The Northern Uganda Conflict

Abstract

Conflict leaves deep scars on a country. For more than two decades the Lord’s Resistance armed conflict uprooted the people of Acholi from their homes and farms, making those affected vulnerable to insecurity, hunger, disease, and trauma. Approximately 1.2 million out of the total 1.8 internally displaced persons were from Acholi ethnic groups, representing 90 per cent of the local population forced to move by the conflict. Two-thirds of those displaced were women and children, who ended up in poorly protected camps with limited access to basic social services, such as education, healthcare, economic independence, awareness of the community human rights and land rights laws, aspects which are essential for the survival of society. The conflict was also marred by brutal sexual violence against women and children that severely resulted in more psychological trauma devastating the entire northern Uganda communities. The situation continued until 1989, when few women dared to begin talking about how to end the conflict. By 2006 the LRA and its leader Joseph Kony were pushed out of the country and into neighbouring territories and peace was restored to northern Uganda.