Lord's Resistance Army (LRA)

Joseph Kony

The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), formed in 1987, is a rebel paramilitary group operating mainly in northern Uganda. The group is engaged in an armed rebellion against the Ugandan government in what is now one of Africa's longest-running conflicts. It is led by Joseph Kony, who proclaims himself a spirit medium, and apparently wishes to establish a state based on his unique interpretation of Biblical millenarianism. The LRA have been accused of widespread human rights violations, including mutilation, torture, rape, the abduction of civilians, the use of child soldiers and a number of massacres.

New hope for an end to Uganda's monstrous war

By Jeffrey Gettleman The New York Times
Published: September 14, 2006

GULU, Uganda In the beginning, it was simply called the Acholi war, and despite the brutality, few people outside Uganda paid attention.

The Lord's Resistance Army, a messianic rebel group, was exploring a new dimension of violence by building an army of abducted children and forcing them to burn down huts and slice off lips and pound newborn babies to death in wooden mortars, as though they were grinding grain.

"I killed and killed and killed," said Christopher Oyet, an 18-year-old former rebel who was kidnapped at 9. "Now, I am scared of myself."

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