Painful LRA memories return  on day of Ongwen verdict

Today’s International Criminal Court (ICC) verdict about former top Lord Resistance Army (LRA) commander Dominic Ongwen – whether he is convicted or acquitted – is likely to stir emotions and evoke troubling memories in Acholi, the epicentre of the insurgency.
The LRA war commanded by former altar boy Joseph Kony, who claims to have mystical powers and disposed rule based on the 10 Biblical Commandments, erupted in 1987 and succeeded Holy Spirit Movement rebellion led Alice Auma Lakwena, Kony’s aunt.

Both Lakwena and Kony retailed themselves as iconic defenders of Acholi people against the excesses of President Museveni-led government.
Ugandan troops defeated Lakwena in Busoga in1988 and she fled to Kenya where she died in a refugee camp
For nearly two-decades, the LRA mainly terrorised Acholi Sub-region before making a foray into Lango and Teso where Amuka and Arrow Boys militia groups, respectively, beat them back aided by UPDF firepower.

The rebel group is responsible for one of Africa’s longest running conflict and Kony, an ICC indictee, has eluded capture despite hot pursuit over the years by more modern Ugandan military and American Special Forces. 
The memory of LRA across much of northern Uganda was that of a group that abducted children as soldiers, pillaged villages for food and material possession and conscripted girls as sex slaves.

It’s estimated upto two million people were forced into Internally displaced persons (IDP) camps from where tens of thousands died due to squalid conditions. 

Instead of targeting the military, Kony and his fighters turned guns against locals they accused of siding with the government of Uganda.  

To put the suffering of the innocent community to an end, in 1991, the Ugandan military under the command of David Tinyefuza, who has since renamed himself David Sejusa, launched the brutal Operation North that more or less deployed a scorched earth policy.
The indiscriminate targeting caused disaffection among the population and others elected to join the rebels for self-defence and the hapless were caught in cross-fire.
 LRA drew support from the government of Sudan which claimed to do so in retaliation of Uganda’s long support to the John Garang’s Sudan Peoples Liberations Army/Movement (SPLA/M).

The LRA became more aggressive in its ill operations against unarmed civilians, some locals who teamed up to counter their ill motives were not spared either.
In 2002, the Ugandan army launched Operation Iron Fist commanded by late Aronda Nyakairima, which weakened the LRA, but did not stop its atrocities.   

For fears of being abducted, children, nicknamed night commuters, trekked to trading centres and towns as early as 4pm where they spent nights in the cold on shop porches, hospitals, schools and churches.

Men of God step in
In their efforts to end the war that had seen many lives lost, destruction of properties, in 1997, the clergy operating in Acholi formed Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative (ARLPI) to advance their search for peaceful resolution of the conflict.

Now Gulu Archbishop John Baptist O’dama and retired Kitgum Bishop Macleord Baker Ochola stewarded efforts to build confidence in the LRA fighters to embrace peace talks, but the government looked at the clerics with suspicion, occasionally branding them collaborators.   
Then State Minister for Northern Uganda, Betty Bigombe, had nearly secured Knoy’s signature on a peace deal in 1994 before things faltered at the last minute.

In 1998, the ARLPI met parents of abducted children, chiefs, elders and local council leaders to explore urgent ways to end the insurgency. They held rallies and organised prayers to galvanise the population to reject violence, and placed fliers with messages exhorting peace in markets known to be frequented by LRA rebels.

These decisions were influenced by the traditional values and norms of the Acholi people, which emphasised reconciliation and restorative approaches rather than acts of revenge.
Programmes on the state-run Radio Freedom, and later Mega FM, provided a forum for people to voice their views and raise issues directly with both the LRA (whose members were known to tune in) and state security forces.

The ARLPI also wrote pastoral letters – open letters in the press – to the LRA and the government. The letters highlighted the urgent need for a peaceful resolution of the conflict and spoke out strongly against forced displacement and the poor conditions within displacement camps.
The government’s decision to set up the Amnesty Commission 1999 came in handy as it helped many rebels who surrendered to be forgiven and processed for resettlement and ARLPI used the amnesty arrangement to persuade both the LRA and government to talk.

Hopes for peace talks were dashed in 2002 when government forces launched Operation Iron Fist, and LRA spread its tentacles to Lango and Teso sub-regions and parts of West Nile.
LRA and ARLPI had more than 24 meetings with minutes of all meetings recorded and hard copies given to both President Museveni and the LRA for transparency and consistency.
The second meeting in April 2001 in Pajule Sub-county, Pader district, was interrupted by the UPDF and a cultural leader was injured.
Heavy UPDF bombardment disrupted a fifth meeting in Pajule in 2003.

LRA counter-accused ARLPI of working for the government and trick them to be decimated and Kony killed.
In latter years, the war spiked and subsided intermittently until 2005 when LRA, under UPDF pressure and South Sudan’s self-government, relocated to Garamba forest in the Democratic Republic of Congo from where the rebel force made incursions into the Central African Republic and Chad.
The International Criminal Court in the same year issued arrest warrants for Kony, his deputy Vincent Otti, Okot Odhiambo, Raska Lukwiya and Dominic Ongwen.

Within months the LRA leadership had expressed a desire for peace talks with Uganda government, and the talks began in earnest in 2006 under Government of South Sudan mediation.
Whereas Kony at the last moment in 2008 declined to put his signature to the peace pact, the end to fighting enabled internally displaced people’s camps to close and nearly two million to return home.
 In the same year, Vincent Otti, Kony’s deputy was killed.  It’s alleged that Kony himself killed Otti, who he accused of spying on him and working for the government of Uganda.

Worst LRA massacres
The Lukodi massacre. Bungatira Sub-county in Gulu District, 69 lives were lost to suspected Lord Resistance Army Rebels (LRA), in May 19, 2004.
Atiak massacre. The LRA attacked Atiak IDP, Atiak Sub- county in present day Amuru District, in 1994. A total of  300 lives  were lost. The attack is alleged to have been commanded Vincent Otti, the former LRA second in Command.
 
The rebels also abducted dozens of people before retreating to their hideouts.
 In 2002, 28, people were allegedly ‘cooked’ in pots by Kony’s rebels in Omot Sub- county, Agago District.
 A total of 56, people were murdered by the LRA in Mucwiny Sub-county, Kitgum District.