Exposure to War Crimes and Implications for Peace Building in Northern Uganda

Abstract

Since the late 1980s, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a spiritualist rebel group with no clear political agenda, has waged a war against the Ugandan People's Democratic Army and the people of northern Uganda. Known for its extreme brutality, the LRA has killed and mutilated countless civilians and abducted tens of thousands of adults and children to serve as soldiers, porters, and sexual partners for its commanders. Up to a million and a half people have been displaced in camps, where they live in poverty and despair.^1,2