The Lord's Resistance Army: Myth and Reality

370 Pages·2010·3.96 MB·English

by  Tim Allen

About the editors
Tim Allen is professor of development anthropology at the
London School of Economics and Political Science. He has
carried out long-term field research in Sudan and Uganda,
and has also researched in several other African countries,
including Ghana, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania and Bots-
wana. His books include Trial Justice: The International
Criminal Court and the Lord’s Resistance Army, Complex
Emergencies and Humanitarian Responses (with Mareike
Schomerus) and Poverty and Development (edited with Alan
Thomas). In addition to academic work, he has worked as a
consultant with UNDP, UNICEF, UNRISD, MSF, LWF, Save
the Children, World Vision, DfID and many others, and has
presented or contributed to numerous radio programmes
for the Open University and the BBC.
Koen Vlassenroot is a professor of political science at the
University of Ghent, where he also coordinates the Conflict
Research Group. He is also the director of the Central Africa
Programme of Egmont, the Royal Institute for International
Relations in Brussels. He has carried out research in the
Great Lakes region for more than ten years, with a particu-
lar focus on militia formation, land issues, trans-border
dynamics and rebel governance in eastern DR Congo and
northern Uganda. He has published widely in international
peer-reviewed journals and has written numerous book
chapters.
1 Joseph Kony and one of his surviving senior commanders,
Okot Odhiambo, posing for photographs in Ri-Kwangba. This
picture was taken on 12 June 2006, shortly after Kony finished
his sit-down television interview (see Chapter 6). Seated below
are Ben Achellam (left) and Santo Alit. Achellam was reportedly
killed as an ally of Vincent Otti in the LRA leadership struggle
in autumn 2008. Alit was reportedly killed in autumn 2009
in the Central African Republic, where he had been part of
Kony’s protection group. Alit had briefly been in Juba as part
of the official LRA delegation to the Juba peace talks (Mareike
Schomerus).
The Lord’s Resistance Army
myth and reality
edited by Tim Allen and
Koen Vlassenroot
Zed Books
london | new york
The Lord’s Resistance Army: Myth and Reality was first published in 2010
by Zed Books Ltd, 7 Cynthia Street, London n1 9jf, uk and Room 400,
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Editorial copyright © Tim Allen and Koen Vlassenroot 2010
Copyright in this collection © Zed Books 2010
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editors of this work have been asserted by them in accordance with
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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data available
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isbn 978 1 84813 563 5 pb
isbn 978 1 84813 564 2 eb
Contents
Table and figures | vii Maps | viii
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
tim allen and koen vlassenroot
PART ONE Interpretations of Uganda’s war in the north
1 Exploring the roots of LRA violence: political crisis and ethnic
politics in Acholiland. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
adam branch
2 Uganda’s politics of foreign aid and violent conflict: the
political uses of the LRA rebellion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
andrew mwenda
3 The spiritual order of the LRA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
kristof titeca
4 An African hell of colonial imagination? The Lord’s
Resistance Army in Uganda, another story . . . . . . . . . . 74
sverker finnström
PART TWO Experiencing the LRA
5 Chasing the Kony story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93
mareike schomerus
6 ‘A terrorist is not a person like me’: an interview with Joseph
Kony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
mareike schomerus
7 On the nature and causes of LRA abduction: what the
abductees say . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
christopher blattman and jeannie annan
8 Between two worlds: former LRA soldiers in northern
Uganda. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
ben mergelsberg
9 Encountering Kony: a Madi perspective. . . . . . . . . . . 177
ronald iya
PART THREE Peace and justice
10 Northern Uganda: a ‘forgotten conflict’, again? The impact
of the internationalization of the resolution process . . . . 187
sandrine perrot
11 ‘The realists in Juba’? An analysis of the Juba peace talks . . 205
ronald r. atkinson
12 NGO involvement in the Juba peace talks: the role and
dilemmas of IKV Pax Christi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
simon simonse, willemijn verkoren and
gerd junne
13 Bitter roots: the ‘invention’ of Acholi traditional justice . . . 242
tim allen
14 The ICC investigation of the Lord’s Resistance Army: an
insider’s view. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
matthew brubacher
Postscript: a kind of peace and an exported war. . . . . . . 279
tim allen, frederick laker, holly porter and
mareike schomerus
Notes | 289 Bibliography | 325
Notes on the contributors | 342
Index | 347
Table and figures
Table
7.1 Self-reported abduction experiences from returned former
abductees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Figures
7.1 Distribution of LRA abductions of males by age of abduction . 138
7.2 Length of abduction, by age of abduction . . . . . . . . . . . 148
7.3 Probability that an abductee was rescued (versus escaping) . . 149
7.4 Probability that an abductee who escaped knew his location at
the time of escape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
7.5 Probability that the youth ‘ever felt allegiance to Kony’. . . . . 150
7.6 Probability that the youth ‘ever felt like staying with the LRA’. . 151
7.7 Probability that a youth ‘was considered a dependable member
of the group’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
7.8 Probability that an abductee was allowed to keep a gun . . . . 152
7.9 Probability that the youth reports ever killing (soldiers and
civilians) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
14.1 LRA crime base analysis in northern Uganda . . . . . . . . . 273
vii
Districts of Northern Uganda affected by the LRA up to 2005
SUDAN
NN
KKiittgguumm
Nimule
Kitgum
Arua Kotido
AACCHHOOLLII
Gulu PPaaddeerr
DEMOCRATIC GGuulluu
REPUBLIC Lira Moroto
AAppaacc LLiirraa
OF THE CONGO KKaattaakkwwii
LL.. AAllbbeerrtt Masindi LLAANNGGKKaaOObbeerraammSSaaiiooddooTTrrooEEttSSiiOOKKuummii
Holma LL.. KKyyooggaa
U G A N D A
Mbale
Affected Luwero Kamuli
districts Mubende Iganga Tororo
KENYA
International KKaammppaallaa Jinja
bouKnadseasrey
State
Entebbe
boundary
wwaarrddDisKtarbicattore Masaka
LL.. EEdd boundary Lake
Selected Victoria 0 100km
Makiro
vehicle roads
0 50 miles
Internally displaced persons (IDPs) receiving relief assistance
DISTRICT DATES IDP NUMBER OF
POPULATION IDP CAMPS
with predominantly Acholi population
GULU July 2005 460,226 53
KITGUM July 2005 310,111 22
PADER April 2005 283,781 26
with predominantly Langi population
APAC July 2005 98,193 15
LIRA July 2005 350,828 40
with predominantly Teso population
KATAKWI April 2005 approx 140,000 82
SOROTI, KUMI &
KABERAMAIDO July 2005 18,000 22
TOTAL IDPs April–July 2005 approx 1.5m 250
(excluding unregistered IDPs)
Source: OCHA estimates, 2005
Lord’s Resistance Army main areas of operation, 2002–10
CCEENNTTRRAALL
AAFFRRIICCAANN SUDAN NN
RREEPPUUBBLLIICC
OObboo
EEzzoo
Maridi Juba
YYaammbbiioo
GGAARRAAMMBBAA Yei Magwi
NNAATTIIOONNAALL
PPAARRKK NNiimmuullee
DDuunngguu Kitgum
DEMOCRATIC Arua
Gulu
REPUBLIC
OF THE CONGO Lira
Soroti
LLaakkee
LRA main area of AAllbbeerrtt Lake
operation after Kyoga
December 2008
UGANDA
LRA main area of
operation during the KAMPALA KENYA
Juba talks, 2006–08
LRA area of operLaatkieon
during OperatEidowna Irrdon
Fist, 2002–05
Lake
International boundary
0 100km Victoria
State capital
0 50 miles