Child Soldiers Northern Uganda

OVERVIEW Population below poverty: 31 % Hosts refugees Agricultural – employs over 80% of workforce Coffee is the biggest export Substantial natural resources Fertile soil, consistent rainfall, deposits of copper and gold Seeking economy stability Currency reform Raising producer prices on export crops Increasing prices of petroleum products Improving civil service wages GOAL: dampen inflation and boosting production/export earnings

HISTORY OF COUNTRY  Very distinct ethnic groups  Isolated from the outside world, ethnic groups functioned as separate kingdoms  David Livingston  Henry Morton Stanley  Berlin Conference  Independence 1962  Milton Obote (horrible, corrupt leader) 1962  Idi Amin (comes to power because of military coup)  Milton Obote (via election)  Obote is deposed of in military coup and replaced by Tito Okello  National Resistance Army rebels take Kampala and install Yoweri Museveni 1986-present

HISTORY OF LRA Originally know as the the Holy Spirit Movement Evolved into LRA under the leadership of Joseph Kony Active since One of Africa’s oldest, most violent, and persistent armed groups Estimated that 66,000 children were abducted between 1986 and 2005 ( At the height of the conflict more than 2 million people were displaced

CHILD SOLDIERS Heavy importance on recruitment of children (5 years and older) Abducted from villages and forced to fight 90% of LRA recruits are children (Pham, P. N. & Stover, E. 2009) Children are programmed (brain washed) to become “unfeeling, killing machines, a mere extension of the gun or machete” (Dunson, 2008). Boys are told that their “guns are now their mothers, best friends, everything” (Dunson, 2008). “In a very calculated way the rebels worked to destroy the human instincts of these young children in order to make them efficient” (Dunson, 2008). Roles include: soldiers, cooks, spies, messengers, sexual slaves and mothers to out-of-wedlock children

LOCAL RESPONSE  Uganda sign agreement aimed at containing Uganda rebel group, LRA  Army evacuates 400,000 civilians to neighboring countries to escape from LRA  2004: Government & LRA rebels hold first face-to-face talk, but no breakthrough  2005: Warrants issued for LRA leaders (including Joseph Kony)  2006: Government & LRA sign a truce aimed at ending their conflict – troops reduced & moved to bordering countries  2007: LRA claims that lack of funds for travel will delay peace talks  2008 (February): LRA sign what is meant to be a permanent ceasefire in Sudan  2008 (November): Joseph Kony fails to show up at signing of a peace agreement  2009 (March): Ugandan army withdraws from the DR Congo, where it was pursuing LRA rebels  2012: Ugandan Army captures senior LRA commander Caesar Achellam (major breakthrough)

LRA TODAY Mostly left Uganda after the Juba Peace Talks in Since 2008, they have carried their attacks in the border regions of Northeastern Congo, South Sundan, and Central African Republic The LRA is composed of several bands of fighters Due to increase awareness of the issue the size has gone from 1,000 in 2006, to 300 in 2012 (not counting women or children) Despite the smaller size their “destruction continues to be disproportionately large (Invisible Children, 2013).

PERSONAL RESPONSE Education (don’t believe everything you read) Government pressure Support GO THERE

References Angucia, M. (2009). Children and war in Africa: The crisis continues in Northern Uganda. International Journal on World Peace, 26(3), "CIA: The World Factbook 2000: Uganda." CIA World Fact Book (2002): Derluyn, I., Broekaert, E., Schuyten, G., & Temmerman, E. (2004). Post-traumatic stress in former Ugandan child soldiers. The Lancet, 363 (9412), doi: /S (04) Doom, Ruddy & Vlassenroot, Koen (1999). Kony’s Message: A New Koine? The Lord’s Resistance Army in Northern Uganda. Africa Affairs, 98 (390) Dunson, D. H. (2008). Child, victim, soldier. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books. Hanson, H.B. & Twaddle, M. (1988). Uganda Now: between decay & development. London: J. Currrey. "History." Uganda Country Review (2011): 6-8. Business Source Complete. EBSCO. 13 Oct J.B. (Oct 21, 2012). Can America make a difference? The economist. Retrieved from Kaplan, J. (2009). The Lord’s Resistance Army: Millennialism, violence, and the timeless dream. Religious Studies And Theology, 28 (1), Pham, P. N., Vinck, P., & Stover, E. (2009). Returning home: Forced conscription, reintegration, and mental health status of former abductees of the Lord's Resistance Army in Northern Uganda. BMC Psychiatry,9 doi: / X-9-23 Tapper, J. (Oct 14, 2011). Obama sends 100 US troops to Uganda to help combat Lord Resistance Army. ABC News. Retrieved from