LRA: Lord’s Resistance Army
Child Soldiers
History of The LRA The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) is a rebel group centrally located in several African countries. The exact mission of the LRA is unclear, however the group formed due to turmoil between the Ugandan government in southern Uganda and the northern Ugandan tribe, the Acholi in the 1980’s. Joseph Kony became the leader of the LRA in the late 1980’s. There are many different theories of how Joseph Kony gained his power however his strategies were unmistakably successful. Abducting children, and forming an army of child soldiers are what he is known for. According to the article, The ICC (International Criminal Court), Uganda and the LRA: Re-Framing the Debate, “Children have particularly suffered. It is estimated that they constitute over eighty – five percent of the LRA’s forces” (Clark 2). Assuming children are easily threatened is the only logical explanation as to why so many children make up the LRA. A child that is forced to kill or watch his/ her family die, pulled away from any educational future and that grows up knowing nothing but war will most likely be a faithful soldier to the only people he knows, the LRA. The children that escape, as strong as they are for escaping, end up with many problems. The children suffer traumatic psychological problems, malnourishment, physical injuries or amputees and many escape with no family to return to (Ehrenreich 81). In Kony’s 20-year rebellion the driving force that makes his rebel group the most successful in the world is the majority of child soldiers. The significance of the problem is how powerful he has become. He has destroyed the lives of so many children.
Governmental Propositions The DRC’s National and Regional Security Nexus article explains how the LRA and other rebel groups affect the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Central African Republic (CAR), Sudan, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda. The DRC is prominent in the solutions to peace processes because of the amount of organizations, locally and internationally that contribute to the solutions and to the rebel groups. The regional connection between the differing countries is the abduction of children in one country and the recruitment training done over the border to another country. A perfect example is the northern Uganda region and the Southern Sudan region. Children are abducted from their villages in Uganda and then forced over the border into Sudan where they become recruits. Understanding why this is an issue is easy. Creating a plausible solution to protect these children is another issue entirely. There are many organizations that are working on different solutions to end the LRA but there are only a few organizations specifically focusing on the protection of the children. Children are what make Kony so successful; they should be the top priority to end his rein. Throughout the years many different organizations have travelled to Uganda and the surrounding countries. Their goals have all been similar to aid in one or several problems affecting the areas. Children need adequate health care, education, and support. According to the article, Mutiple Trauma and Mental Health in Former Ugandan Child Soldiers, “ the term child soldier refers to any person below 18 years of age who is of has been associated with an armed force or armed group. This is not limited to children who participate in combat, but also refers to cooks, porters or sex slaves” (Klasen 573). One solution to end the LRA that has been successful is Operation Lightning Thunder, an army composed of several thousand troops and 100 American troops in the 4 countries affected by Kony. They have spanned throughout the jungle and into these countries significantly decreasing the numbers of Kony’s army (Johnson 2). I believe fighting the LRA only half solves the problem because the majority of the rebels being killed are also the children that need/ needed protection but are not receiving it. This brings about the psychological impact the LRA has upon the children abducted and forced into the rebel group. Mental Health of Child Soldiers Experiencing trauma will have impact on everyone but especially on children there can be severe mental health disorders, such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This leads to a lifelong struggle with logic, comprehension, emotion and carrying out simple tasks. In 2010 a study was done on previous child soldiers through the University Medical Center Hamburg and University of Hamburg. They conducted data from 330 former Ugandan child soldiers. Their results showed high percentages of beatings, severe physical injuries, domestic violence and community violence. These children also showed signs of mental health symptoms. For all 330 children in the study 12.0% showed anxious/ depressive behavior, 10.1% showed aggressive behavior and most importantly, 25.5% showed internalized problems (Klasen 578). This issue is more important than fighting the army, because the root cause of the 20 year rebellion is the early traumatic experiences the rebels face. Africa cannot fight the rebels without first considering why the rebels act in that way. The children have become both the victims and the perpetrators. It all goes back to the traumatic experiences they have faced that have breached their healthy mental states. The focus is on stopping Kony when it should be protecting children from adding to his army. The only way a war-lord can be stopped is by stopping his supply that makes him so successful. To Joseph Kony, the children are his supply for success. The Solution: Proposing Sustainable Building Communities We need to change the focus on fighting Kony to protecting the children. There have been many proposed solutions but with integrating each one and working towards the overall goal there can be a successful solution to ending child soldiers and the LRA. The plan I am proposing is putting a focus towards sustainable building communities that will allow all other solutions that have been proposed be successful as well. As the Journal of Traumatic Stress states, “African children that have safe home environments succeed more in education and tend to be healthier, physically and mentally” (Klasen 579). First the African Union and the local governments needs to focus entirely on the communities that the rebel groups are targeting. The international community will be needed to complete this task, especially organizations like the UN (United Nations), IOSD (International Organization for Sustainable Development) and NGO’s (Non Governmental Organizations). Stability for the African people is the highest priority in this plan. Demanding support for children at the local level government is what will enact the protection. The local people and local governments are needed to ensure the stability and sustainability of,
To follow through will these
different problems, community meetings will be held that will include
government officials, NGO’s currently in the areas and people from villages in
certain areas starting at the most impacted by the LRA to the least. These
meetings will be held once a month for 4 months each time focusing on several
of the issues that these villages have. These meetings will determine the
severity of the problems, what each problem needs to lessen the severity, how
much funding needs to be allocated to each problem, and how each problem will
protect the children. During these
processes government officials will need to come together to combine the needs,
and disperse them. The distribution will be to the governments in way of
protection for the communities, and the international communities in way of
funding and physical support during the building of each sustainable building
community. Lastly, the locals themselves in volunteering support for protection
of their communities, labor to help build them, and any economical support they
can donate to their communities. One such
organization already working towards sustainable buildings is BuildingAFRICA, a
non-profit organization. Their missing piece is lack of integration with the
governments and other international organizations. My solution will fill in all
the missing pieces that are needed to successfully protect the children. These
communities will allow health care demands to be met, higher populations in
schools, integration of different ethnicities with the common goal of protecting
children, and most importantly the communities will be involved in governmental
projects (such as protection and a growing economy) to sustain this future
stability. However the final decisions have to remain with the African people.
They are the ones directly affected and therefore they have to be the ones to
come together and make this solution work. A driving force of people towards
one goal of protecting the children is the only solution that will stop Joseph
Kony and the LRA. |
 Joseph Kony in 2006
 Previous Ugandan Child Soldiers
 Ugandan children outside a refugee camp. |
