The Rise of the Lord’s Resistance Army: HIV/AIDS or Politics?

Abstract

The war in northern Uganda, between the Lord‟s Resistance Army (LRA) and the central government which is generally agreed to have started in 1986 and ended in 2006, has attracted many theories as to its origin. While most scholars blame it on marginalisation, discrimination, loss of power by the locals and religious fanaticism which led to acts of terrorism, we assert that one of the underlying causes or perhaps the only leading cause was the emergence of “slim‟ or HIV/AIDS. The other so-called causes could have only been mere triggers of the desperation stemming from this disease which at the time had no known medical relief, unlike today when we have a plethora of medicines which can be applied to its management and to prolong life. The influx of the Ugandan National Resistance Army which led to the setting up of barracks and garrisons in nearly all parts of Acholiland, the setting up of the Local Defence Unit which considerably increased the number of armed personnel in the region as well as forcing people into over-crowded internally displaced camps with little amenities and privacy further exacerbated the spread of HIV/AIDS and in turn public opinion against the National Resistance Movement/Army (NRM/A) government.