Lord’s Resistance Army

The Lord's Resistance Army is Africa's most persistent and notorious 'terrorist' group. Led by the mysterious Joseph Kony, it has committed a series of horrific human rights abuses, including massacres and mutilations. Since the mid 1980s, it has abducted tens of thousands of people, including large numbers of children forced to train as fighters. The IC in 2005 issued warrants for Kony and his top commanders, and the United States is backing a military campaign against the group. But the LRA survives, continuing to inspire both fascination and fear.Authoritative but provocative, The Lord's Resistance Army provides the most comprehensive analysis of the group available. From the roots of the violence to the oppressive responses of the Ugandan government and the failures of the international community, this collection looks at this most brutal of conflicts in fascinating depth, and includes a remarkable first-hand interview with Kony himself.

The Lord's Resistance Army is Africa's most extraordinarily persistent and notorious 'terrorist' group. From the issue of child soldiers to the response of the Ugandan government, this book looks at the various aspects of this most brutal of conflicts.

Introduction - Tim Allen and Koen VlassenrootPart I: Interpretations of Uganda's war in the north1. Exploring the Roots of LRA Violence: Political Crisis and Ethnic Politics in Acholiland - Adam Branch2. Uganda's politics of foreign aid and violent conflict: The political uses of the LRA rebellion - Andrew Mwenda3. The Spiritual Order of the LRA - Kristof Titeca4. An African hell of colonial imagination? The Lord's Resistance Army/Movement in Uganda, another story - Sverker FinnströmPart II: Experiencing the LRA5. Chasing the Kony Story - Mareike Schomerus6. 'A terrorist is not a person like me' - an interview with Joseph Kony - Mareike Schomerus7. On the nature and causes of LRA abduction: What the abductees say - Christopher Blattman and Jeannie Annan8. Between two worlds: former LRA soldiers in northern Uganda - Ben Mergelsberg9. Encountering Kony: A Madi perspective - Ronald IyaPart III: Peace and justice10. Northern Ugandan: a 'forgotten conflict', again? The impact of the internationalization of the resolution process - Sandrine Perrot11. The Role of the Government of the South Sudan in Peace Talks to End the War in Northern Uganda - Ronald R. Atkinson12. NGO involvement in the Juba peace talk: the role and dilemmas of IKV Pax Christi - Simon Simonse, Willemijn Verkoren, Gerd Junne13. Bitter Roots: the 'invention' of Acholi traditional justice - Tim Allen14. The ICC Investigation of the Lord's Resistance Army: An Insider's View - Matthew BrubacherPostscript: a kind of peace and an exported war - Tim Allen, Frederick Laker, Holly Porter and Mareike SchomerusBibliography