Lords Resistance

Army
Lauren Dargay, Alexander Ford, Rachel Morrell, & Nicole Paul

History
- Longest running conflict in Africa
- Opposed President Yoweri Museveni
- Originated as the Holy Spirit
movement which was formed by members
of the Acholi tribe
- Alice Auma (Lakwena)
- Joseph Kony

Proposed treaties
- Uganda and LRA peace talks from 2006 to 2008
- Many short term treaties were agreed to
- LRA wanted Kony exonerated of all charges

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Ideology and Philosophy

- Stems from the Holy Spirit Movement
- Kony wants a government based on the Ten Commandments
- Uganda military does not believe that the LRA has any
philosophical or political goals and is simply a
terrorist group

Recruitment
-Forcible recruitment
-2006 UNICEF study: from 1986 until 2005, at least 66,000
people (adults and children) kidnapped
-1988-2004: 30,000 children under 18 kidnapped
-Child soldiers initiated through mind control methods and
military training

Who is Recruited?
-Boys become soldiers
-Girls become wives of soldiers or are forced to be sex
slaves
-Adults become porters
-People from countries other than Uganda (South Sudan, the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African
Republic)

Funding
-Elephant poaching
-Trafficking ivory, gold
and diamonds

Image from: voanews.com

Help From Sudan?

-Funded and supported by Sudan in the early 1990s
-Support from Sudan supposedly ended in 1999
-Ugandan army believes the LRA is still receiving weapons
from Sudan

Command Structure

Image from:
invisiblechildren.com

Kony
-Self-appointed messiah of the LRA
-The Worlds Most Wanted Warlord
-Likely that he is hiding in Kafia Kingi (area bordering
South Sudan and the CAR)
-Still in control, but command is less centralized

Structure
-Commanders operate with a lot of independence
-Not a lot of communication between commanders
-No single operations base
-Small brigades appear to operate independently, but all
follow the same strategy

Membership
-Membership is believed to be fluid
-Most active members are children/youth
-Huge decline in the number of combatants (Thousands to only
150-200 core combatants)

Acts & Symbolism

-Forcible recruitment
-Abduction of children
-Slaves, sex trafficking, spread of HIV
-Violence for the sake of violence
-Symbolism: Power

Acts & Symbolism

In response to increased military attack, the LRA turned on local civilians unleashing a
campaign of extreme and systematic violence.
Young girls are routinely raped and return with babies that their families are reluctant
to look after. Young men return having learned to kill, and are traumatised by the things
they have seen, and the things they have done.
Government officials rarely if ever venture into the affected regions and it's a struggle
to get the problem onto their radar.
-Jenny Norton, Conciliation Resources
http://www.c-r.org/news-and-views/comment/giving-voice-peace-local-media-and-lra-conflict

Acts & Symbolism

- LRA crisis tracker:
http://lracrisistracker.com/

Image from: Invisible Children

Propaganda
-I do not have propaganda machineries - Kony
-Word of mouth
-Violent acts

Image from: National Counterterrorism Center

United States Government Action

-August 28, 2008 USA sanctioned Joseph Kony as a Specially Designated Global
Terrorist
-November 2008 George W. Bush agreed to provide assistance financially to the
Ugandan government
- May 2010 The Lords Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery
Act
- November 24, 2010 Strategy to Support the Disarmament of the LRA
- deployed 100 American advisors and support personnel to LRA-affected areas

African Government Action

-September 18 2012, African Union gave South Sudan permission
to take control of the fight against the LRA
-Africa needs to send more of their own troops in
-need transportation, communication, medicine, and uniforms

Media Portrayal

Image From:
Invisible Children

Regional Media Coverage

-Regionally not highly covered
-limited access to modern technology
-Regional Civil Society Task Force spent 5 days putting
together a newsletter to send to media outlet.
-the goal was to get the LRA in the media to educate people
about what was going on

International Media Coverage

-Internationally-covered highly in 2012, then faded away
-Accurately covered in international media
-Limited coverage of group

Pop Culture
-2006 James Bond Casino Royale
-2006 Invisible Children documentary
-2007 War/Dance documentary
-2007 Fall Out Boy music video Im Like a Lawyer with the Way Im Always Trying to Get You
Off (Me & You)
-2008 novel War Brothers
-2010 Children of War documentary
-2011 Mato Oput documentary
-2012 The Night Wanderers book
-2012 Kony 2012 short film
-2012 Stronghearted animated short film

Image
From: Vevo

Invisible Children
- Started off with three film-makers meeting a young boy
who escaped the LRA and lost his brother to the group.
- The film went viral, sparking KONY 2012 movement.
- Became an activist group
- 2 bills signed into law
- 1077 lobby meetings facilitated
- 3.7 million signed pledge cards
- Developed anti-LRA tactics still in use

Image from: Invisible Children

Invisible Children CounterMessaging

- Early Warning Network
- Radio broadcasting
implemented by IC to
communicate LRA threats to
the DRC and CAR.

Image from: Invisible Children

Counter-messaging
-Primary audience: Adults in LRA areas, tribe leaders and aid
workers
-Objectives: Safety strategies, communication tactics, and
information on what the organization stands for

Counter-messaging: Core messages

1. Safety in numbers.
2. Smart defense.
3. Be in the know.

Image from:
StoryWindow

Counter-messaging: Tactics
1.Word of mouth.
2.Get the government(s) involved.

Image from:
StoryCenter

Lords Resistance Army Conclusion

- Theyre sneaky, dangerous, and their priority is selfpreservation. - Invisible Children
- Decentralized in small cells across central Africa
- Currently active but less mediatized

Image from:
The Wire

Discussion

References
-

Arieff, A. Ploch Blanchard, L., & Husted T.F. (2015, September 28). The Lords Resistance Army:The U.S.
Response. Retrieved October 30, 2015 from https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R42094.pdf
David, S. (February 1, 2008). Uganda/Lords Resistance Army Peace Negotiations. Retrieved October 30,
2015 from http://www.usip.org/publications/ugandalords-resistance-army-peace-negotiations
Giving voice to peace: Local media and the LRA conflict. (2012, March 11). Retrieved November 30, 2015,
from http://www.c-r.org/news-and-views/comment/giving-voice-peace-local-media-and-lra-conflict
In-depth: Life in northern Uganda. (2014, January 1). Retrieved October 20, 2015 from
http://www.irinnews.org/in-depth/65772/23/uganda-nature-structure-and-ideology-of-the-lra
National Counterterrorism Center | Groups. (n.d.). Retrieved November 29, 2015, from
http://www.nctc.gov/site/groups/lra.html
Our Story | Invisible Children. (n.d.). Retrieved November 30, 2015, from
http://invisiblechildren.com/our-story/
Schomerus, M. (September 2007). The Lords Resistance Army in Sudan: A History and Overview. Retrieved
October 20, 2015 from http://www.smallarmssurveysudan.org
The Lord's Resistance Army. (2012, March 23). Retrieved November 29, 2015, from
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2012/03/186734.htm
The Lords Resistance Army (LRA). (2015, September 29). Retrieved November 29, 2015, from
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/lra.htm
The Warlord. (2014). Retrieved November 29, 2015 from http://invisiblechildren.com/conflict/kony/