Why Acholi Traditional War Rituals Cannot Reintegrate Female Lord’s Resistance Army Combatants: A Case Study of Kwero Merok War Ritual

The Acholi are Nilotic Negroes who are part of the Lwo speaking people who migrated from Bahr-el Ghazal in the Sudan about 1600 AD. A section of the Acholi community under the umbrella of Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) waged a civil war against the sitting government of Uganda in 1986. LRA rebels abducted numerous children from Acholi-land and the neighbouring Lango community in northern Uganda regardless of their gender. The female returnees, whether they were recruited willingly or otherwise, are believed to have committed atrocities towards their own Acholi people during the period of insurgency. During their re-integration, these women were culturally challenged, not only for the atrocities they were believed to have committed while in the bush, but because of their status as women who violated their gender role status. The Acholi traditional culture does not approve of female combatants and some of the society members hold strong reservations regarding the new status of these women! They argue that the status of these former combatants who took lives of their own kin and kith is incongruent with Acholi perception of women as life givers, carer-givers and protectors! The article cautions that the stigma that the female returnees experience even after going through the different rituals is an indication that they are not fully reintegrated! Acholi traditional culture was in this case selected because it has been a pioneer through its traditional rituals to reintegrate these women in the Northern Ugandan community. However, it was noted in this article that cultural rituals such as kwero merok cannot fully reintegrate LRA female combatants.

Intercepted Communications in the Ongwen Case: Lessons to Learn on Documentary Evidence at the icc

In the Ongwen judgment, the International Criminal Court (icc) deemed ‘highly probative evidence’ the Lord’s Resistance Army radio communications intercepted. However, the Defence had argued that it was unreliable evidence for several reasons. After considering the definition and regulatory framework governing the admission and assessment of documentary evidence at the icc and retracing the road intercept evidence made from Uganda to the Ongwen trial, the article will analyse the issues posed by intercept evidence, including some of the challenges the Defence raised against their reliability. The objective is to call attention to the overlooked concerns the interception of communications during the period to which the charges refer may give rise to at the icc, in particular, in terms of reliability. The article argues that intercepted communications’ peculiar weaknesses require specific attention. As a consequence, their reliability and weight should be assessed with circumspection in the overall evidentiary context.

Christian Dimensions of Violence: The Séléka/Anti-Balaka Militias And The Lord’s Resistance Army In The Central African Republic

"Beginning in 2013, the Central African Republic has been engulfed in a civil war pitting successive governments against a substantial number of armed groups who also compete against each other for control over territory, population and resources. Some of these groups are claiming to be defenders of religious groups in the country, with the Séléka militias fighting for the Muslim communities and the anti-Balaka groups claiming Christian roots and inclinations. Other religiously inspired armed groups such as the Lord’s Resistance Army are also present in the country. The following study is an attempt to understand how the “religious” label can be applied to such armed groups and whether it can influence their behavior, thus bringing into light a valuable, albeit lesser known example on how AGs and religion are connected in contemporary Africa. Keywords: armed groups, religion, Central African Republic, violence, civil war "

Legacies of humanitarian neglect: long term experiences of children who returned from the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda

Background Much has been written about the short-term challenges facing children returning ‘home’ from rebel fighting groups, but little is known about the longer term day to day realities of return. This article presents findings from the first long-term assessment of the social and economic challenges facing an officially registered group of children who passed through an internationally-financed reception centre after a period of time with the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Methods Records from a reception centre were used to trace a random sample of individuals to their current location. Two hundred and thirty in-depth semi-structured interviews were carried out and 40 follow-up interviews between 2013 and 2016. Interviews were informed by long-term ethnographic research in the region. These interviews were subsequently coded and analysed to describe the long-term day to day realities of return. Results At the time of interview, 90% of formerly abducted people returned ‘home’ six or more years ago, and 75% returned nine or more years ago. The majority have managed to access family land for farming, but concerns about what they may have done to survive whilst living with the LRA adversely affects their day-to-day lives. However, some important differences were noted: those men and women who spent less time with the LRA are more likely to live on ancestral land with close relatives; and they are more likely to report experiencing stigma and a spiritual affliction called ‘cen’. In contrast, those who spent the longest time with the LRA are less likely to report these problems, they are mainly living in urban locations and tend to manage slightly better. Children born of war are vulnerable to abuse, irrespective of current residence. Conclusions Research findings question the merits of post-conflict reintegration programmes emphasising immediate family reunifications, without follow-up monitoring, social protection, education and skills training. By overlooking the diverse experiences of those who lived and fought with the LRA, and failing to anticipate or respond to the long term socio-political and economic challenges facing children on their return, reception centre processes not only failed to foster social reintegration, but they also inadvertently exacerbated the vulnerability of returning children.

Hindrances to Third-Party Interventions in Conflict Resolution: United Nations and Patterns of Constraints in Resolving the Lord’s Resistance Army Conflict Between 2008-2012

Since 1987, the Lord’s Resistance Army has continued systematic human rights violations in the Central African region. Cases of kidnapping, village raids, mass rapes, and murders, have become defining factors to the urgency of resolving the crisis. In an attempt to respond to the conflict, the United Nations Security Council has initiated a number of political and military-based resolutions to control the conflict since 2008, which includes extending UN peacekeeping mandates in Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Sudan, as well as coordinate efforts with relevant African Union bodies. However, its success is far-reached, urging the need to contextualize the forms of hindrances that the UN faced in responding to the crisis. Employing Rourke and Bouyer’s (1996) concept of collective security and measures of response success, with a research limitation set to 2008-2012, a qualitative research utilizing secondary data is implemented, concluding the following hindrances that can be categorized into the following; (1) Implementation of the additional mandate of the UN Peace Forces, (2) Application of the AU Regional Task Force, and (3) Implementation of the Disarmament, Demobilization, Repatriation, Resettlement, and Reintegration program. Received: 16 December 2020 / Accepted: 11 March 2021 / Published: 10 May 2021