About Uganda

Since 1986, the Lord’s Resistance Army has terrorized the mostly Acholi people of Northern Uganda. The rebel group, led by Joseph Kony, is accused of abducting more than 40, 000 children, displacing nearly 2 million people. The LRA has routinely kidnapped young boys, forcing them to join the rebel group as child soldiers. In most situations, they were forced to kill their own parents and family, deliberately brutalising them so they would have no one and nothing to run back to.

Abducted girls were systematically raped, tortured and used as sex slaves, as well as porters and servants. Children in the Gulu and Kitgum areas of Northern Uganda fled to avoid capture by the rebels. Known as the ‘night commuters,’ they left home each night, walking many miles into town centres, hoping to find safety.

It is not known exactly how many civilians have been killed in Northern Uganda in the past two decades, but it’s believed to be in the hundreds of thousands. The Ugandan government created the IDP or Internally Displaced Peoples camps in the region in the mid-90s. Some argue the camps were a deliberate attempt to punish local people for the oppressive rule of President Milton Obote, a native of Northern Uganda. Since the war began, 99% of the Acholi people have been put in camps.

Local people argue they have been marginalized for decades. Certainly, the region’s development does not bear comparison with the South of Uganda. During Britain’s colonial rule, economical and political development was encouraged around the capital city and the area to the north became a source for military recruitment and manual labour. When Idi Amin was in power (1971-79), the Acholi people, especially the men, were persecuted and executed for their past association with the colonial army and for their support of President Milton Obote (1962-71, 1980-85).

The Ugandan government maintains the camps it created have been safer than the villages, because the Ugandan army has provided security. However many local people have perceived the camps as prisons, leaving them vulnerable to disease, and attack, and contributing to the destruction of the Acholis’ traditional way of life. Two generations of children have been born into the camps with little access to education or health care. At the height of the conflict, 1, 000 people a month were dying of diseases caused by the close proximity of the huts and due to a lack of nutrition. There is little land in the camps to cultivate food, meaning residents are dependent on aid from NGOs such as the WFP (World Food Program).

In February 2008, Joseph Kony signed a permanent ceasefire agreement with the Ugandan government. However he has remained elusive, failing to sign a final peace agreement on several occasions. The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Kony in October 2005, and it is thought he will never sign because he fears extradition to the ICC. The LRA abducted 350 in CAR recently, and in December 2008, Kony and his rebels were accused of attacking a church in the DRC and hacking 400 people to death.

As mentioned above, since the LRA’s rebellion began in 1986, 99% of the population in Acholiland has been forcibly displaced into the camps. While some people have slowly started to go back to their villages in Northern Uganda, they are still fearful of the LRA returning. It is estimated that more than one million people remain in the camps. By tradition the Acholis are farmers but after 20 years in the camps, they fear their children and grandchildren will have no farming skills. Consequently, many men are idle, leading to massive social problems such as alcoholism, domestic violence and child abuse.

Camp residents suffer from depression, anxiety, hopelessness and fear. There are also many people, especially children, with suicidal tendencies. The level of child suicide is well above the national average. There is an absence of health and education facilities and general social or psychological support: a quarter of children have never attended school and a third have not completed primary school.

Even when people do eventually return to their farms, they are faced with the possibility that the LRA may return. The Acholi are also targeted by the Karamajong, a tribe from the east who regularly raids cattle from Acholiland. The Acholis say the police and army do little to protect civilians or their property from these attacks.

In the event that more people leave camps and return to their land, there will inevitably be land disputes: many are without documentary proof of title. In effect, the Acholi people are faced with start life from scratch in the villages. They are keen to rebuild their homes; schools, hospitals, roads and to relearn their ancestral expertise at farming, while coping with the trauma and memory of war.