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Introduction
The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) is a violent and relentless militant group led by Joseph Kony initially formed to resist the government of Uganda. It started operations from 1986, one of the longest drawn conflicts of the region. It is responsible for killings, abductions and displacement of persons from Africa.
According to the last survey by, the LRA abducted around 66,000 people up till 2005. The abductees are released but suffer violation at the hands of the army including sex slavery of children. Following pressure however, the army vacated Uganda and moved on to the DR of Congo (DRC), the Central African Republic (CAR), and South Sudan.UN Refugee Agency
But the vacating of Uganda is not a solution and the threat and terror spread by the LRA in Congo is increasing in Congo. The group is responsible for more than 100,000 deaths (United Nations, 2013), of which more than 2,319 were in CRC, CAR and South Sudan in between 2008 and 2011. (US Department of State, 2011).
The number of abductions is also rising with over 5, 346 abductions recorded with 60 in just the last month of which only 26 returned in poor state. (US Department of State, 2011) (LRA Crisis Tracker, 2015) Towards the end of March, 16 Congolese were abducted and 15 of them were already refugees to the area escaping from the conflict. These peaceful farmers were abducted and 13 returned, the elders with open wounds and a young girl raped while the rest were still missing.
This sudden upsurge is not an isolated incident. The activities of terror have accelerated in retaliation to the arrest of Dominic Ongwen, LRA’s commander who committed heinous crimes. (UN, 2015).
The appalling truth is that over 1,500 children were also abducted since March 2011. (UNOCHA, 2011) Furthermore, 438,504 people have been displaced in Congo, CAR and South Sudan since December 2011. (OCHA, 2012) The LRA also loots houses and facilities and causes economic turmoil in the area with frequent exchanges of fire with the police forces. (LRA Crisis Tracker, 2015).
Rationale for Involvement
The fast deteriorating situation has mandated UN involvement. Not only are the people terrorized, driven out of homes to refugee camps but the refugees are also being abducted and tortured and terrible crimes are committed towards them including physical abuse and rape. As in the case of Uganda, peace was restored to the nation after the departure of LRA and 95% of the people terrorized by LRA were able to start their lives again…
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