Opinion Article on Committee Session #4

Disarmament and International Security (DISEC)

Combating the Existence of Lord’s Resistance Army

Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a militant group by Joseph Kony has waged war on the Ugandan government and its people, called the Acholi, for almost 34 years. This militant group is one of Africa’s most brutal military forces. LRA movement has demonstrated a brazen disregard for human rights and international law, such as mutilation of non-combatants, the use of children and adults as foot soldiers, sex slaves, and porters. Killings and mutilation were part of the strategy to discourage local people to work with the government or even national armies. They wanted to scare the population regarding what they have, such as weapons. The root causes of this movement are the militarization of society, the deinstitutionalization of politics, the north-south divide.

The possible answer to why the war between LRA and the Ugandan government is, either the LRA is strong because it is supported by the local population or the Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF) is weak. The government is also facing an established relationship with the LRA. The media thinks getting to peace is not an easy way to do it, although the LRA movement has received much global attention. Quoting from the delegate of Sudan, the reason why the negotiation fails is that the LRA itself is refused to negotiate. They refused to sign the peace agreement in April 2008. The joint military exercise is judged to be out of sync because the military needs to be equipped with intelligence training and quoting from the delegate of France, first thing first needs to find the root of the LRA movement before doing anything else.

Joseph Kony must be punished.