UGANDA

COMPENDIUM OF CONFLICTS IN UGANDA
abandoned by the
Acholi, Kony resorted
to the use of violence
against civilians
and abduction as a
recruitment strategy. 333
Using southern
Sudan as its base,
the LRA gradually
expanded its activities
in Uganda into other
districts, ultimately
reaching as far east
as Soroti district in
the early 2000s. After
withdrawing from
the Juba Peace Talks
that ran from 2006-
2008, the LRA began
to operate in eastern
Democratic Republic
of the Congo (DRC)
and, ultimately, in
the Central African
Republic. Over
nearly two decades
the Government of
Uganda – LRA situation
caused massive human
rights violations and
widespread atrocities
on the civilian
population, including,
but not limited to mass
abduction, massacres, rape, looting, mutilation, killing, torture and displacement. 334
Not all abuses, however, can be attributed to the LRA, as participants also placed
responsibility on Government forces. 335
Participants suggested that the Government might have had a hand in the long duration
of the war, as the military elite saw the war as a ‘business venture’. Other actors
that were held partially responsible for the long duration of the war were the Acholi
diaspora, the international community, and ‘the rest of Uganda’, who either stood
333 Research conducted in Gulu District
334 Doom, R. and Vlassenroot, K. (1999) Kony’s Message: A New Koine? The Lord’s Resistance Army in
Northern Uganda. African Affairs 98 (390), pp. 5-36
335 Dolan, C (2009) Social Torture: the case of northern Uganda, 1986-2006. New York, Berghahn Books.
152