November 10, 2009

During a briefing of the UN Security Council in 2004 UN's under-secretary for humanitarian affairs, Jan Egeland identified the conflict in Northern Uganda as "the biggest neglected humanitarian emergency in the world" . The conflict that has raged between the Ugandan Government and the rebel group named The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) for over 20 years have made over two million people refugees in their own country.

Picture: Burned hut.

The history of the Lord's Resistance army can be traced back to the Holy Spirit Movement which was led by the eccentric individual Alice Lakwena in the late 80's. Claiming to be sent by God, Lakwena would deliver messages to her believers of which many were of the Acholi tribe. Consolidating her power, she would play on the resentment many of her followers were feeling towards the newly established Ugandan government led by Joseph Museveni, who had just discharged all northerners in the civil service and military because of their ethnicity.

Soon however, the Holy Spirit movement was defeated by Museveni's men. The power vacuum left was soon filled by another eccentric individual, Joseph Kony, and his organization The Lord's Resistance Army. Mr. Kony ,said to be Lakwena's cousin, claimed to have received messages from God that he should establish a kingdom based on the Ten Commandments. It all too soon became clear that Kony's tactics were as far removed from the idea put forward in these commandments as possible. He was unable to receive the same support as his cousin and soon turned to attacking civilians in order to spread fear and gather supplies. Finding it very difficult to recruit soldiers Kony would also start abducting children and use them both as soldiers and sex slaves.

To cope with fighting a difficult bush-war, the Ugandan Government responded by moving over two million people from their villages into refugee camp under the pretence of protecting them. This was however not the case since there were not enough military forces to protect these camps. In some cases the gathering of many people in only one place actually made the usual victims, children, easier to find for the LRA. In the camps people had no source of income and were forced to rely on the (often inadequate) food supplied by The World Food Program and various relief agencies. Sicknesses such as AIDS, malaria and cholera often ravaged in the camps, while medical help, if present at all, proved insufficient. In the late 90s and beginning of the 2000s several hundred children were known to die each day, not from armed attacks, but from preventable diseases and mal-nourishment!

Recognizing the atrocities organized by the LRA , the International Criminal Court in the Hague's issued its first warrant ever, for Joseph Kony in 2005. This seems to have alarmed him in such a way that he agreed to conduct a series of peace talks with the Ugandan government. These peace talks however soon proved to be non-productive as Kony often did not show up for the scheduled meetings. In 2008 the Ugandan government gives up on these talks and mobilizes a military offensive towards the rebel group that eventually pushes it completely out of the country.

Today the refugee camps are being dismantled in Northern Uganda and the people of this region is starting to rebuild their huts, revive their villages and re-plough their fields. Blessed with a resilient attitude and fertile soil this is mostly a joyful process for the Acholi people, but many gaps are needs to be filled in areas such as education and healthcare.

By Sabrina Lilleby