The history of Uganda is littered with corrupt and inadequate leaders; since the rule of Milton Obote and Idi Amin in the 1970’s and 1980’s, Uganda has been infamous for its human rights abuses and the deaths of over half a million  people. A black sheep of the international diplomatic community, Uganda has faced many challenges throughout the country as it struggles to rebuild after decades of Civil War. Although the election of Yoweri Museveni in 1986 has provided for many promising democratic reforms and a substantial decrease in human rights violations, the Northern region of the country is still plagued by violence and discrimination.  Norther...

    The history of Uganda is littered with corrupt and inadequate leaders; since the rule of Milton Obote and Idi Amin in the 1970’s and 1980’s, Uganda has been infamous for its human rights abuses and the deaths of over half a million  people. A black sheep of the international diplomatic community, Uganda has faced many challenges throughout the country as it struggles to rebuild after decades of Civil War. Although the election of Yoweri Museveni in 1986 has provided for many promising democratic reforms and a substantial decrease in human rights violations, the Northern region of the country is still plagued by violence and discrimination.  Northern Uganda has experienced civil unrest for the past twenty years, starting soon after the fall of the military regime of General Tito Okello and carrying into Museveni’s regime.  Since then, rebel activities supported by the ruling regime in Sudan have continued wrecking havoc in the north.  Calling themselves the Lords Resistance Army (LRA), this paramilitary group of murderers, thieves, and rapists has substantially disrupted the social fabric in Northern Uganda.  A full generation of people has lived an entire lifetime in an unpredictable and deadly war zone.

     The LRA is rooted in what was known as the Holy Spirit Movement, started by Joseph Kony’s cousin, Alice Lakwena, from 1986-1987. The Holy Spirit Movement laid the foundations for what would become one of the most violent and horrific conflicts in Africa’s history.  Although Alice Lakwena was forced into exile in Kenya, her army of over 10,000 soldiers gave Kony the momentum necessary to start his widespread campaign of terror across northern Uganda.  Kony, who claims to be guided by spirits, and his cult-like followers desire to run the country according to their own interpretation of the biblical Ten Commandments.  The LRA’s violence against the Acholi region has displaced 1.6 million people, abducted thousands of youth, including some as young as 4 years old, as child soldiers and child brides and led unwarranted massacres and mutilations across the entire northern region.

    Fifty percent of the 1.2 million people living in internally displaced people (IDP) camps in Northern Uganda are children.  They are the most vulnerable segment of the affected population.  25,000 of these children have been abducted by the LRA to serve in the army.  They have been brutalized and forced to torture and kill their own family members.  They have had their childhoods stolen and their futures jeopardized beyond calculation. 

    To avoid the same fate, thousands more children commute, nightly, from the IDPs to the relative safety of town streets and shelters miles away from their homes.  250,000 of them receive no primary education and lack access to healthcare, food, and secure shelter.

    In August 2006, Kony and top LRA leaders signed a cease fire with the Ugandan government for the first time since the violence began 20 years ago.  Although armed conflict has dramatically decreased since the ceasefire, many Acholi people still live a life of extreme poverty and fear within the IDP camps, as they remain terrified by the possibility of a returning LRA presence.  Museveni, along with international sources, remains highly skeptical of Kony’s intentions and commitments to peace, and as a result, the peace talks to take place in Juba, Sudan, have been delayed multiple times since August.  

«

• 06/21/2007 10:01
  • 03/21/2007 09:21
  • 02/01/2007 23:19
  • 02/01/2007 23:18
  • 02/01/2007 23:18
  • 02/01/2007 15:57
  • 02/01/2007 15:56

»