Lord's Resistance Army

Background

Historically, the British colonial enterprise in Uganda was met with resistance from indigenous communities, most notably the Acholi of northern [Page 364]Uganda. The Acholi are Luo in language and custom, and are closely related to the Alur and other Luo groups in Sudan. Numerous factors in the north, including the Acholi's active resistance to colonial rule, the harsh physical environment, and the region's pastoralist livelihood system, made it difficult for the British to “civilize” the Acholi. Therefore, peoples in the north were officially stigmatized as backwards, primitive, warlike, and comparatively less evolved than peoples of the south, who were more cooperative and thus more civilized. As a result, in comparison to the north, southern Uganda received more economic and infrastructure development and colonial civil service jobs and the relative power attached to them went to southerners. The warlike, “backwards” northerners were used as laborers or conscripted into the colonial army. Serving in the King's African Rifles, they became instruments of suppression and internalized contempt for the people. Large segments of the army under the British were Acholi.

The colonially created socioeconomic divisions and belligerence between north and south were institutionalized even further after independence. During the military dictatorship of General Idi Amin (1971–1979), the social fabric of Uganda was decimated. The situation was exacerbated during the war to overthrow Amin and the resultant conflicts among competing parties to fill the power vacuum left in the wake of his removal. Two of the main parties were the National Resistance Movement (NRM) headed by Yoweri Museveni, consisting primarily of peoples from the south and the west of the country, and the Uganda People's Democratic Army headed by General Tito Okello, consisting primarily of Acholi and other northern peoples.

Regional antagonisms between the northern and southern parts of the country were further aggravated when Museveni came to power after defeating the Acholi general Tito Okello in 1986. Acholi political and sectarian leaders revolted, invoking Acholi nationalism and historical resistance to marginalization. Many of Okello's Acholi soldiers fled north to their home districts along the Sudanese border. Some of the fleeing soldiers crossed into Sudan and joined up with other opponents of Museveni to form a rebel alliance.

The Creation of the LRA

In 1986 a spirit medium named Alice Lakwena established the Holy Spirit Movement, a resistance group that claimed to be inspired by the Holy Spirit of God. Lakwena preached that the Acholi could overthrow the government of Uganda if they followed her messages from God. In 1997 the Holy Spirit Movement was defeated by government troops and Lakwena escaped into exile in Kenya. Joseph Kony, a relative of Lakwena's who also had a reputation as a spirit medium, assumed leadership of the movement.

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