The holiday season in Uganda is spelling out something far different from Christmas cheer and peace. The Lord's Resistance Army- LRA for short- has been spreading nothing but death, bloodshed, and chaos throughout various locations in Central Africa.
The Lord's Resistance Army
The LRA is a militia group based in Southern Sudan (although at this point their operations have spread throughout the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo).
Created and still currently led by a man named Joseph Kony, the guerrilla army has been plaguing all of northern Uganda, with a mission Kony claims to be "Christian motivated". His religion fueled war campaign was founded with the ultimate goal of establishing a new government policy in Uganda. Their actions to accomplish this so far has involved terrorizing the locals of poor villages, the destruction of hut homes, and conducting brutal physical torture of all those who don't support the cause.
An organization with this kind of platform could make it a little difficult to find members. However, Joseph Kony has resolved this problem via abducting hundreds of children; the boys are brainwashed into serving their army while the girls are used as child sex slaves.
Christmas Massacres in Uganda
Military action was eventually called in to handle the militia, however intervention met with a less than favorable outcome. Operation "Lightning Thunder" was an offensive led by the collected governments of Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and southern Sudan; all three uniting to stop a common enemy on December 2008.
However, the mission didn't exactly yield the results they wanted. The point of the operation was to target a hideout located in north-east DRC and capture high ranking officials within the LRA- no one of real importance was found. In retaliation, the Lord's Resistance Army retaliated with a series of bloody massacres starting on Christmas Day that same year.
Something of a "tradition" began and the LRA would once again, start another slaughter- one that expanded through greater territory- on December of next year, 2009. The body count during this time of year is frightful, by now exceeding a stomach cringing thousand-plus. Needless to say, Christmas has taken on a completely different meaning for the poor people of this area.
The Ghosts of Christmas Past
A new report has recently been created/made public via the collaboration of various advocacy groups and organizations, all of whom have the common goal of solving the threat presented by the LRA. The online work is an extensive article, informing the public about the Lord's Resistance Army and the massive body count they've left in their path.
Titled The Ghosts of Christmas Past,- aptly named for all those who died in the wake of the Lord's Resistance Army-the article provides a large amount of information regarding the LRA, in an effort of spreading global awareness. The published work in its entirety can be found here.
Join the Conversation