
country of Uganda with the Ten Commandments
and local Acholi traditions. However, when he
lost all of his supporters, he began to abduct
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children and training them to become armed


children soldiers, and also sex-slaves. He is being
accused of war crimes and crimes against
humanity. He claims that he is the spokesperson
of God and a spirit medium who has been visited
by 13 spirits.

Section 2

Dimension 1
Who or how many parties are involved?
In the LRA insurgency conflict, there are 9 parties involved.
The alliance of the LRA from 1994-2002 is Sudan, where Joseph
Kony found support from the president of Sudan, Omar AlBashir. The country of Sudan provided them weapons and daily
needs.
However, he lost support from Sudan in 2002 and became
opponents with Sudan, Ugandas People Defense, Sudan Peoples
LIberation, Military of the D.R. Congo, Central African Armed
Forces, UN Stabilization Mission in the D.R. Congo, United States
Army and the African Union.
There are two types of conflicts involved in the LRA insurgency
conflict: International conflict and Global conflict.
The conflict itself is starting to make people from all over the world
to raise awareness since the short film produced by the charity
organization, Invisible Children was
released. People from all nations
made Kony famous through the
Kony 2012 Night Swept on April
20th, 2012.
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Section 3

Dimension 2
What are the sources of conflict? What is it
over?
The conflict originally fights over the value of freedom in Uganda
and the group started in 1980s when a woman named Alice
Lakwena claimed that the Holy Spirits has ordered her to
overthrow the Ugandan government, when the government was
being accused of treating the Acholi people in the North of Uganda
unfairly. However Lakwena and the group lost the war against the
government and Lakwena was exiled.
In 1986, Joseph Kony rebranded the group as Lords Resistance
Army and initially stated that the LRAs
mission was to overthrow the
government and rule Uganda based on
the Ten Commandments. However when
Kony lost the battle, he began to take in
innocent children and turning them into
sex-slaves and child-soldiers, killing
innocent civilians in different villages. 1

1. "The

Lord's Resistance Army." War Child. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Sept.


2012. <http://www.warchild.org.uk/issues/the-lords-resistancearmy>.

Section 4

Dimension 3
There are many LRA members in Uganda, D.C. Congo, C.A.R. and
South Sudan who continuously loots food and money from civilians,
abductions of civilians, murders of civilians, raging villages,
displacements, etc. There are forces that often encounters with LRA
members, like police, military, securities, etc.

Relationships between/among conflicting


parties.
The climate between LRA and other parties are intense and extreme.
While different forces from different countries are trying to stop the
LRA, the LRA is spreading all over the world and not stopping. The
LRA are resistance towards the outside world, suspicious, hostile, and
the relationships between other parties are emotionally tense.

The relationship that both side is not valued equally. While the
religious and political leaders are trying to persuade Joseph Kony, his
top commanders and the whole of LRA to surrender, Kony and his
army would not show up in any of the peace negotiation ceremonies.
He would propose peace in order for his army to have a time to regain
strength and would attack again.

The parties come to the conflict with equal power, however the LRA has
a strong army consist of only 250 soldiers, but their destructive power
is disproportionally large.
There is no party who controls the resources and the decision-making.
Many countries, religious and political leaders has sent representatives
and peace negotiator to make peace with Joseph Kony and his army,
however in all 5 times of the peace making ceremony, Kony did not
appear.
The LRA make a huge impact on the people of Uganda, D.C. Congo,
C.A.R., and South Sudan. Its destruction power is disproportionally
large and continues abductions of civilians including young children,

either putting them in hostility, captivity or training them to


become armed soldiers or sex-slaves.
5

In order to regain peace to the nation and to stop the LRA, Kony must make peace with the leaders and countries that are involved.
Since Kony grew up in Uganda, he would know a lot about Ugandas weak government, geographical advantages, etc. And with the support from
Sudan before, Kony understands things from Sudan which will help him continue to cause chaos. Different nations and people all around the world
knows about this conflict because of the campaign which was organized by Invisible Children called Kony 2012. It is a short film created by
Invisible Children, Inc., authors of Invisible Children, and released on March 5, 2012. The film's purpose is to promote the charity's "Stop Kony"
movement to make Ugandan cult and militia leader, indicted war criminal and International Criminal Court fugitive Joseph Kony globally known in
order to have him arrested by December 2012, the time when the campaign expires. 2
The relationship does not matter to the LRA, however does matter to the other parties because if the relationship is very intense then they might not
be able to negotiate with the LRA, which may cause even more abductions, lootings, killings.
Map 1: LRA attack from LRACrisisTracker.com

LRA attacks in the weeks of September 2nd, 2012 - September 23rd, 2012.
"Kony 2012." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 19 Sept. 2012.
Web. 29 Sept. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kony_2012>.
2.

Section 5

Dimension 4
What is the history of the conflict?

children and young adults. According to ThereSolve.org, there was mass


abductions targeting at children and young adults in Obo, C.A.R. in
March 2008, abducting 73 people and in Duru, D.R.C. in September
2008, abducting 248 people. Recently, the LRA have been abducting
adults more than childrens, because the army needs strong adults
capable of carrying heavy loads of looted goods. According to the LRA
Crisis Tracker data, the abduction age rate of first half of 2012 was
70.6% adults.

The duration of the conflict.


This crisis has been continuing for the past 25 years and the LRA is
responsible for Africas longest running armed conflict.
The original parties, includes the LRA and its opponents are still
actively involved in this conflict. The rate of abduction and
displacements by the LRA is increasing everyday, while forces from
different nations continues to force Kony to surrender.

The intensity of the conflict.


The conflict is threatens a lot of lives of the people from the four
countries. After being captivated by the LRA, abductees are tortured
(having their noses, lips and ears cut off, arms broken, etc), beaten or
even murdered by the LRA members. When the adult abductees are
usually beaten, used for carrying heavy goods and then released, the
male children abductees are usually trained to be fighters, forcing them
to torture, kill and rape friends, family and innocent people, and the
female children abductees are being raped and forced as sex-slaves.
This may cause major psychological traumas to the victims.

The frequency of the conflict.


Every week there are fights and gunfires between police and security
forces with the LRA members. Map 2 indicates the amount of LRA
member encounters since January 2012 until September 29th, 2012
(includes LRA members spotted, killed, wounded, etc).
According to map 3 from LRACrisisTracker.com, there have been
already 15 abductions just in the month of August 2012.
Map 4 indicates the abduction rate from September 1st September
29th, 2012.

This conflict is ideologically charged, because after losing a great


amount of support from the local population due to the cruelty. The
original purpose of the LRA was to overthrow the bias government of
Uganda who treated the Acholi people from the North unfairly, however
its purpose now has been an army for Konys personal use and follows

There is no specific periods when the conflict is escalated to severe


levels, however there are sometimes when the LRA mass abducts

his wills. It became a tool for Konys personal enrichment, including his
God-like status amongst his followers.
The perception of the conflict by both those directly involved
and those who witness it but do not feel directly affected by it.
The perceptions of the conflict by the victims are really cruel and cause a
lot of psychological traumas to the victims because of their experiences.
Most of the victims would suffer from the mental scars they have
received from the experience, the problems with reintegrating back into
their communities and even the poor sanitized and poor environments
camps they have to live in. The perceptions of the conflict by the other
nations causes a huge awareness on this conflict and the impacts made
on the lives of the victims, also more and more volunteers are willing to
join different charity organizations which helps the victims of the LRA
conflicts and the forces of different countries are also trying to capture
Joseph Kony and his top commanders.
People view the conflict as serious because it is affecting more and more
innocent civilians including young children. There are many abductees
who are escaping from the captivities and also a number of members of
LRA are surrendering to the forces. Moreover, there have been
numerous attempts of making a peace agreement with the LRA and the
Ugandan government, but every time there was ceremonies like this,
Kony would not appear. It seems that him proposing peace but
withdrawing is a strategy of his for his army to be able to regain strength
and reorganize.

Map 2: Amount of LRA member encounters from LRACrisisTracker.com

LRA member encounters since January 2012 until September 29th, 2012.

Map 3: Abduction Rate from LRACrisisTracker.com

Abduction rate of 15 abductions in the month of August 2012.

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Map 4: Abduction Rate from LRACrisisTracker.com

Abduction Rate in the month of September, 2012 (September 1st - September 29th, 2012).

11

Section 6

Dimension 5
surrender, and either be taken into custody or be sent to
rehabilitation centers.

How do we choose to deal with the conflict?


It is agreed between nations that the most important things they
should achieve now is civilian protection, peaceful surrender and
rehabilitation and reconstruction.
Avoidance.
Joseph Kony withdrew himself from various peace making
ceremonies and continues with his sinful actions. There have not
been any other options for forces to stop the LRA, but to make
peace between the army or capture Kony and other commanders.
Engage in the conflict.
There have been several direct force attacks on the LRA members
whenever one was spotted. This includes when LRA members are
spotted looting goods from civilians, abductions and killings.
From previous examples of the peace agreement issues with Kony
withdrawing each time, the only way to stop this conflict is to
capture Kony and his top commanders or even shoot them
whenever he is spotted, taking down the important commanders of
the army, which may lead chaos to the army itself. The army will
then breakdown and in most cases, the remaining members will
12

APPENDIX
INVESTIGATION PLAN

Bibliography
"Invisible Children Home | Invisible Children." Invisible Children Home. Invisible Children, n.d. Web. 29 Sept. 2012. <http://invisiblechildren.com/>.
"Joseph Kony." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 27 Sept. 2012. Web. 29 Sept. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Kony>.
"Kony 2012." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 19 Sept. 2012. Web. 29 Sept. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kony_2012>.
"Kony 2012." Kony 2012. Invisible Children, n.d. Web. 29 Sept. 2012. <http://www.kony2012.com/>.
KONY 2012: Part II - Beyond Famous. Prod. Invisible Children. YouTube. YouTube, 05 Apr. 2012. Web. 29 Sept. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=c_Ue6REkeTA>.
KONY 2012. Prod. Invisible Children. YouTube. YouTube, 05 Mar. 2012. Web. 29 Sept. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc
"Lord's Resistance Army." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 19 Sept. 2012. Web. 21 Sept. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord's_Resistance_Army>.
"LRA Crisis Tracker." Map. LRA Crisis Tracker. Invisible Children, Digitaria, n.d. Web. 29 Sept. 2012. <http://www.lracrisistracker.com>.
"Resolve." LRA Abduction Patterns: Shifting Away from Building Fighting Capacity with Child Soldiers? N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Sept. 2012. <http://
www.theresolve.org/blog/archives/3071033601>.
"The Lord's Resistance Army." War Child. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2012. < http://www.warchild.org.uk/issues/the-lords-resistance-army >.
Who Is the LRA // Invisible Children. Prod. Invisible Children. YouTube. YouTube, 05 Oct. 2011. Web. 29 Sept. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=vrva2aKW1lU>.

Stephanie Wong
Y.10 Hope 2012 - 2013



xiv

Humanities Conflicts Assessment

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