Taking Steps to Stop Violence in Uganda

By Broadside Opinion Columnist Michael Gryboski

The Lord’s Resistance Army is a brutal and violent movement that has waged war against its own people for nearly 20 years. A guerilla army, they’ve plagued Uganda’s efforts for peace within itself for their entire existence. They’ve gone by many different names since the 1980s, but whatever their title, they have been completely responsible for one of the longest military conflicts currently taking place in Africa. All too often, the crimes are invisible to us across the Atlantic, but students here are making a difference every day.

Since its beginning, the LRA has maintained a bizarre mixture of Christian and animist beliefs. Joseph Kony, their current leader, and is wanted by the international community for war crimes. He also claims to be able to communicate telepathically with people. When asked about negotiating peace with Yoweri Museveni, the long-serving president of Uganda, Kony said, “I will communicate with Museveni through the holy spirits and not through the telephone.” Although basing his operations under the guise of helping advance the interests of the Acholi people of Uganda, he once remarked, “If the Acholi don't support us, they must be finished.”

The LRA’s most infamous brutality is its treatment of children. The military faction oversees a large operation of human trafficking of children. As the war drags on, enlistments go down. In order to maintain their numbers, the LRA now regularly abducts children from Acholi villages in the north. According to Amnesty International, “Women and girls kidnapped by the LRA in the past have been used as sex slaves, while boys and men have been forced into combat and forced to commit atrocities, as well as used as porters to carry looted property.”

The few who have escaped talk of the unflinching cruelty placed upon the abducted youths, which estimates say make up as much as 80 percent of the LRA’s armed forces. To avoid this nightmare, countless children leave their homes every night and walk miles to the safety of towns and cities. They have been known as “night commuters,” but a better term has arisen: the invisible children.
All of us can do something about this situation, as many here are demanding action from the international community.

Also known as the GMU Chapter of Invisible Children, they have recently taken the name UgandaHELP and had an introductory meeting last semester. It was through their efforts that they were able to get the founders of the organization Invisible Children to come to campus in May of this year. These founders were filmmakers who went to East Africa in 2003 and stumbled upon the daily plight endured by the children of Uganda, making them a little more visible to our society. The event at Mason included a screening of their documentary Invisible Children, which showcased what the filmakers experienced abroad.

Events are also happening for the sake of awareness. Last year the GMU Chapter of Invisible Children had a “Displace Me Mason” event at the north entrance of the Johnson Center. With cardboard boxes and mock shantytowns, Invisible Children simulated the conditions often found for refugees of the conflict. “Displace Me Mason” was a follow up to an even larger event in Washington, D.C. called “Displace Me,” which had 6,000 participants camping overnight.

The LRA has had many names in its time. One of the earliest was Lakwena Part Two, another later on was the Lord’s Army. That one was changed to the Uganda People’s Democratic Christian Army, with its present name arriving in 1992. No matter what it is called, this terrorist faction is guilty of numerous crimes, often inflicting them upon the most vulnerable demographic of the human race. Hopefully, with more people in the global community and this campus community becoming aware of their evils, a new name will be given to this guerilla movement: disbanded.