:Lord's Resistance Army

{{Main|Lord's Resistance Army insurgency}}

Uganda's north and south are politically divided. The south and east are largely inhabited by Bantu-speakers, such as the Baganda people, who were historically agriculturists. Uganda's north is largely inhabited by the Nilotic-speaking Acholi, who had engaged in hunting, farming, and livestock herding in the past.

Rita M. Byrnes, ed. [http://countrystudies.us/uganda/ Uganda: A Country Study] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161103011534/http://countrystudies.us/uganda/ |date=3 November 2016 }}. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1990. p. 4

The ethnic and cultural tensions within Uganda grew during the years following the creation of the Protectorate of Uganda in 1894. While the agricultural Baganda people worked closely with the British, the Acholi and other northern ethnic groups supplied much of the national manual labor and came to comprise a majority of the military.Alfred G. Nhema, "The resolution of African conflicts: the management of conflict resolution & post-conflict reconstruction." p.53. Ohio University Press, 2008{{cite web |title=The Lord's Resistance Army |url=https://www.warchild.org.uk/issues/the-lords-resistance-army |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161110235636/http://www.warchild.org.uk/issues/the-lords-resistance-army |archive-date=10 November 2016 |access-date=27 December 2017 |website=Warchild.org.uk |df=dmy-all}}{{cite web |title=Guatemalan blue helmet deaths stir Congo debate |url=http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/ABES-6LKL3W?OpenDocument |url-status=dead |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20080616114332/http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/ABES-6LKL3W?OpenDocument |archive-date=16 June 2008 |access-date=16 October 2011}}{{cite web |date=4 October 2011 |title=US troops to help Uganda fight rebels |url=http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/10/20111014174712102972.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111015073940/http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/10/20111014174712102972.html |archive-date=15 October 2011 |access-date=16 October 2011 |publisher=Al Jazeera English |df=dmy-all}}

The southern region became the center for commercial trade development.Dolan, Chris, "Social Torture: The Case of Northern Uganda, 1986–2006", 2009, New York: Berghahn Books, p.41 The livestock-raising Acholi from the north of Uganda were resented for dominating the army and policing. Following the country's independence in 1962, Uganda's ethnic groups continued to compete with each other within the bounds of Uganda's new political system.

{{further|War in Uganda (1986–1994)|Lord's Resistance Army insurgency (1987–1994)|Lord's Resistance Army insurgency (1994–2002)}}

In 1986, the armed rebellion led by Yoweri Museveni's NRA won the Ugandan Bush War and took control of the country. The victors sought vengeance against ethnic groups in the North of Uganda. Their activities included Operation Simsim, which engaged in burning, looting, and killings of locals.

Such acts of violence led to the formation of rebel groups from the ranks of the previous Ugandan army, Uganda National Liberation Army. Many of those groups made peace with Museveni. The southern-dominated army, however, did not stop attacking civilians in the north of the country. Therefore, by late 1987 to early 1988, a civilian resistance movement led by Alice Auma was formed.

Auma did not pick up arms against the central government; her members carried sticks and stones. She believed she was inspired by the Holy Spirit of God. Auma portrayed herself as a prophet who received messages from the Holy Spirit and expressed the belief that the Acholi could defeat the Museveni government. She preached that her followers should cover their bodies with shea nut oil as protection from bullets, never take cover or retreat in battle, and never kill snakes or bees.Briggs, Jimmie, Innocents Lost: When Child Soldiers Go to War, 2005, p. 113.

Joseph Kony would later preach a similar superstition, encouraging soldiers to use oil to draw a cross on their chest as protection from bullets. During a later interview, however, Auma distanced herself from Kony, claiming that the Holy Spirit did not want soldiers to kill civilians or prisoners of war.

Kony sought to align himself with Auma and, in turn, garner support from her constituents, even going so far as to claim they were cousins.Van Acker, Frank, "Uganda and The Lord's Resistance Army: The New Order No One Ordered," 2004, African Affairs 103(412), p.345 Meanwhile, Kony gained a reputation as having been possessed by spirits and became a spiritual figure or a medium. He and a small group of followers first moved beyond his home village of Odek on 1 April 1987. A few days later, he met a group of former Uganda National Liberation Front soldiers from the Black Battalion whom he managed to recruit. They then launched a raid on the city of Gulu.{{cite book | last = Green | first = Matthew | author-link = Matthew Green (journalist)| title = The Wizard of the Nile: The Hunt for Africa's Most Wanted | publisher = Portobello Books | year = 2008 | isbn=978-1-84627-031-4| pages=40–41}}

By August 1987, Auma's Holy Spirit Mobile Force scored several victories on the battlefield and began a march toward the capital, Kampala. In 1988, after the Holy Spirit Movement was decisively defeated in the Jinja District and Auma fled to Kenya, Kony seized this opportunity to recruit the Holy Spirit remnants. The LRA occasionally carried out local attacks to underline the inability of the government to protect the population. The fact that most NRA government forces, in particular, former members of the Federal Democratic Movement (FEDEMO), were known for their lack of discipline and brutal actions meant that the civilian population was accused of supporting the rebel LRA; likewise, the rebels accused the population of supporting the government army.

O’Kadameri, Billie. [http://www.c-r.org/accord/uganda/accord11/lra.shtml "LRA / Government negotiations 1993–94"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080821145036/http://www.c-r.org/accord/uganda/accord11/lra.shtml |date=21 August 2008 }} in Okello Lucima, ed., [http://www.c-r.org/accord/uganda/accord11/index.shtml Accord magazine: Protracted conflict, elusive peace: Initiatives to end the violence in northern Uganda] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081006214718/http://www.c-r.org/accord/uganda/accord11/index.shtml |date=6 October 2008 }}, 2002.

In March 1991, the Ugandan governments NRA started Operation North, which combined efforts to destroy the LRA, while cutting away its roots of support among the population through heavy-handed tactics.

Gersony, Robert. [http://www.usaid.gov/regions/afr/conflictweb/reports/gersony/gersony_uganda.pdf The Anguish of Northern Uganda: Results of a Field-based Assessment of the Civil Conflicts in Northern Uganda] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041117225143/http://www.usaid.gov/regions/afr/conflictweb/reports/gersony/gersony_uganda.pdf |date=17 November 2004 }} (PDF), US Embassy Kampala, March 1997, and Amnesty International, [http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/uganda/document.do?id=25BBAD1C8FE337DF802569A600601142 Human rights violations by the National Resistance Army] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041117225143/http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/uganda/document.do?id=25BBAD1C8FE337DF802569A600601142 |date=17 November 2004 }}, December 1991.

As part of Operation North, the army created the "Arrow Groups", village guards mostly armed with bows and arrows. The creation of the Arrow Groups angered Kony, who began to feel that he no longer had the support of the population. After the failure of Operation North, Betty Oyella Bigombe initiated the first face-to-face meeting between representatives of the rebel LRA and NRA government. The rebels asked for a general amnesty for their combatants and to "return home", but the government stance was hampered by disagreement over the credibility of the LRA negotiators and political infighting. At a meeting in January 1994, Kony asked for six months to regroup his troops but by early February, the tone of the negotiations was growing increasingly bitter and the LRA broke off negotiations, accusing the government of trying to entrap them.

Starting in the mid-1990s, the LRA was strengthened by military support from the government of Sudan,

{{cite web |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/12/13/wikifailed?page=full |title=WikiFailed States |author=Elizabeth Dickinson |date=14 December 2010 |publisher=Foreign Policy |access-date=16 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120310230837/http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/12/13/wikifailed?page=full |archive-date=10 March 2012 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}

which was retaliating against Ugandan government support for rebels in what would become South Sudan. The LRA fought with the NRA army which led to mass atrocities such as the killing or abduction of several hundred villagers in Atiak in 1995 and the kidnapping of 139 school girls in Aboke in 1996 that were forced to become soldiers and also sex slaves to the soldiers.{{Cite web |title=Slain Aboke girls remembered |url=https://www.newvision.co.ug/news/1179091/slain-aboke-girls-remembered|access-date=2023-09-25 |website=New Vision |language=en|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20231231232838/https://www.newvision.co.ug/news/1179091/slain-aboke-girls-remembered|date=October 14, 2008|archive-date=December 31, 2023}} The government created the so-called "protected camps" beginning in 1996. The LRA declared a short-lived ceasefire for the duration of 1996 Ugandan presidential election, possibly in the hope that Yoweri Museveni would be defeated.{{cite book | last = Green | first = Matthew | author-link = Matthew Green (journalist)| title = The Wizard of the Nile: The Hunt for Africa's Most Wanted | publisher = Portobello Books | year = 2008 | isbn=978-1-84627-031-4| page=56}} Based on 1999 UNICEF data, over 6,000 children were held by LRA rebels in Northern Uganda.{{Cite web |title=When will the remaining 21 Aboke girls be freed? |url=https://www.newvision.co.ug/articledetails/undefined |access-date=2023-09-25 |website=New Vision |language=en}}

{{further|Lord's Resistance Army insurgency (1994–2002)|Lord's Resistance Army insurgency (2002–2005)}}

In March 2002, the NRA, now the UPDF, launched a massive military offensive code-named Operation Iron Fist against the LRA bases in southern Sudan, with agreement from the National Islamic Front. In retaliation, the LRA attacked the refugee camps in northern Uganda and the Eastern Equatoria in southern Sudan (now South Sudan), brutally killing hundreds of civilians.{{cite web |url=http://www.ligi.ubc.ca/?p2=/modules/liu/news/view.jsp&id=323 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314221405/http://www.ligi.ubc.ca/?p2=%2Fmodules%2Fliu%2Fnews%2Fview.jsp&id=323 |url-status=dead |archive-date=14 March 2012 |title=Uganda: Joseph Kony's Killing Fields in Northern Region |access-date=5 January 2012 |author=Frank Nyakairu |publisher=Liu Institute for Global Issues }}{{cite web |url=http://etravel.org/news/3017/ |title=Enforced Ugandan cannibalism |access-date=5 January 2012 |author=James Kilford |publisher=eTravel.org |date=29 April 2002 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120707235223/http://etravel.org/news/3017/ |archive-date=7 July 2012 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}{{cite web |url=http://www.start.umd.edu/start/data_collections/tops/terrorist_organization_profile.asp?id=3513 |title=Terrorist Organization Profile: Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) |access-date=5 January 2012 |author=START |publisher=START |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111022042344/http://www.start.umd.edu/start/data_collections/tops/terrorist_organization_profile.asp?id=3513 |archive-date=22 October 2011 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}

By 2004, according to the UPDF spokesperson Shaban Bantariza, mediation efforts by the Carter Center and Pope John Paul II had been spurned by Kony.{{cite web |url=http://www.irinnews.org/InDepthMain.aspx?InDepthId=23&ReportId=65772 |title=Uganda: Nature, structure and ideology of the LRA |date=23 February 2007 |access-date=18 March 2009 |publisher=IRIN |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081119130139/http://www.irinnews.org/InDepthMain.aspx?InDepthId=23&ReportId=65772 |archive-date=19 November 2008 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}

In February 2004, the LRA unit led by Okot Odhiambo attacked Barlonyo internally displaced person (IDP) camp, killing over 300 people and abducting many others.{{cite web|url=https://www.scribd.com/googooez9671/d/12854297-Killing-Every-Living-Thing-Barlonyo-Massacre |title=Killing Every Living Thing: Barlonyo Massacre |publisher=Scribd.com |access-date=13 March 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129025108/https://www.scribd.com/googooez9671/d/12854297-Killing-Every-Living-Thing-Barlonyo-Massacre |archive-date=29 November 2014 }}

In 2006, UNICEF estimated that the LRA had abducted at least 25,000 children since the conflict began. In January 2006, eight Guatemalan Kaibiles commandos and at least 15 rebels were killed in a botched United Nations special forces raid targeting the LRA deputy leader Vincent Otti in DR Congo.{{cite web |url=http://reliefweb.int/node/198492 |title=Democratic Republic of the Congo (the): Guatemalan blue helmet deaths stir Congo debate |publisher=Reliefweb.int |date=31 January 2006 |access-date=13 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120319055644/http://reliefweb.int/node/198492 |archive-date=19 March 2012 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}

File:Labujecamp1.jpg (IDP) camps, such as this Labuje IDP camp near Kitgum, Uganda, in 2005.]]

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the LRA attacks and the government's counterinsurgency measures resulted in the displacement of nearly 95 percent of the Acholi population in three districts of northern Uganda. By 2006, 1.7 million people lived in more than 200 IDP camps in northern Uganda.

{{Cite web |url=http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/humanitarian_assistance/disaster_assistance/countries/uganda/fy2006/uganda_ce_sr03_09-15-2006.pdf |title=Uganda Complex emergency Situation Report #3 09/13/2006 |access-date=18 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111030105505/http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/humanitarian_assistance/disaster_assistance/countries/uganda/fy2006/uganda_ce_sr03_09-15-2006.pdf |archive-date=30 October 2011 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}

These camps had some of the highest mortality rates in the world. The Ugandan Ministry of Health and partners estimated that, through the first seven months of 2005, about 1,000 people were dying weekly, chiefly from malaria and AIDS. During the same time period of January–July 2005, the LRA abducted 1,286 Ugandans (46.4 percent of whom were children under the age of 15 years), and violence accounted for 9.4 percent of the 28,283 deaths, occurring mostly outside camps.{{cite web |url=http://www.irinnews.org/Report/56063/UGANDA-1-000-displaced-die-every-week-in-war-torn-north-report |title=IRIN Africa | Uganda: 1,000 displaced die every week in war-torn north – report | Uganda | Refugees/IDPs |work=IRINnews |publisher=Irinnews.org |date=29 August 2005 |access-date=13 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140809110356/http://www.irinnews.org/report/56063/uganda-1-000-displaced-die-every-week-in-war-torn-north-report |archive-date=9 August 2014 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}

{{further|2006–2008 Juba talks|2008–2009 Garamba offensive}}

In 2006–2008, a series of meetings were held in Juba, Sudan, between the government of Uganda and the LRA, mediated by the south Sudanese separatist leader Riek Machar. The Ugandan government and the LRA signed a truce on 26 August 2006. Under the terms of the agreement, LRA forces would leave Uganda and gather in two assembly areas in the remote Garamba National Park area of northern DR Congo that the Ugandan government agreed not to attack.{{LRA}}Between December 2008 – March 2009, the armed forces of Uganda, DR Congo, and South Sudan launched aerial attacks and raids on the LRA camps in Garamba, destroying them. The efforts to inflict a military defeat on the LRA were not fully successful. The US supported Operation Lightning Thunder against the LRA. There were brutal revenge attacks by scattered LRA remnants, with over 1,000 people killed and hundreds abducted in DR Congo and South Sudan. Hundreds of thousands were displaced while fleeing the massacres. The military action in DR Congo did not result in the capture or killing of Kony, who remained elusive.

{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7926173.stm | title=Uganda to continue Congo LRA hunt | date=5 March 2009 | publisher=BBC | access-date=5 March 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090310031349/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7926173.stm | archive-date=10 March 2009 | url-status=live | df=dmy-all }}

During December 2008, the LRA massacred at least 143 people and abducted 180 at a concert celebration sponsored by the Roman Catholic church in Faradje in DR Congo.Human Rights Watch (17 January 2009). [https://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/01/17/dr-congo-lra-slaughters-620-christmas-massacres DR Congo: LRA Slaughters 620 in 'Christmas Massacres’] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141228075257/http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/01/17/dr-congo-lra-slaughters-620-christmas-massacres |date=28 December 2014 }}. Retrieved 22 January 2009.United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (6 January 2009). "[http://www.unhcr.org/news/NEWS/496385334.html UNHCR visits Congolese towns attacked by Lord's Resistance Army]".Retrieved on 7 January 2009. The LRA struck several other communities in the near-simultaneous attacks: 75 people were murdered in a church near Dungu, at least 80 were killed in Batande, 48 in Bangadi, and 213 in Gurba.BBC News (29 December 2008). [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7802804.stm Ugandan LRA 'in church massacre'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081230163628/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7802804.stm |date=30 December 2008 }}

{{cite news | first=Henry | last=Mukasa | title=Uganda: Kony Rebels Kill 400 Congo Villagers | date=30 December 2008 | publisher=allAfrica.com | url=http://allafrica.com/stories/200812310002.html | access-date=3 January 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100430211406/http://allafrica.com/stories/200812310002.html | archive-date=30 April 2010 | url-status=live | df=dmy-all }}

CNN (30 December 2008). "[http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/12/30/congo.xmas.massacre/ Congo groups: 400 massacred on Christmas day] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121014024926/http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/12/30/congo.xmas.massacre/ |date=14 October 2012 }}". Retrieved on 4 January 2009.

By August 2009, the LRA attacks in DR Congo resulted in displacing as many as 320,000 Congolese, exposing them to famine and disease, according to UNICEF director Ann Veneman.{{cite news |author=Owen Bowcott |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/aug/31/uganda-rebels-lra-terrorise-congo |title=Ugandan rebels have displaced as many as 320,000 people in northern Democratic Republic of Congo, Unicef chief says |publisher=Guardian |access-date=13 March 2013 |location=London |date=31 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130907040344/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/aug/31/uganda-rebels-lra-terrorise-congo |archive-date=7 September 2013 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}

Also in August 2009, the LRA attacked a Catholic church in Ezo, South Sudan, on the Feast of the Assumption, with reports of victims being crucified, causing Ugandan Archbishop John Baptist Odama to call upon the international community for help in finding a peaceful solution to the crisis.{{cite web |url=http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=34496 |title=Christians are 'crucified' in guerrilla raids |access-date=20 February 2011 |publisher=Catholic Herald |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111019111850/http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=34496 |archive-date=19 October 2011 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}

{{cite web |url=http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2011/01/20/sudanese-bishop-urges-peace-talks-with-lord%E2%80%99s-resistance-army/ |title=Sudanese bishop urges peace talks with Lord's Resistance Army |work=Catholic Herald |date=20 January 2011 |access-date=20 February 2011 |publisher=Catholic Herald |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110122205326/http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2011/01/20/sudanese-bishop-urges-peace-talks-with-lord%E2%80%99s-resistance-army/ |archive-date=22 January 2011 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}

{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12226701 |title=LRA: Ugandan bishop urges negotiated settlement |access-date=20 February 2011 |publisher=BBC |date=19 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110122065011/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12226701 |archive-date=22 January 2011 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}

In December 2009, the LRA forces under Dominic Ongwen killed at least 321 civilians and abducted 250 others during a four-day attack in the village and region of Makombo in DR Congo.

{{cite news |last=Plaut |first=Martin |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8587305.stm |title=DR Congo rebel massacre of hundreds is uncovered |publisher=BBC News |date=28 March 2010 |access-date=13 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140108233815/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8587305.stm |archive-date=8 January 2014 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}

{{cite web |author=Anneke Van Woudenberg, senior Africa researcher |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2010/03/28/dr-congo-lord-s-resistance-army-rampage-kills-321 |title=DR Congo: Lord's Resistance Army Rampage Kills 321 | Human Rights Watch |publisher=Hrw.org |date=28 March 2010 |access-date=13 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130310102342/http://www.hrw.org/news/2010/03/28/dr-congo-lord-s-resistance-army-rampage-kills-321 |archive-date=10 March 2013 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}

In February 2010, about 100 people were killed by the LRA in Kpanga, near DR Congo's border with the Central African Republic and Sudan.{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8656634.stm |work=BBC News | title='Fresh LRA massacre' in DR Congo | date=2 May 2010 | first=Thomas | last=Fessy}} Small-scale attacks continued daily, displacing large numbers of people and worsening an ongoing humanitarian crisis, which the UN described as one of the worst in the world.{{cite web|url=http://www.rnw.nl/africa/bulletin/lra-rebels-killed-26-dr-congo-june-un |title=LRA rebels killed 26 in DR Congo in June: UN | Radio Netherlands Worldwide |publisher=Rnw.nl |date=6 July 2011 |access-date=13 March 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130407004226/http://www.rnw.nl/africa/bulletin/lra-rebels-killed-26-dr-congo-june-un |archive-date=7 April 2013 }}

By May 2010, the LRA killed over 1,600 Congolese civilians and abducted more than 2,500.

{{cite news |author=Associated Press in Niangara |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/may/02/niangara-congo-villagers-massacre |title=Lord's Resistance Army massacres up to 100 in Congolese village | World news |work=The Guardian |access-date=13 March 2013 |location=London |date=2 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130914223908/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/may/02/niangara-congo-villagers-massacre |archive-date=14 September 2013 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}

Between September 2008 and July 2011, the group, despite being down to only a few hundred fighters, had killed more than 2,300 people, abducted more than 3,000, and displaced over 400,000 across DR Congo, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic.{{cite web |url=http://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressrelease/2011-07-28/people-lra-areas-congo-still-live-fear-safety |title=90 per cent of people in LRA areas of Congo still live in fear of their safety, new Oxfam survey reveals | Oxfam International |publisher=Oxfam.org |date=28 July 2011 |access-date=13 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130216035839/http://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressrelease/2011-07-28/people-lra-areas-congo-still-live-fear-safety |archive-date=16 February 2013 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}

In March 2012, Uganda announced it would head a new four-nation African Union military force (a brigade of 5,000, including contingents from DR Congo, the Central African Republic, and South Sudan) to hunt down Kony and the remnants of the LRA but asked for more international assistance for the task force.{{cite web|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/Africa/Uganda-to-head-new-military-force-to-hunt-for-Kony/Article1-827332.aspx |title=Uganda to head new military force to hunt for Kony |publisher=Hindustan Times |date=18 March 2012 |access-date=13 March 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120611184958/http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/Africa/Uganda-to-head-new-military-force-to-hunt-for-Kony/Article1-827332.aspx |archive-date=11 June 2012 }}Conal Urquhart, [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/mar/24/joseph-kony-african-union-brigade?newsfeed=true Joseph Kony: African Union brigade to hunt down LRA leader] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170415045442/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/mar/24/joseph-kony-african-union-brigade?newsfeed=true |date=15 April 2017 }}, guardian.co.uk, 24 March 2012

In 2012 the LRA was reported to be in Djema, Central African Republic,Butagiro, Tabu (30 April 2012) [http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1396452/-/avglmoz/-/index.html Khartoum aiding Kony rebels again] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131227050543/http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1396452/-/avglmoz/-/index.html |date=27 December 2013 }} Daily Monitor, Retrieved 26 December 2012 but forces pursuing the LRA withdrew in April 2013

{{cite news | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-25036874 | work=BBC News | title=Joseph Kony: US doubts LRA rebel leader's surrender | date=21 November 2013 | access-date=20 June 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181121082044/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-25036874 | archive-date=21 November 2018 | url-status=live | df=dmy-all }}

after the government of the Central African Republic was overthrown by the Séléka Coalition rebels.{{cite web|url=http://ugandaradionetwork.com/a/story.php?s=56623|title=1200 LRA Fighters Set To Defect – UN|author=Raymond Mujuni|work=Uganda Radio Network|access-date=5 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202224833/http://ugandaradionetwork.com/a/story.php?s=56623|archive-date=2 December 2013|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}

The UPDF rescued more than 15,000 people that were abducted since 1986. It is estimated that over 50,000 children were captured during the 20 years in Northern Uganda by LRA.{{cn|date=December 2023}}

As of 2022, it was reported that the LRA consisted of splinter groups of 1,000 members altogether and was militarily very weak. It acted more like a criminal gang than an army, smuggling ivory and arms across the DR Congo border.{{Cite news |last=Antonio Cascais |date=January 24, 2022 |title=The last throes of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army |language=en |work=Deutsche Welle |url=https://www.dw.com/en/uganda-lord-resistance-army-final-days/a-60535944 |access-date=2023-12-09}} In 2024, LRA officer Thomas Kwoyelo was tried in Uganda on charges including rape, murder, kidnapping, and enslavement of civilians. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison.{{Cite news |date=2024-01-19 |title=Thomas Kwoyelo: Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army rebel commander on trial |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-68025152 |access-date=2024-01-19 |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |title=Thomas Kwoyelo: Ex-LRA rebel gets 40-year jail term in landmark Ugandan case |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20g6n6eg5po |access-date=2024-11-05 |website=www.bbc.com |date=25 October 2024 |language=en-GB}}

File:Lira IDP camp new arrivals.jpg

Part of the structural causes of the LRA conflict has been explained as rooted in the "diversity of ethnic groups which were at different levels of socio-economic development and political organization",Report of the Parliamentary Committee on Defence and Internal Affairs on the War in Northern Uganda, 1997 leading to ethnic strife. Enemy images have instilled insensitivity to the extent that people perceived as enemies can be deemed inconsequential. A former Cabinet minister who was a key figure in the Presidential Peace Team while addressing elders in Lango on the atrocities committed by the NRA in the northern districts of Gulu, Kitgum, Lira, Apac, and Teso, warned them that "they did not matter as long as the south was stable". This sense of betrayal on the northerners festered into a groundswell of mistrust by the population against virtually any overtures from the government to the rebels.

This cynical strategy, some argue, was deeply rooted and employed in Luwero triangle by the National Resistance Movement (NRM)/NRA rebels during their five-year bush war in order to garner popular support, with an underlying drive of "unique greed for absolute political power" in total abhorrence of democratic means.Onyango Odongo "Causes of Armed Conflicts in Uganda", Historical Memory Synthetic Paper, 2003 CBR Conference, Hotel Africana

The strong imbalance in the level of development and investment between Eastern and Northern Uganda on the one side, and Central and Western Uganda on the other perceived as wealthy, is a manifestation of economic marginalization of the region, in spite of the fact most top leadership in Uganda hailed from the north between 1962 and 1985. This marginalization with the consequences of wars, has resulted in varying poverty levels in northern Uganda, for most of the NRM's more than 20 year rule. Although poverty at times may be treated as an escalating factor which creates resentment in society, its role in the conflict in northern Uganda is part of the underlying class structural factors. The Poverty Status Report, 2003, indicates that "one-third of the chronically poor (30.1%) and a disproportionate moving into poverty are from northern Uganda".Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development, p.102

The LRA is believed to be a consequence of an ethnic-oriented war that was initiated by the NRM/NRA in Luwero Triangle against the residents of northern Uganda. This was fueled by the belief on the part of the leadership of the NRM/NRA that Ugandan politics had, since political independence ,been dominated by the northerners in the country and that this had happened because of their heavy composition in the armed forces. The determination was that this domination of politics in Uganda by the northerners was no longer acceptable and had to end. This suggested that until the objective of removing the northerners from power had been achieved and all threats from those quarters removed, the war in the north had to continue.The Hidden War: The Forgotten People, research study report by Afrika Study Center,2003

In 2012, scholar Mahmood Mamdani argued that "[t]he reason why the LRA continues is that its victims—the civilian population of the area—trust neither the LRA nor government forces". He believes that "a Ugandan political solution" ("political process"), rather than "military mobilisation" and international "escalation", was what was needed to resolve this conflict.{{Cite web|last=Mamdani|first=Mahmood|date=13 Mar 2012|title=Kony: What Jason did not tell the Invisible Children|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2012/3/13/kony-what-jason-did-not-tell-the-invisible-children|access-date=2021-10-04|website=www.aljazeera.com|language=en}}

The LRA's ideology is disputed among academics.{{Cite book| contribution=Meeting Report: Day 3| title=Africa, 2007 Consultation| publisher=Quaker Network for the Prevention of Violent Conflict| place=Kibuye, Rwanda| date=29 March 2007| contribution-url=http://www.quaker.org/peace-network/eighth1.htm| access-date=18 March 2009 }} In practice, "the LRA is not motivated by any identifiable political agenda, and its military strategy and tactics reflect this".{{Cite book |title=ICG Africa Report N°77 |date=14 April 2004 |publisher=International Crisis Group |place=Nairobi/Brussels |contribution=Northern Uganda: Understanding and solving the conflict |access-date=18 March 2009 |contribution-url=http://www.up.ligi.ubc.ca/ICGreport.pdf |archive-date=27 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090327001540/http://www.up.ligi.ubc.ca/ICGreport.pdf |url-status=dead }} It appears to largely function as a cult of personality of its leader, Joseph Kony.{{cite news |last1=Drogin |first1=Bob |title=Cult Killing, Ravaging in New Uganda |newspaper=The Seattle Times |url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19960401/2321945/christian-cult-killing-ravaging-in-new-uganda |url-status=live |access-date=27 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171102022120/http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19960401&slug=2321945 |archive-date=2 November 2017 |df=dmy-all}} Although the LRA has been regarded primarily as a Christian militia,{{Cite journal |last1=Doom |first1=Ruddy |last2=Vlassenroot |first2=Koen |date=1 January 1999 |title=Kony's Message: A New Koine? The Lord's Resistance Army in Northern Uganda |url=https://academic.oup.com/afraf/article/98/390/5/32908 |journal=African Affairs |publisher=Oxford University Press |volume=98 |issue=390 |pages=5–36 |doi=10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a008002 |issn=1468-2621 |jstor=00019909 |lccn=2002-227380 |oclc=51206437}}{{cite news |last=Drogin |first=Bob |date=1 April 1996 |title=Christian Cult Killing, Ravaging in New Uganda |url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19960401/2321945/christian-cult-killing-ravaging-in-new-uganda |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171102022120/http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19960401&slug=2321945 |archive-date=2 November 2017 |access-date=13 March 2013 |work=The Seattle Times |issn=0745-9696 |oclc=9198928}}{{cite news |last=Lamb |first=Christina |date=2 March 2008 |title=The Wizard of the Nile The Hunt for Africas Most Wanted by Matthew Green |url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/non-fiction/article3449276.ece |work=The Times |location=London |issn=0140-0460}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/05/world/christian-rebels-wage-a-war-of-terror-in-uganda.html|work=The New York Times|title=Christian Rebels Wage a War of Terror in Uganda|first=James C. Jr.|last=McKinley|date=5 March 1997|access-date=17 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170625172603/http://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/05/world/christian-rebels-wage-a-war-of-terror-in-uganda.html|archive-date=25 June 2017|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/mar/13/uganda.internationalcrime | location=London | work=The Guardian | title=Museveni refuses to hand over rebel leaders to war crimes court | first=Chris | last=McGreal | date=13 March 2008 | access-date=15 December 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202113342/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/mar/13/uganda.internationalcrime | archive-date=2 February 2017 | url-status=live | df=dmy-all }}{{cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/18/AR2008031803054.html | newspaper=The Washington Post | title=Ugandan Rebel Reaches Out to International Court | first=Nora | last=Boustany | date=19 March 2008 | access-date=9 September 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170707010842/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/18/AR2008031803054.html | archive-date=7 July 2017 | url-status=live | df=dmy-all }}{{Cite web |title=The last throes of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army – DW – 01/24/2022 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/uganda-lord-resistance-army-final-days/a-60535944 |access-date=2023-06-16 |website=dw.com |language=en}} the LRA reportedly evokes Acholi nationalism on occasion;{{cite journal|title=Uganda's aggressive peace|journal=Eureka Street|date=14 October 2008|first=Ben|last=Fraser|volume=18|issue=21|pages=41–42|url=http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=8936|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110218192733/http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=8936|url-status=dead|archive-date=18 February 2011|access-date=18 March 2009}} many observers doubt the sincerity of this behaviour and the loyalty of Kony to any ideology.{{cite journal|title=Uganda: A Nation In Crisis |journal=California Western International Law Journal |first=Hema |last=Chatlani |volume=37 |page=284 |url=http://californiawestern.edu/content/journals/Chatlani.pdf |access-date=18 March 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090318063519/http://californiawestern.edu/content/journals/Chatlani.pdf |archive-date=18 March 2009 }}{{cite journal|title=Don't Praise The Lord|journal=Africa Confidential|date=9 August 2002|first=C.|last=Ghana|volume=43|issue=16}}{{cite news |work= ACR |issue= 69 |title= Uganda: Demystifying Kony |date= 3 July 2006 |publisher= Institute for War & Peace Reporting |url= http://iwpr.net/report-news/uganda-demystifying-kony |access-date= 17 October 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120717230715/http://iwpr.net/report-news/uganda-demystifying-kony |archive-date= 17 July 2012 |url-status= live |df= dmy-all }}{{cite journal|title=Conversion to Islam and Modernity in Nigeria: A View from the Underworld|journal=Africa Today|date=Summer 2008|author=Marc-Antoine Pérouse de Montclos|volume=54|issue=4|doi= 10.2979/aft.2008.54.4.70|pages=70–87}}{{cite journal|doi=10.1093/afraf/adh044|title=Uganda and the Lord's Resistance Army: The New Order No One Ordered|journal=African Affairs|volume=103|issue=412|pages=335–357|author=Frank Van Acker|year=2004|doi-access=free}}

The original aims of the group were more closely aligned with those of its predecessor, the Holy Spirit Movement. Protection of the Acholi population was of particular concern because of the genuine reality of ethnic purges in the history of Uganda.{{cite journal | last1 = Doom | first1 = Ruddy | last2 = Vlassenroot | first2 = Koen | year = 1999 | title = Kony's Message: A New Koine? | journal = African Affairs | volume = 98 | issue = 390| page = 13 | doi = 10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a008002 }} This created a great deal of concern in the Acholi community, as well as a strong desire for formidable leadership and protection. As the conflict has progressed, fewer and fewer Acholi offered sufficient support to the rebels in the eyes of the LRA.Harlacher, Thomas. "[https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/20649865.pdf Traditional Ways of Coping with the Consequences of Traumatic Stress in Acholiland]." Unpublished Dissertation. Department of Psychology, University Fribourg (Switzerland) 2009, p. 10 This led to an increased amount of violence toward the non-combatant population, which in turn further alienated them from the rebels. This self-perpetuating cycle led to the creation of a strict divide between Acholis and rebels—a divide that was previously not explicitly present.

Robert Gersony, in a report funded by the U.S. embassy in Kampala in 1997, concluded that "the LRA has no political program or ideology, at least none that the local population has heard or can understand".{{Cite book| first=Robert | last=Gersony| contribution=Results of a field-based assessment of the civil conflicts in northern Uganda| title=The anguish of northern Uganda| publisher=USAID| place=Kampala, Uganda| date=August 1997| contribution-url=http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNACC245.pdf| access-date=18 March 2009 }} The International Crisis Group has stated that "the LRA is not motivated by any identifiable political agenda, and its military strategy and tactics reflect this".

IRIN comments that "the LRA remains one of the least understood rebel movements in the world, and its ideology, as far as it has one, is difficult to understand". During an interview with IRIN, the LRA commander Vincent Otti was asked about the LRA's vision of an ideal government. He responded: {{Blockquote|Lord's Resistance Army is just the name of the movement because we are fighting in the name of God. God is the one helping us in the bush. That's why we created this name, Lord's Resistance Army. And people always ask us, are we fighting for the Ten Commandments of God. That is true—because the Ten Commandments of God is the constitution that God has given to the people of the world. All people. If you go to the constitution, nobody will accept people who steal, nobody could accept to go and take somebody's wife, nobody could accept to kill the innocent, or whatever. The Ten Commandments carries all this.}}

The Norwegian scholar Knut Holter has argued that what the LRA means by the "Ten Commandments" is somewhat loosely associated with the Ten Commandments as found in the Biblical text. Holter notes that the LRA have created new commandments that help propagate their ideology under the term the "Ten Commandments". One such example is the LRA's commandment given as "Thou shalt not smoke."{{cite journal |last1=Holter |first1=Knut |date=28 February 2019 |title=Thou shalt not smoke: Content and context in the Lord's Resistance Army's concept of the Ten Commandments |url=https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/4997 |journal=HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies |volume= 75 |issue=3 |pages= |doi=10.4102/hts.v75i3.4997 |access-date=20 June 2022|hdl=10019.1/106452 |s2cid=150824312 |hdl-access=free }}

In a speech, James Obita, a former secretary for external affairs and mobilisation of the LRA, adamantly denied that the LRA was "just an Acholi thing" and stated that claims made by the media and Museveni administration asserting that the LRA is a "group of Christian fundamentalists with bizarre beliefs whose aim is to topple the Museveni regime and replace it with governance based on the Bible's ten commandments" were false.{{Cite book |last=Obita |first=James |title=A Case for National Reconciliation, Peace, Democracy and Economic Prosperity for All Ugandans |publisher=Kacoke Madit |contribution=The Official presentation of the Lord's Resistance Movement/Army (LRA/M) |access-date=15 March 2009 |contribution-url=http://www.km-net.org.uk/conferences/KM97/papers_htm/casefor.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100331193653/http://www.km-net.org.uk/conferences/KM97/papers_htm/casefor.htm |archive-date=31 March 2010 |url-status=dead}} In the same speech, Obita also claimed that the LRA's objectives are:

1. To fight for the immediate restoration of competitive multi-party democracy in Uganda.
2. To see an end to gross violation of human rights and dignity of Ugandans.
3. To ensure the restoration of peace and security in Uganda.
4. To ensure unity, sovereignty, and economic prosperity beneficial to all Ugandans.
5. To bring to an end to the repressive policy of deliberate marginalization of groups of people who may not agree with the NRA's ideology.

The LRA is known for having used several flags and logos over the course of its insurgency.{{cite web |author=Ledio Cakaj |date=13 April 2010 |title=On LRA Uniforms |url=https://enoughproject.org/blog/lra-uniforms |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190204174525/https://enoughproject.org/blog/lra-uniforms |archive-date=4 February 2019 |access-date=4 February 2019 |work=Enough Project}} In the course of peace talks in 2006, LRA commander Vincent Otti sketched the official LRA coat of arms, providing it to academic Mareike Schomerus: The emblem consisted of Uganda's national animal, the crane, standing atop two palm fronds forming a circle; within the circle there is a star, a crescent moon, and a heart containing the Ten Commandments; over and below the palm fronds the group's name can be found on two small banners. At the time, Otti stated that crane signified pride in Uganda, the palm fronds stood for peace, the Ten Commandments for the group's commitment to Christianity, and the crescent for the oneness of God regardless of religion. Otti claimed that the symbol adorned every LRA uniform, and that he had designed it.{{sfn|Schomerus|2023|p=111}} It is unclear whether the group continued to use the symbol after Otti's alleged execution by Kony. By 2010, the LRA no longer used standardized uniforms, instead plundering clothing from enemy armies. Furthermore, its troops often adorned their uniforms with the flags of enemy states to confuse their opponents, for instance using the regular flag of Uganda and the flag of Luxembourg. The Sudan Tribune also attributed a red-black-blue flag to the LRA.{{Cite news |title=Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) |url=http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?mot152 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190204174543/http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?mot152 |archive-date=4 February 2019 |access-date=4 February 2019 |work=Sudan Tribune}}

File:Lord's Resistance Army logo (Vincent Otti).png|Symbol of the LRA, painted by Vincent Otti in 2006{{sfn|Schomerus|2023|pp=cover, 111}}

File:Alleged Flag of Lord's Resistance Army.svg|Red-black-blue flag often attributed to the LRA

File:Flag of Uganda.svg|Regular flag of Uganda, also used by the group

File:Flag of Luxembourg.svg|Flag of Luxembourg, adorning the uniform of a slain LRA militant (possibly senior commander Opiyo Sam) in 2010.

File:Possible flag of the LRA (ver. 1).png|Another flag attributed to the LRA, published Issue 64 of the Flag Report." Jaume Ollé,

In 2007, the government of Uganda claimed that the LRA had only 500 or 1,000 soldiers in total, but other sources estimated that there could have been as many as 3,000 soldiers, along with about 1,500 women and children.

IRIN (2 June 2007). [http://www.irinnews.org/InDepthMain.aspx?InDepthId=58&ReportId=72446 UGAND-SUDAN: Ri-Kwangba: meeting point ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081116135715/http://www.irinnews.org/InDepthMain.aspx?InDepthId=58&ReportId=72446 |date=16 November 2008 }}. Retrieved 10 June 2008.

By 2011, unofficial estimates were in the range of 300 to 400 combatants, with more than half believed to be abductees.

{{cite web|url=http://ndupress.ndu.edu/Portals/68/Documents/stratforum/SF-270.pdf|title=Countering the Lord's Resistance Army in Central Africa|first=Andre|last=Le Sage|publisher=Institute for National Strategic Studies|work=Strategic Forum|date=July 2011|access-date=12 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140608120910/http://ndupress.ndu.edu/Portals/68/Documents/stratforum/SF-270.pdf|archive-date=8 June 2014|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}

The soldiers are organized into independent squads of 10 or 20 soldiers.

By early 2012, the LRA had been reduced to a force of between 200 and 250 fighters, according to Ugandan defence minister Crispus Kiyonga. Abou Moussa, the UN envoy in the region, said in March 2012 that the LRA was believed to have dwindled to between 200 and 700 followers but still remained a threat: "The most important thing is that no matter how little the LRA may be, it still constitutes a danger [as] they continue to attack and create havoc."

Since the LRA first started fighting in the 1990s, they may have forced well over 10,000 boys and girls into combat, often killing family, neighbors, and school teachers in the process.Singer, Peter W., Children at War, 2006, p. 20. Peter Singer puts the number over 14,000 children; Jimmie Briggs cites only 10,000 + children. Many of these children were put on the frontlines so the casualty rate for these children has been high. The LRA have often used children to fight because they are easy to replace by raiding schools or villages.Briggs, Jimmie, Innocents Lost: When Child soldiers Go to war, 2005, p. 105-144. According to Livingstone Sewanyana, executive director of the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative, the government was the first to use child soldiers in this conflict.Briggs, Jimmie, Innocents Lost: When Child soldiers Go to war, 2005, p. 109-110.

Although unproven, there have been rumors that Sudan may have provided military assistance to the LRA, in response to Uganda lending military support to the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA).Ottonu, Agenga (1998 [https://pi.library.yorku.ca/ojs/index.php/refuge/article/viewFile/21969/20638 The Path to Genocide in Northern Uganda] Refuge, Vol 17, No 3. Retrieved 4 May 2012{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17890432|title=Uganda: 'Sudan supporting Kony'|date=30 April 2012|access-date=27 December 2017|website=Bbc.co.uk|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170806144931/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17890432|archive-date=6 August 2017|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}} According to Matthew Green, author of The Wizard of the Nile: The Hunt for Africa's Most Wanted, the LRA was highly organised and equipped with crew-operated weapons, VHF radios, and satellite phones.[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/uganda/9137982/Joseph-Kony-2012-International-Criminal-Court-chief-prosecutor-supports-campaign.html Joseph Kony 2012: International Criminal Court chief prosecutor supports campaign] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180526113025/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/uganda/9137982/Joseph-Kony-2012-International-Criminal-Court-chief-prosecutor-supports-campaign.html |date=26 May 2018 }}, The Telegraph, 12 March 2012

In 2001, it was also reported that LRA targets Sudanese refugees.{{cite web|url=http://allafrica.com/stories/200108160131.html|title=Uganda: SPLA Recruits in Ugandan Camps|first=Anthony|last=Mugeere|date=16 August 2001|website=Allafrica.com|access-date=27 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030101190714/http://allafrica.com/stories/200108160131.html|archive-date=1 January 2003|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}

{{Main|International Criminal Court investigation in Uganda}}

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants on 8 July and 27 September 2005 against Joseph Kony, his deputy Vincent Otti, and the three LRA commanders Okot Odhiambo and Raska Lukwiya, deputy army commanders, and Dominic Ongwen, brigade commander of the Sania Brigade of the LRA. The five LRA leaders were charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder, rape, and sexual slavery. Ongwen was the only of the five not charged with recruiting child soldiers. The warrants were filed under seal; public redacted versions were released on 13 October 2005.{{cite web|url=http://www.icc-cpi.int/cases/current_situations/Uganda.html|title=International Criminal Court : Situation in Uganda|date=23 June 2007|access-date=27 December 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070623020724/http://www.icc-cpi.int/cases/current_situations/Uganda.html|archive-date=23 June 2007|df=dmy-all}}

These were the first warrants issued by the ICC since it was established in 2002. Details of the warrants were sent to the three countries where the LRA is active: Uganda, Sudan (the LRA was active in what is now South Sudan), and DR Congo. The LRA leadership has long stated that they would never surrender unless they were granted immunity from prosecution; so the ICC order to arrest them raised concerns that the insurgency would not have a negotiated end.

[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4317852.stm Court moves against Uganda rebels] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081219122759/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4317852.stm |date=19 December 2008 }}, BBC, 7 October 2005

The indictments received warm praise within the international community. However, the Acholi people showed mixed reactions. Many felt that amnesty for the LRA soldiers and a negotiated settlement was the best hope for the end of the war. In the end, the court's intent to prosecute the leaders of the LRA reduced the army's willingness to cooperate in peace negotiations.

On 30 November 2005, the LRA deputy commander, Vincent Otti, contacted the BBC announcing a renewed desire among the LRA leadership to hold peace talks with the Ugandan government. The government expressed skepticism regarding the overture but stated their openness to a peaceful resolution of the conflict.

[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4484444.stm Ugandans welcome rebel overture] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060527074652/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4484444.stm |date=27 May 2006 }}, BBC, 30 November 2005

On 2 June 2006, Interpol issued five wanted person red notices to 184 countries on behalf of the ICC, which has no police of its own. Kony had been previously reported to have met the vice president of South Sudan, Riek Machar.

{{cite web |url=http://www.journeyman.tv/56380/short-films/meeting-joseph-kony.html |title=Journeyman Pictures : short films : Meeting Joseph Kony |publisher=Journeyman.tv |access-date=16 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927084613/http://www.journeyman.tv/56380/short-films/meeting-joseph-kony.html |archive-date=27 September 2011 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}

[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5039620.stm Interpol push for Uganda arrests] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081219122756/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5039620.stm |date=19 December 2008 }}, BBC News, 2 June 2006

The next day, Human Rights Watch reported that the regional government of Southern Sudan had ignored previous ICC warrants for the arrest of four of LRA's top leaders and instead supplied the LRA with cash and food as an incentive to stop them from attacking southern Sudanese citizens.

[http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/06/02/uganda13503.htm Regional Government Pays Ugandan Rebels Not to Attack] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080607175151/http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/06/02/uganda13503.htm |date=7 June 2008 }}, Human Rights News, 3 June 2006

At least two of the five wanted LRA leaders have since been killed: Lukwiya in August 2006International Criminal Court (7 November 2006). {{cite web|url=http://www.icc-cpi.int/library/organs/otp/speeches/LMO_20061107_en.pdf |title=Statement by the Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo on the confirmation of the death of Raska Lukwiya |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081217111341/http://www.icc-cpi.int/library/organs/otp/speeches/LMO_20061107_en.pdf |archive-date=17 December 2008 }}. Retrieved 10 June 2008. and Otti in late 2007 (executed by Kony).

BBC News (23 January 2008). [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7204278.stm Uganda's LRA confirm Otti death] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160124053916/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7204278.stm |date=24 January 2016 }}. Retrieved 10 June 2008.

Odhiambo was rumoured to have been killed in April 2008.

BBC News (14 April 2008). [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7346380.stm Ugandan LRA rebel deputy 'killed' ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080420150257/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7346380.stm |date=20 April 2008 }}. Retrieved 10 June 2008.

In February, 2015, UPDF forces found the body of an unidentified person. Later on in April, DNA tests identified that the body was that of Odhiambo.

In July 2011, South Sudan seceded from Sudan, cutting the LRA off geopolitically from its former allies in Khartoum.

In January 2015, Ongwen was reported either to have defected or to have been captured and was held by the Ugandan forces.

(14 January 2015) [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-30810501 LRA commander Dominic Ongwen 'in Ugandan custody'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180601093546/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-30810501 |date=1 June 2018 }} BBC News, Africa, Retrieved 14 January 2015

Oluka, Benon Herbert and Ssekika, Edward (14 January 2015) [http://www.observer.ug/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=35937:-why-usa-held-onto-lra-man&catid=78:topstories&Itemid=116 Why USA held onto LRA man] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150630060836/http://www.observer.ug/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=35937:-why-usa-held-onto-lra-man&catid=78:topstories&Itemid=116 |date=30 June 2015 }} The Observer, Uganda, retrieved 14 January 2015

He was successively transferred from Ugandan forces to Central African Republic forces before ultimately entering into custody of the ICC. Ongwen made his first appearance before the ICC on 26 January 2015. In a trial that lasted between 6 December 2016 to 12 March 2020, 4,095 victims were granted the right to participate and represented in court. In February 2021, the ICC found him guilty of 61 crimes including war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of forced marriage.{{Cite web|date=2021-02-04|title=Warlord found guilty of crimes against humanity in northern Uganda, a 'significant milestone' – Guterres|url=https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/02/1083802|access-date=2021-05-01|website=UN News|language=en}}

After the September 11 attacks, the United States declared the LRA to be a terrorist group. On 28 August 2008, the US Department of State sanctioned Kony as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under Executive Order 13224 "Specially Designated Global Terrorists", a designation that carries financial and other penalties.

{{cite news |first=Tony |last=Capaccio |title=Obama Sends Troops Against Uganda Rebels |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-14/obama-sends-troops-against-uganda-rebels.html |publisher=Bloomberg News |access-date=21 October 2011 |date=14 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111018233812/http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-14/obama-sends-troops-against-uganda-rebels.html |archive-date=18 October 2011 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}

In November 2008, U.S. President George W. Bush personally signed a directive to the US Africa Command to provide assistance financially and logistically to the Ugandan government during the unsuccessful Garamba Offensive, code-named Operation Lightning Thunder.

{{cite news | last = Jeffrey Gettleman and Eric Schmitt | title = U.S. Aided a Failed Plan to Rout Ugandan Rebels | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/07/world/africa/07congo.html?pagewanted=all | date = 6 February 2009 | access-date = 12 March 2012 | work = The New York Times | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120309155645/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/07/world/africa/07congo.html?pagewanted=all | archive-date = 9 March 2012 | url-status = live | df = dmy-all }} No U.S. troops were directly involved, but 17 U.S. advisers and analysts provided intelligence, equipment, and fuel to Ugandan military counterparts. The offensive pushed Kony from his jungle camp, but he was not captured. One hundred children were rescued.

In May 2010, U.S. President Barack Obama signed into law the Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act,{{cite web|url=http://www.theresolve.org/lra-disarmament-and-northern-uganda-recovery-act-of-2009 |title=LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act of 2009 |publisher=Resolve |access-date=16 October 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728100518/http://www.theresolve.org/lra-disarmament-and-northern-uganda-recovery-act-of-2009 |archive-date=28 July 2011 }} legislation aimed at stopping Kony and the LRA. The bill passed unanimously in the Senate on 11 March 2010, with 65 senators as cosponsors, then passed unanimously in the House of Representatives on 13 May 2010, with 202 representatives as cosponsors. On 24 November 2010, Obama delivered a strategy document to Congress, asking for money to disarm Kony and the LRA.

{{cite news |first=Michael J. |last=Kavanagh |title=Obama Administration Asks for Funds to Boost Uganda's Fight Against Rebels |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-25/obama-administration-asks-fpr-funds-to-boost-uganda-s-fight-against-rebels.html |publisher=Bloomberg |date=25 November 2010 |access-date=19 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120310013223/http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-25/obama-administration-asks-fpr-funds-to-boost-uganda-s-fight-against-rebels.html |archive-date=10 March 2012 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}

{{anchor|2011}}On 14 October 2011, Obama announced that he had ordered the deployment of 100 U.S. military advisors with a mandate to train, assist, and provide intelligence to help combat the LRA,

{{cite news |url=http://articles.cnn.com/2011-10-14/africa/world_africa_africa-obama-troops_1_obama-orders-south-sudan-central-african-republic?_s=PM:AFRICA |title=Obama orders U.S. troops to help chase down African 'army' leader |publisher=CNN |date=14 October 2011 |access-date=3 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111027210839/http://articles.cnn.com/2011-10-14/africa/world_africa_africa-obama-troops_1_obama-orders-south-sudan-central-african-republic?_s=PM:AFRICA |archive-date=27 October 2011 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}

reportedly from the Army Special Forces,{{cite web |title=Obama sends 100 military advisers to fight Africa rebels |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna44906278 |publisher=Today News |date=15 October 2011 |access-date=3 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120414060305/http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44906278/ns/today-today_news/t/obama-sends-us-military-advisers-uganda#.TpnNKd4r2sr |archive-date=14 April 2012 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }} at a cost of approximately $4.5 million per month.

[https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R42094.pdf "The Lord’s Resistance Army: The U.S. Response"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150201124642/http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R42094.pdf |date=1 February 2015 }}, 21 November 2011, CRS Report for Congress, Page 10

Human Rights Watch welcomed the deployment, which they had previously advocated for,

{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/15/world/africa/barack-obama-sending-100-armed-advisers-to-africa-to-help-fight-lords-resistance-army.html|title=Obama Sending 100 Armed Advisers to Africa to Help Fight Renegade Group|date=14 October 2011|access-date=15 October 2011|work=The New York Times|first1=Thom|last1=Shanker|first2=Rick|last2=Gladstone|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111015234427/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/15/world/africa/barack-obama-sending-100-armed-advisers-to-africa-to-help-fight-lords-resistance-army.html|archive-date=15 October 2011|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}

{{cite web |last=Wittes |first=Benjamin |url=https://www.lawfaremedia.org/2010/10/human-rights-watch-responds/ |title=Lawfare " Human Rights Watch Responds |publisher=Lawfareblog.com |date=26 October 2010 |access-date=13 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116081204/http://www.lawfareblog.com/2010/10/human-rights-watch-responds/ |archive-date=16 January 2013 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}

and Obama said that the deployment did not need explicit approval from Congress, as the 2010 Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act already authorized "increased, comprehensive U.S. efforts to help mitigate and eliminate the threat posed by the LRA to civilians and regional stability". The military advisors would be armed and provide assistance and advice but "will not themselves engage LRA forces unless necessary for self-defense".

{{cite web |url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2012/04/23/fact-sheet-mitigating-and-eliminating-threat-civilians-posed-lord-s-resi |title=Fact Sheet: Mitigating and Eliminating the Threat to Civilians by The Lord's Resistance Army |date=23 April 2012 |access-date=30 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170216162843/https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2012/04/23/fact-sheet-mitigating-and-eliminating-threat-civilians-posed-lord-s-resi |archive-date=16 February 2017 |url-status=live |via=National Archives |work=whitehouse.gov |df=dmy-all }}

As of 2015, the U.S. provided support for military efforts, notably by the UPDF against the LRA.{{Cite web |date=28 September 2015 |title=The Lord's Resistance Army : The U.S. Response |url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R42094.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012034920/https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R42094.pdf |archive-date=12 October 2017 |access-date=27 December 2017 |website=Fas.org |df=dmy-all}} Some observers have reported that the U.S. has been involved for reasons other than the LRA.

{{cite web |url=http://sfbayview.com/2013/allimadi-the-u-s-is-not-interested-in-going-after-the-lra/ |title=Alimadi the US is not interested in going after the LRA |website=Sfbayview.com |date=26 February 2013 |access-date=13 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130302073701/http://sfbayview.com/2013/allimadi-the-u-s-is-not-interested-in-going-after-the-lra/ |archive-date=2 March 2013 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}

In late 2013, Ugandan forces, alerted by U.S. troops, killed chief planner Colonel Samuel Kangul, among others.

{{cite web|url=http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Senior-LRA-commander-killed-says-Uganda-20131203|title=Senior LRA commander killed, says Uganda|work=News24|access-date=3 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131208015013/http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Senior-LRA-commander-killed-says-Uganda-20131203|archive-date=8 December 2013|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}

On 18 September 2012, the African Union (AU) launched an initiative in Nzara, South Sudan, to take control of the fight against the LRA. The goal of the project was to coordinate efforts against the group by the ongoing operations conducted by the states of Uganda, South Sudan, DR Congo and the Central African Republic. However, some fear that these armies are looting resources in the region. The civilians have reported rapes, killings, and looting by the Ugandan army.

{{cite web|url=http://www.observer.ug/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=17456:updf-in-kony-hunt-accused-of-rape-looting|title=UPDF in Kony hunt accused of rape, looting|website=Observer.ug|date=2 March 2012 |access-date=13 March 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130910044440/http://www.observer.ug/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=17456:updf-in-kony-hunt-accused-of-rape-looting|archive-date=10 September 2013|url-status=live|df=dmy-all |author1=Joomlasupport }}

In September 2012, at a ceremony to mark the handover of command in Yambio, the AU's special envoy on the LRA, Francisco Madeira, said that, while DR Congo had not sent supporting troops, it had made some other unnamed support. "We need more support, I don't have to elaborate on these because my predecessor{{who|date=September 2012}} has done this so well. We need support in terms of means of transport, communication, medicine, combat rations and uniforms for the troops tracking the LRA. This is particularly important and critical and most urgent for the central African troops who handed over their contingent despite the challenges facing them."{{cite web |url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2012/09/2012919145754887151.html |title=African Union hunts Uganda rebel group – Africa |publisher=Al Jazeera English |access-date=13 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120190541/http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2012/09/2012919145754887151.html |archive-date=20 January 2013 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }} Ugandan Defence Minister Chrispus Kiyonga said: "We are yet to fully agree on how this troops will operate because now they are going to be one force, a regional task force with its commander. There are two concepts: There are people who think that the SPLA [Sudan People's Liberation Army] should only work on the side of Sudan, that the army of the Central African Republic should only work there [within its own borders ...] but there is the other concept that some of us support, [which is] that once there is one unified force, co-ordinated force then it should go wherever Kony is. We think that way, it will be more effective." He added that the newest intelligence reports at the time has suggested the LRA then had only 200 guns and numbered about 500 people, including women and children.

• Christian violence
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{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{cite book| last = Schomerus | first = Mareike | title = The Lord's Resistance Army: Violence and Peacemaking in Africa | publisher = Cambridge University Press | date = 2023| location = Cambridge| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=rAEbEAAAQBAJ| isbn = 978-1108725354}}

• {{cite book | last = Allen | first = Tim |author2=Vlassenroot, Koen | title = The Lord's Resistance Army: Myth and Reality | publisher = Zed Books Ltd. | year = 2010 }}
• {{cite book |last=Briggs |first=Jimmie |title=Innocents Lost: When Child Soldiers Go to War |publisher=Basic Books |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-465-00798-1 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/innocentslostwhe0000brig }}
• {{cite book | last = Green | first = Matthew | title = The Wizard of the Nile: The Hunt for Africa's Most Wanted | publisher = Portobello Books | year = 2008 | isbn = 978-1-84627-030-7 }}
• Jagielski, Wojciech and Antonia Lloyd-Jones. The night wanderers: Uganda's children and the Lord's Resistance Army. (2012). New York: Seven Stories Press. {{ISBN|9781609803506}}
• Lewis, Janet. 2020. How Insurgency Begins: Rebel Group Formation in Uganda and Beyond. Cambridge University Press.
• {{cite book | last = Singer | first = Peter W. | title = Children at War | publisher = University of California Press | year = 2006 }}

• [http://www.peacebuildingdata.org/uganda Population surveys in Northern Uganda during and after the LRA] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140517032133/http://www.peacebuildingdata.org/uganda |date=17 May 2014 }}, UC Berkeley and Tulane University
• [http://womennewsnetwork.net/2009/01/13/ugandagirlsoldier809/ Girl Soldiers – The cost of war in Northern Uganda] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120523212431/http://womennewsnetwork.net/2009/01/13/ugandagirlsoldier809/ |date=23 May 2012 }}, Women News Network – WNN
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20100331193653/http://www.km-net.org.uk/conferences/KM97/papers_htm/casefor.htm "A Case for National Reconciliation, Peace, Democracy and Economic Prosperity for All Ugandans"], outlines and defends the LRA's political views.
• [http://www.invisiblechildren.com/ Invisible Children], advocacy group and documentary about LRA's child soldiers
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20130323150513/http://www.internal-displacement.org/8025708F004CE90B/%28httpCountries%29/04678346A648C087802570A7004B9719?opendocument&count=10000 Uganda page], Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20100217135357/http://www.up.ligi.ubc.ca/index.html Human Security in Northern Uganda project], University of British Columbia (extensive links from before mid-2004)
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20160124053916/http://www.sway-uganda.org/ Survey of War Affected Youth (SWAY): Research & Programs for Youth in Armed Conflict in Uganda]
• [http://www.rfi.fr/actuen/pages/001/page_40.asp Radio France Internationale, LRA Dossier (in English)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210208131440/http://www.rfi.fr/actuen/pages/001/page_40.asp |date=8 February 2021 }}
• [http://www.alertnet.org/db/crisisprofiles/UG_VIO.htm?v=in_detail Crisis briefing on the LRA and violence in Uganda] from Reuters AlertNet
• [http://hrc.berkeley.edu/uganda.html Research at UC Berkeley's Human Rights Center Initiative for Vulnerable Populations] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081223021615/http://hrc.berkeley.edu/uganda.html |date=23 December 2008 }}
• [http://www.candacescharsu.com/ CandaceScharsu.com], Candace Scharsu photographs the victims of the LRA
• [http://www.lracrisistracker.com/ LRA Crisis Tracker]
• [http://www.politicalarticles.net/blog/2012/04/19/kony-2012-video-the-brouhaha-the-long-hunt-for-a-war-criminal-and-how-we-got-here-part-1/ Kony 2012 Video, The Brouhaha, The Long Hunt For A War Criminal, And How We Got Here]
• [https://purl.fdlp.gov/GPO/gpo26367 LRA, Boko Haram, al-Shabaab, AQIM, and Other Sources of Instability in Africa: Hearing before the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, One Hundred Twelfth Congress, Second Session] (25 April 2012)
• [https://purl.fdlp.gov/GPO/gpo27596 U.S. Policy to Counter the Lord's Resistance Army: Hearing before the Subcommittee on African Affairs of the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, One Hundred Twelfth Congress, Second Session] (24 April 2012)
• [https://soflete.com/blogs/knowledge/mick-mulroy-interview An End to Child Soldiers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190529232624/https://soflete.com/blogs/knowledge/mick-mulroy-interview |date=29 May 2019 }}
• [https://www.dw.com/en/slaves-human-bondage-in-todays-world/av-50118946 "Slaves: Human Bondage In Today's World"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190824220846/https://www.dw.com/en/slaves-human-bondage-in-todays-world/av-50118946 |date=24 August 2019 }}, a 2019 Deutsche Welle television program documenting LRA use of sex slavery, enslavement of child soldiers, and other atrocities through interviews with former LRA commander Caesar Acellam, UN expert Matthew Brubacher, and victims; narrated in English{{Dead link|date=November 2020}}

{{Armed groups in the Congo wars}}

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Category:Christian terrorism in Africa

Category:Child sexual abuse in wars

Category:Kidnappers

Category:Christian new religious movements

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Category:Rebel groups in the Central African Republic

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