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Women in Peacemaking and Peacebuilding in Northern Uganda

Part of the book series: The Anthropocene: Politik—Economics—Society—Science ((APESS,volume 22))

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Abstract

The roots of the northern Uganda conflict between the government of Uganda (GoU) and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) was entwined with the history of conflicts in Uganda and the rise to power of the National Resistance Movement/Army (NRM/A). The conflict persisted because of fragmented and divisive national politics, strategies and tactics adopted by the armed protagonists, and regional and international interests. The harrowing war has claimed many innocent civilian lives, forcefully displaced over 1.8 million people, and destroyed schools and health centres. The effect of the war has been characterised by widespread and systematic violations of human rights, including rape, abduction of men, women and children, torture, increased economic decay, and national and regional insecurity. The war came to an end in 2006, when peace talks between the government and the LRA resulted in a ceasefire. However, LRA’s leader, Joseph Kony, was not inclined to sign the Final Peace Agreement. Hence, a permanent ceasefire and disarmament, demobiliation and reintegration (DDR) did not occur. Subsequently, the LRA was forced out of Uganda by the Ugandan People’s Defence Force (UPDF), and has since been isolated.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See report of the Committee on Defence and Internal Affairs on the War in Northern Uganda (1997: 1).

  2. 2.

    Pinyrac is an Acholi expression which means the situation is beyond immediate control.

  3. 3.

    Lakwena is an Acholi word that means a spiritual leader.

  4. 4.

    Night-commuters were security measures devised by parents to protect their children from abduction by the LRA. Parents sent their children to spend the nights in Gulu, Kitgum and Pader towns. This involved covering estimated distances of up to 5 km each way between the towns and villages during the late afternoon hours and early morning hours of the next day.

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  1. Constituent College of Agriculture, Gulu University, Moroto, Karamoja, Uganda

    Sidonia Angom

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  1. Sidonia Angom
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Correspondence to Sidonia Angom .

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Angom, S. (2018). Study Context. In: Women in Peacemaking and Peacebuilding in Northern Uganda. The Anthropocene: Politik—Economics—Society—Science, vol 22. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75883-1_4

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