BOOK
The Lord's Resistance Army
Adam Branch | Andrew Mwenda | Kristof Titeca | Sverker Finnström | Mareike Schomerus | Christopher Blattman | Jeannie Annan | Ben Mergelsberg | Sandrine Perrot | Ronald R. Atkinson | Simon Simonse | Willemijn Verkoren | Gerd Junne | Matthew Brubacher | Tim Allen | Koen Vlassenroot
(2010)
Additional Information
Book Details
Abstract
The Lord's Resistance Army is Africa’s most persistent and notorious 'terrorist' group. Led by the mysterious Joseph Kony, it has committed a series of horrific human rights abuses, including massacres and mutilations. Since the mid 1980s, it has abducted tens of thousands of people, including large numbers of children forced to train as fighters. The IC in 2005 issued warrants for Kony and his top commanders, and the United States is backing a military campaign against the group. But the LRA survives, continuing to inspire both fascination and fear.
Authoritative but provocative, The Lord’s Resistance Army provides the most comprehensive analysis of the group available. From the roots of the violence to the oppressive responses of the Ugandan government and the failures of the international community, this collection looks at this most brutal of conflicts in fascinating depth, and includes a remarkable first-hand interview with Kony himself.
Tim Allen is Professor in Development Anthropology at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His publications include the best selling textbook, Poverty and Development (2000), as well as books on ethnic conflict in Europe, media coverage of wars, links between culture and development issues, and mass forced displacement in Africa. In 2005 he directed a six month study on the experiences of people who have been abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda. His latest books have been Trial Justice: The International Criminal Court and the Lord's Resistance Army (Zed 2006), and Complex emergencies and Humanitarian Responses (2009). In addition to academic work, he has worked as a consultant with numerous international organisations, including UNDP, UNICEF, UNRISD, MSF, LWF, Save the Children, World Vision and DFID. He is also a broadcaster and has presented or contributed to numerous radio programmes for the Open University and the BBC.
Koen Vlassenroot is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Ghent, where he also coordinates the Conflict Research Group. He is also the Director of the Central Africa Programme of Egmont, the Royal Institute for International Relations in Brussels.
'For those interested in a critical alternative to the official line from the ICC, this is a collection to read. It brings together a range of scholars, bright and bold, from within and outside the continent, joined by a shared commitment to a future for Africa beyond crime and punishment.'
Mahmood Mamdani, author of Saviours and Survivors: Darfur, Politics and the War on Terror
'The atrocities by the LRA left behind a legacy which will not die. This book gives the true account about the war, with no stone left untouched.'
Adrawa Lawrence Dulu, African Development and Peace Initiative
'Why bad things happen in Africa. ... there are no excuses for Joseph Kony and his bestial 'Christianity', but there are reasons for it rooted in the politics and history of Uganda and its neighbours. This book goes beyond the simplistic media stereotypes to provide the best analysis yet of how these child-abusers continue to defy international justice.'
Geoffrey Robertson, author of Crimes Against Humanity
'This book will be essential reading for anyone interested in the conflict in Uganda and in "terror" more generally.'
David Keen, author of Complex Emergencies
'One could not desire a more comprehensive, wide-ranging yet coherent, deeply informed discussion of the Lord's Resistance Army than the one Allen and Vlassenroot have put together. This volume is more than "essential" and "required". It is utterly brilliant.'
Kevin Dunn, author of Imagining the Congo
'This masterful, long-awaited and much-needed book transcends political agendas and uninformed stereotyping to present an astute and balanced analysis of the Lord's Resistance Army. The skilful assembling of expertise and insight from the key analysts of the LRA into a single publication makes this an essential read for researchers, practitioners, and students seeking to understand the LRA.'
Nana Poku, University of Bradford
'The conflict in northern Uganda has seemingly defied coherent explanation for the past two decades, yet in this insightful, compelling and compassionate book we at last have a definitive work on the strange phenomena that is the Lord's Resistance Army. Every essay here is contributes to our understanding of the political and social forces that have created and sustained Joseph Kony and his followers. If ever a group of international writers have provided an 'insider's account' of an African struggle, then this is surely it.'
David Anderson, University of Oxford
'A fascinating and revealing collection.'
Harry Johnstone, Times Literary Supplement
Table of Contents
Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
---|---|---|---|
About the editors | i | ||
Plates\r | ii | ||
1 Joseph Kony and one of his surviving senior commanders, Okot Odhiambo, posing for photographs in Ri-Kwangba | ii | ||
2 Two young LRA guerrillas take basic commodities and utensils back to their hideout in the DRC’s Garamba jungle | xii | ||
3 Amuru internally displaced persons’ camp | 22 | ||
4 LRA guerrilla soldiers stand guard during a meeting between Vincent Otti and Dr Riek Machar | 24 | ||
5 Consolata Achelem of Unyama displacement camp | 90 | ||
6 Joseph Kony during peace talks at Ri-Kwangba | 92 | ||
7 The family of Raska Lukwiya mourning his death | 186 | ||
8 A returned LRA rebel takes part in a cleansing ceremony | 278 | ||
Maps | viii | ||
Districts of Northern Uganda affected by the LRA up to 2005 | viii | ||
Lord’s Resistance Army main areas of operation, 2002–10 | ix | ||
Location of peace talks and LRA attacks, 2006–09 | x | ||
Introduction | 1 | ||
Historical background on the Uganda/Sudan border | 3 | ||
Uganda after independence | 6 | ||
The Holy Spirit Movement | 7 | ||
Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army | 9 | ||
Anti-insurgency and talks 1988–96 | 11 | ||
Amnesty and ‘Iron Fist’ | 13 | ||
Forced displacement | 14 | ||
Referral to the International Criminal Court | 15 | ||
The current situation | 17 | ||
Acknowledgements | 21 | ||
PART ONE Interpretations of Uganda’s war in the north | 23 | ||
1| Exploring the roots of LRA violence: politicalcrisis and ethnic politics in Acholiland | 25 | ||
Introduction | 25 | ||
Background to crisis | 26 | ||
NRA occupation and the rise of the UPDA | 32 | ||
The Holy Spirit Movement (HSM) | 36 | ||
The Lord’s Resistance Army and anti-civilian political violence | 38 | ||
Conclusion: resolving the crises, ending the war | 43 | ||
2 | Uganda’s politics of foreign aid and violent conflict: the political uses of the LRA rebellion | 45 | ||
Economic reform and political consolidation | 46 | ||
The transformation of the army | 47 | ||
The transformation of rebellion | 48 | ||
Rebellion and the politics of economic reform | 49 | ||
The war and electoral competition | 53 | ||
Dynamics of the rebellion | 55 | ||
Conclusion | 56 | ||
3 | The spiritual order of the LRA | 59 | ||
Introduction | 59 | ||
Strategic functions of the spiritual order in the LRA | 62 | ||
Conclusion: the spiritual order in a dynamic perspective | 71 | ||
4 | An African hell of colonial imagination? The Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda, another story | 74 | ||
The debated background | 77 | ||
Fragments of non-understanding | 79 | ||
Other imaginings of Africa | 80 | ||
When you can do nothing … | 82 | ||
Versions of the reality | 84 | ||
Without closure: global politics at the peripheries? | 88 | ||
PART TWO Experiencing the LRA | 91 | ||
5 | Chasing the Kony story | 93 | ||
Introduction | 93 | ||
The chase | 94 | ||
Agreements and delays | 97 | ||
The road to Ri-Kwangba | 99 | ||
Arrival at the LRA camp | 102 | ||
Getting the news out | 105 | ||
Journalism and abuse of trust | 109 | ||
6 | ‘A terrorist is not a person like me’: an interview with Joseph Kony | 113 | ||
A meeting over breakfast | 113 | ||
What is a terrorist? | 113 | ||
‘We did not kill’ | 116 | ||
‘I did not abduct anybody’ | 118 | ||
‘They want Acholi to remain poor’ | 120 | ||
‘A clean war is known to God only’ | 122 | ||
‘I am not guilty’ | 127 | ||
‘I am a freedom fighter’ | 129 | ||
7 | On the nature and causes of LRA abduction: what the abductees say | 132 | ||
Introduction | 132 | ||
Data: the Survey of War Affected Youth | 133 | ||
The scale and incidence of abduction | 134 | ||
Table 7.1 Self-reported abduction experiences from returned former abductees | 136 | ||
Figure 7.1 Distribution of LRA abductions of males by age of abduction | 138 | ||
Command and control within the LRA | 139 | ||
The strategic value of adolescent abduction | 144 | ||
Figure 7.2 Length of abduction, by age of abduction | 148 | ||
Figure 7.3 Probability that an abductee was rescued (versus escaping) | 149 | ||
Figure 7.4 Probability that an abductee who escaped knew his location at the time of escape | 149 | ||
Figure 7.5 Probability that the youth ‘ever felt allegiance to Kony’ | 150 | ||
Figure 7.6 Probability that the youth ‘ever felt like staying with the LRA’ | 151 | ||
Figure 7.7 Probability that a youth ‘was considered a dependable memberof the group’ | 152 | ||
Figure 7.8 Probability that an abductee was allowed to keep a gun | 152 | ||
Figure 7.9 Probability that the youth reports ever killing (soldiers and civilians) | 153 | ||
Discussion and conclusions | 153 | ||
8 | Between two worlds: former LRA soldiers in northern Uganda | 156 | ||
Introduction | 156 | ||
Fieldwork | 157 | ||
Experience of forced recruitment | 158 | ||
Spiritual beliefs and practices | 159 | ||
Part of the LRA | 162 | ||
Escape | 163 | ||
Back ‘home’ | 164 | ||
Discussion | 166 | ||
Transition into the LRA | 167 | ||
‘Mindless’ violence | 169 | ||
Transition back ‘home’ | 170 | ||
Helpless children? | 171 | ||
Traumatized children? | 172 | ||
Conclusion | 175 | ||
9 | Encountering Kony: a Madi perspective | 177 | ||
PART THREE Peace and justice | 185 | ||
10 | Northern Uganda: a ‘forgotten conflict’, again? The impact of the internationalization of the resolution process | 187 | ||
A late internationalization of the conflict | 188 | ||
From ‘invisible children’ to highly visible teenagers | 188 | ||
A major shift in Uganda’s diplomatic landscape | 190 | ||
‘Naive’ versus realist donors | 191 | ||
The emergent donors: a ‘UNly incorrect style’ | 193 | ||
The UN intervention: a matter of communication policy? | 195 | ||
Which path for conflict resolution? | 197 | ||
The end of a blind-eye diplomacy? | 200 | ||
Conclusion | 203 | ||
11 | ‘The realists in Juba’? An analysis of the Juba peace talks | 205 | ||
Historical background | 205 | ||
Developments leading to the Juba peace talks | 208 | ||
The first six months of the Juba talks – achievements and difficulties | 214 | ||
Resumption of the Juba talks (March–May 2007) | 217 | ||
The unravelling of the Juba peace process | 219 | ||
12 | NGO involvement in the Juba peace talks: the role and dilemmas of IKV Pax Christi | 223 | ||
Introduction | 223 | ||
The role of NGOs in peace negotiations | 223 | ||
Start of Pax Christi’s involvement | 225 | ||
The ICC arrest warrants | 227 | ||
The run-up to Juba | 228 | ||
The Juba negotiations | 231 | ||
The back-channel talks in Mombasa and Nairobi | 233 | ||
Dilemmas | 236 | ||
Concluding reflections: NGOs in peace processes | 239 | ||
13 | Bitter roots: the ‘invention’ of Acholi traditional justice | 242 | ||
Drinking the bitter root | 244 | ||
The reification of rituals | 249 | ||
The ‘invention’ of traditional justice | 252 | ||
Dilemmas of hybrid accountability | 254 | ||
Prospects for Acholi traditional justice | 257 | ||
Conclusion | 260 | ||
14 | The ICC investigation of the Lord’s Resistance Army: an insider’s view | 262 | ||
Peace and accountability: the dual purpose of international criminal courts | 263 | ||
The tensions between accountability and peace | 264 | ||
The legal regime of the Rome Statute | 266 | ||
Investigating the situation regarding northern Uganda | 268 | ||
LRA activity during the ICC investigation | 272 | ||
Figure 14.1 LRA crime base analysis in northern Uganda | 273 | ||
Making justice a component of peace | 277 | ||
Postscript: a kind of peace and an exported war | 279 | ||
Christmas | 279 | ||
Ending internal displacement | 282 | ||
An exported war | 284 | ||
Notes | 289 | ||
Introduction and Chapter 1 | 289 | ||
Chapter 2 | 292 | ||
Chapter 3 | 293 | ||
Chapter 4 | 295 | ||
Chapter 5 | 296 | ||
Chapter 6 | 299 | ||
Chapter 7 | 300 | ||
Chapter 8 | 303 | ||
Chapter 10 | 305 | ||
Chapter 11 | 310 | ||
Chapter 12 | 315 | ||
Chapter 13 | 316 | ||
Chapter 14 | 320 | ||
Postscript | 323 | ||
Bibliography | 325 | ||
Notes on the contributors | 342 | ||
Index | 347 |