(no subject)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3462901.stm
fighting the Ugandan Government for nearly 18 years
leader, Joseph Kony
seeds of this terrible conflict were sown in the defeat in 1986 of Presidents Milton Obote and Tito Okello by forces loyal to Uganda's current leader, Yoweri Museveni.
defeated fighter reformed and eventually rallied to a spiritualist - Alice Lakewenya
She was in turn defeated in 1987 - and other rebels threw in the towel - leaving a power vacuum in northern Uganda.
It was this that Joseph Kony filled with the Lord's Resistance Army.
Twenty-thousand children have been abducted - often forced to kill their own parents so they have no way back
They are used as expendable troops - frequently not even given guns to fight with
In essence he appears to believe that his role is to cleanse the Acholi people.
uses biblical references to explain why it is necessary to kill his own people, since they have - in his view - failed to support his cause.
They also believe that if they surrendered they would be killed by the government
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord's_Resistance_Army
rebel paramilitary group operating mainly in northern Uganda.
one of Africa's longest-running conflicts
Joseph Kony, who proclaims himself a spirit medium, and apparently wishes to establish a state based on his unique interpretation of Biblical millenarianism.
Spiritual medium: individual who claims the ability to receive messages from spirits, ghosts, or other discorporate entities, or claims that he or she can channel such entities -- that is, write or speak in the voice of these entities rather than in the medium's own voice.
soldiers and sex slaves
abductions primarily from the Acholi people,
Up to 12,000 people have been killed in the violence, with many more dying from disease and malnutrition as a direct result of the conflict. Nearly two million civilians have been forced to flee their homes
Despite these forced migrations, the plight of the Acholi people has received little media coverage in the developed world. Not until April 2004 did the UN Security Council issue a formal condemnation.
the government has been unable to end the insurgency so far. Ongoing peace negotiations have been complicated by an investigation by the International Criminal Court. The conflict continues to retard Uganda's development efforts, costing the poor country's economy a cumulative total of at least $1.33 billion, which is equivalent to 3% of GDP, or $100 million annually.[1] A 2005 poll of humanitarian professionals, media personalities, academics and activists identified the conflict in the north of Uganda as the second worst "forgotten" humanitarian emergency in the world.[2]
January 1986 overthrow of President Tito Okello, by the National Resistance Army (NRA)1987 Joseph Kony made his first appearance as a spirit medium, one of many who emerged after the initial success of the Holy Spirit Movement The June 1988 peace accord between Uganda People's Democratic Army and the NRA
left the group led by Kony as the only significant rebel force operating in Acholiland Former UPDA commander Odong Latek convinced Kony to adopt conventional guerrilla tactics.
Prior to this, LRA forces normally attacked in a cross-shaped formation with designated persons sprinkling holy water, much like the Holy Spirit Movement. (Behrend 184) Tactics since consist primarily of surprise attacks on civilian targets, such as villages. The LRA will also occasionally carry out large-scale attacks to underline the inability of the government to protect the populace.
Until 1991 the LRA raided the populace for supplies, which were carried away by villagers who were abducted for short periods
because some of the NRA were so violent, Acholi Betty Oyella Bigombe, the Minister charged with ending the insurgency, created "Arrow Groups" mostly armed with bows and arrows, as a form of local defence. As the LRA was armed with modern weaponry, the bow-and-arrow groups were overpowered. Nevertheless, the creation of the Arrow Groups angered Kony, who began to feel that he no longer had the support of the population
There was also a marked change in how the LRA perceived the conflict. Having become convinced that the Acholi were now collaborating with the Museveni government, Kony began to target the civilians using his increased military strength
1994 saw the first mass forced abduction of children and young people
The attacks on civilians have at least three strategic objectives. First, to deny the government information about its movements by forcing the rural population to flee. Second, to gather resources from the looted villages. (Refugee Law Project 20) Third and most bizarrely, to show the populace that the government is unable or unwilling to provide protection, and thus encourage people to support to the LRA
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/lra.htm
The LRA abducted young girls as sex and labor slaves. Other children, mainly girls, were reported to have been sold, traded, or given as gifts by the LRA to arms dealers in Sudan. While some later escaped or were rescued, the whereabouts of many children remain unknown.
terrorized them into virtual slavery as guards, concubines, and soldiers. In addition to being beaten, raped, and forced to march until exhausted, abducted children were forced to participate in the killing of other children who had attempted to escape
Amnesty International reported that without child abductions, the LRA would have few combatants. More than 6,000 children were abducted during 1998
The LRA rebels say they are fighting for the establishment of a government based on the biblical Ten Commandments
Forty-eight people were hacked to death near the town of Kitgum in the far north of Uganda on 25 July 2002. Local newspaper reports said elderly people were killed with machetes and spears, and babies were flung against trees. Ugandans were shocked by the brutality of the latest attack by the rebel Lord's Resistance Army.
The vicious rebel attack in northern Uganda raised questions about planned peace talks between the group, the Lord's Resistance Army, and Uganda's government. President Yoweri Museveni had recently agreed to peace talks brokered by Ugandan religious leaders. The Ugandan army has been trying to crush the LRA rebellion for 16 years without success. President Museveni gave his backing to peace talks to be brokered by religious leaders. But, Ugandan army spokesman Major Shaban Bantariza said he believes this is a waste of time because the rebel leader, Joseph Kony, does not have any real agenda to discuss.
http://www.hrw.org/reports97/uganda/
Stella, fifteen:
They came to our school in the middle of the night. We were hiding under the beds but they banged on the beds and told us to come out. They tied us and led us out, and they tried to set the school building on fire. We walked and walked and they made us carry their property that they had looted. At about six a. m. they made us stop and they lined up in two lines, and made us walk between them while they kicked us.
On the second day of marching our legs were swollen. They said, "Eh, now, what should we do about your legs? You must walk, or do you want us to kill you? It's your choice." So we kept going.
On the third day a little girl tried to escape, and they made us kill her. They went to collect some big pieces of firewood. Then they kicked her and jumped on her, and they made us each beat her at least once with the big pieces of wood. They said, "You must beat and beat and beat her." She was bleeding from the mouth. Then she died. Then they made us lie down and they beat us with fifteen strokes each, because they said we had known she would try to escape.
http://www.apologeticsindex.org/l/l44.html
When the rebels move on, they leave behind the bodies of the dead. But after each raid, the rebels take away some of those who remain living. In particular, they take young children, often dragging them away from the dead bodies of their parents and siblings
dedicated to overthrowing the government of Uganda, but in practice the rebels appear to devote most of their time to attacks on the civilian population
they raid villages, loot stores and homes, burn houses and schools, and rape, mutilate and slaughter civilians unlucky enough to be in their path
They tie the children to one another, and force them to carry heavy loads of looted goods as they march them off into the bush. Children who protest or resist are killed. Children who cannot keep up or become tired or ill are killed. Children who attempt to escape are killed
deaths are not quick--a child killed by a single rebel bullet is a rarity. If one child attempts to escape, the rebels force the other abducted children to kill the would-be escapee, usually with clubs or machetes. Any child who refuses to participate in the killing may also be beaten or killed.
bring their captives across the border to a Lord's Resistance Army camp in Sudan. In the bush in Sudan, a shortage of food and water reduces many children to eating leaves for survival; deaths from dysentery, hunger and thirst are frequent. Living conditions in the Lord's Resistance Army camp are slightly better, because the Sudanese government supplies the Lord's Resistance Army with both food and arms in exchange for assistance in fighting the rebel Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA).
BACKGROUND:
The report says the seeds of this terrible conflict were sown in the defeat in 1986 of Presidents Milton Obote and Tito Okello by forces loyal to Uganda's current leader, Yoweri Museveni.
The remnants of the defeated forces fled north, to their home areas - fearful that the new government would carry out attacks in retribution for government massacres in the Luwero triangle under the previous regimes.
The International Criminal Court has issued arrests warrants for five leaders of the Lord's Resistance Army, a Uganda cult notorious for raping, maiming and killing children, a U.N. official said on Thursday.
The warrants, which follow sealed indictments, are the first issued by the new court in The Hague, the first permanent global tribunal set up to try individuals for genocide, war crimes and systematic human rights abuses
http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/uganda/document.do?id=3D73A7B74B786C84802569A500717FF6
Human rights abuses are also being committed against adults in northern Uganda, by government forces as well as by the LRA. UPDF soldiers have been responsible for illegal detentions, extrajudicial executions, rape and other forms of torture. However, Amnesty International has chosen to issue a report which focuses on abuses against children (and therefore mainly on abuses committed by the LRA) because thousands are currently being abused and tens of thousands more live each day at risk of being abducted. The wider dynamic of human rights abuses in Gulu and Kitgum Districts, including violations by the army, will be the subject of a separate report in late 1997
Northern Ugandans made up a significant proportion of the armed forces of these past governments. Some northerners claim that since 1986, when the current government took power, the rest of Uganda has turned its back on the north, blaming the Acholi in particular for mass human rights violations in the past. They say that this has created two nations - a prosperous, politically stable south and a devastated, backward north.(3)
http://rhaarsager.blogspot.com/2005/10/lords-resistance-army.html
has bases in Southern Sudan (east of the Nile, north of the Uganda border).
http://hrw.org/english/docs/1997/09/18/uganda1528.htm
The Lord's Resistance Army's abduction of children is part of a troubling world-wide trend towards the increased use of children as soldiers. Children are more easily coerced and manipulated than adults, and the proliferation of light-weight automatic weapons makes it possible for even young children to take part in armed conflicts. Throughout the world, an estimated quarter of a million children under the age of eighteen serve as soldiers in government forces or armed opposition groups today. "Involvement in armed conflict violates every right a child has," said Yodon Thonden, counsel to the Human Rights Watch Children's Right's Project. "The fact that so many children are being used as soldiers throughout the world demonstrates the failure of the international community to protect and care for its children, and the abduction of children by the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda represents a particularly tragic instance of that failure."
http://www.oslis.k12.or.us/framesets/ebsco_All_Frameset.php
The LRA, a Christian fundamentalist group lead by Joseph Kony, seeks to install a government ruled by the Ten Commandments. It was declared a terrorist organization by Western countries earlier this year.
The assistance involves American satellite photography and other electronic surveillance methods to help Uganda cut off support the group apparently enjoys from neighboring Sudan.
"There will be no U.S. soldiers on the ground; we are using American dollars and American technology," an unidentified U.S. official reportedly told the Washington Times.
Earlier this year, President Yoweri Museveni traveled to Washington and greeted U.S. President George W. Bush in a reciprocal visit in July. The Bush administration approved a Ugandan request for logistical support and intelligence in August as part of a wider strategy to defeat terrorist groups operating in East Africa.
Any resemblance to these religions is superficial: While the army observes rituals such as praying the rosary and bowing toward Mecca, there is no prescribed theology in the conventional sense. Kony's beliefs are a haphazard mix from the Bible and the Qur'an, tailored around his wishful thinking, personal desires, and practical needs of the moment. Jesus is the Son of God. But instead of saving the world from sin through his sacrificial love on the Cross, he is a source of power employed for killing those who oppose Kony. The Holy Spirit is not the Divine Comforter, but one who directs Kony's tactical military decisions.
http://www.oslis.k12.or.us/framesets/ebsco_All_Frameset.php
The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) is one of the larger terrorist organizations in the world.
LRA crimes against humanity are so repulsive that its only former ally, the Islamic government of Sudan, jettisoned its relationship with the LRA to improve Sudan's international relations. (Credible sources in Uganda insist Sudan still supplies weapons to the LRA, however
Nearly 90 percent of LRA fighters are enslaved children, kidnapped from their families.
Akello Lwanga, a physician, spent two years treating LRA victims at an internally displaced persons camp in Pader. "If Americans saw this on TV as often as they see the Middle East," he said, "it would stop."
Ordinary Christians can help stop LRA terrorism. Presenting the issue to churches, continuing in intercessory prayer over the conflict, donating to Christian agencies that work with Ugandan children, and pressing government officials for action all work to save LRA victims.
Michael Oruni, director of Uganda's Children of War Rehabilitation Center, told CT he was urging Christians to get
How to HELP
Here are key Christian and charitable organizations that work with the victims of the LRA conflict in northern Uganda.
FAR REACHING MINISTRIES
www.farreachingministries.org
951-677-4474
WORLD VISION
www.worldvision.org
www.seekjustice.org
888-511-6548
SAVE THE CHILDREN
www.savethechildren.org
800-SAVETHECHILDREN
OXFAM
www.oxfam.org.uk
www.oxfamamerica.org
800-77-OXFAM
JESUIT REFUGEE SERVICE
www.jesref.org
202-462-0400
]
http://www.oslis.k12.or.us/framesets/ebsco_All_Frameset.php
AS THE LIGHT FADED from the northern Ugandan sky; the children emerged from their families' mud huts to begin the long walk along dirt roads to Gulu, the nearest town. Wide-eyed toddlers held older kids' hands. Skinny boys and girls on the verge of adolescence peered warily into roadside shadows. Some walked as far as seven miles. They were on the move because they live in a world where a child's worst fears come true, where armed men really do come in the darkness to steal children, and their shambling daily trek to safety has become so routine there's a name for them: "night commuters."
Michael, a thin 10-year-old wrapped in a patched blanket, spoke of village boys and girls abducted by the armed men and never seen again. "I can't get to sleep at home because I fear they'll come and get me," he said.
Around the time of my trip to northern Uganda this past November, some 21,000 night commuters trudged each twilight into Gulu, and another 20,000, aid workers said, flocked into the town of Kitgum, about 60 miles away. The children, typically bedding down on woven mats they'd brought with them, packed themselves into tents, schools, hospitals and other public buildings serving as makeshift sanctuaries that were funded by foreign governments and charities and guarded by Ugandan Army soldiers.
fighting the Ugandan Government for nearly 18 years
leader, Joseph Kony
seeds of this terrible conflict were sown in the defeat in 1986 of Presidents Milton Obote and Tito Okello by forces loyal to Uganda's current leader, Yoweri Museveni.
defeated fighter reformed and eventually rallied to a spiritualist - Alice Lakewenya
She was in turn defeated in 1987 - and other rebels threw in the towel - leaving a power vacuum in northern Uganda.
It was this that Joseph Kony filled with the Lord's Resistance Army.
Twenty-thousand children have been abducted - often forced to kill their own parents so they have no way back
They are used as expendable troops - frequently not even given guns to fight with
In essence he appears to believe that his role is to cleanse the Acholi people.
uses biblical references to explain why it is necessary to kill his own people, since they have - in his view - failed to support his cause.
They also believe that if they surrendered they would be killed by the government
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord's_Resistance_Army
rebel paramilitary group operating mainly in northern Uganda.
one of Africa's longest-running conflicts
Joseph Kony, who proclaims himself a spirit medium, and apparently wishes to establish a state based on his unique interpretation of Biblical millenarianism.
Spiritual medium: individual who claims the ability to receive messages from spirits, ghosts, or other discorporate entities, or claims that he or she can channel such entities -- that is, write or speak in the voice of these entities rather than in the medium's own voice.
soldiers and sex slaves
abductions primarily from the Acholi people,
Up to 12,000 people have been killed in the violence, with many more dying from disease and malnutrition as a direct result of the conflict. Nearly two million civilians have been forced to flee their homes
Despite these forced migrations, the plight of the Acholi people has received little media coverage in the developed world. Not until April 2004 did the UN Security Council issue a formal condemnation.
the government has been unable to end the insurgency so far. Ongoing peace negotiations have been complicated by an investigation by the International Criminal Court. The conflict continues to retard Uganda's development efforts, costing the poor country's economy a cumulative total of at least $1.33 billion, which is equivalent to 3% of GDP, or $100 million annually.[1] A 2005 poll of humanitarian professionals, media personalities, academics and activists identified the conflict in the north of Uganda as the second worst "forgotten" humanitarian emergency in the world.[2]
January 1986 overthrow of President Tito Okello, by the National Resistance Army (NRA)1987 Joseph Kony made his first appearance as a spirit medium, one of many who emerged after the initial success of the Holy Spirit Movement The June 1988 peace accord between Uganda People's Democratic Army and the NRA
left the group led by Kony as the only significant rebel force operating in Acholiland Former UPDA commander Odong Latek convinced Kony to adopt conventional guerrilla tactics.
Prior to this, LRA forces normally attacked in a cross-shaped formation with designated persons sprinkling holy water, much like the Holy Spirit Movement. (Behrend 184) Tactics since consist primarily of surprise attacks on civilian targets, such as villages. The LRA will also occasionally carry out large-scale attacks to underline the inability of the government to protect the populace.
Until 1991 the LRA raided the populace for supplies, which were carried away by villagers who were abducted for short periods
because some of the NRA were so violent, Acholi Betty Oyella Bigombe, the Minister charged with ending the insurgency, created "Arrow Groups" mostly armed with bows and arrows, as a form of local defence. As the LRA was armed with modern weaponry, the bow-and-arrow groups were overpowered. Nevertheless, the creation of the Arrow Groups angered Kony, who began to feel that he no longer had the support of the population
There was also a marked change in how the LRA perceived the conflict. Having become convinced that the Acholi were now collaborating with the Museveni government, Kony began to target the civilians using his increased military strength
1994 saw the first mass forced abduction of children and young people
The attacks on civilians have at least three strategic objectives. First, to deny the government information about its movements by forcing the rural population to flee. Second, to gather resources from the looted villages. (Refugee Law Project 20) Third and most bizarrely, to show the populace that the government is unable or unwilling to provide protection, and thus encourage people to support to the LRA
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/lra.htm
The LRA abducted young girls as sex and labor slaves. Other children, mainly girls, were reported to have been sold, traded, or given as gifts by the LRA to arms dealers in Sudan. While some later escaped or were rescued, the whereabouts of many children remain unknown.
terrorized them into virtual slavery as guards, concubines, and soldiers. In addition to being beaten, raped, and forced to march until exhausted, abducted children were forced to participate in the killing of other children who had attempted to escape
Amnesty International reported that without child abductions, the LRA would have few combatants. More than 6,000 children were abducted during 1998
The LRA rebels say they are fighting for the establishment of a government based on the biblical Ten Commandments
Forty-eight people were hacked to death near the town of Kitgum in the far north of Uganda on 25 July 2002. Local newspaper reports said elderly people were killed with machetes and spears, and babies were flung against trees. Ugandans were shocked by the brutality of the latest attack by the rebel Lord's Resistance Army.
The vicious rebel attack in northern Uganda raised questions about planned peace talks between the group, the Lord's Resistance Army, and Uganda's government. President Yoweri Museveni had recently agreed to peace talks brokered by Ugandan religious leaders. The Ugandan army has been trying to crush the LRA rebellion for 16 years without success. President Museveni gave his backing to peace talks to be brokered by religious leaders. But, Ugandan army spokesman Major Shaban Bantariza said he believes this is a waste of time because the rebel leader, Joseph Kony, does not have any real agenda to discuss.
http://www.hrw.org/reports97/uganda/
Stella, fifteen:
They came to our school in the middle of the night. We were hiding under the beds but they banged on the beds and told us to come out. They tied us and led us out, and they tried to set the school building on fire. We walked and walked and they made us carry their property that they had looted. At about six a. m. they made us stop and they lined up in two lines, and made us walk between them while they kicked us.
On the second day of marching our legs were swollen. They said, "Eh, now, what should we do about your legs? You must walk, or do you want us to kill you? It's your choice." So we kept going.
On the third day a little girl tried to escape, and they made us kill her. They went to collect some big pieces of firewood. Then they kicked her and jumped on her, and they made us each beat her at least once with the big pieces of wood. They said, "You must beat and beat and beat her." She was bleeding from the mouth. Then she died. Then they made us lie down and they beat us with fifteen strokes each, because they said we had known she would try to escape.
http://www.apologeticsindex.org/l/l44.html
When the rebels move on, they leave behind the bodies of the dead. But after each raid, the rebels take away some of those who remain living. In particular, they take young children, often dragging them away from the dead bodies of their parents and siblings
dedicated to overthrowing the government of Uganda, but in practice the rebels appear to devote most of their time to attacks on the civilian population
they raid villages, loot stores and homes, burn houses and schools, and rape, mutilate and slaughter civilians unlucky enough to be in their path
They tie the children to one another, and force them to carry heavy loads of looted goods as they march them off into the bush. Children who protest or resist are killed. Children who cannot keep up or become tired or ill are killed. Children who attempt to escape are killed
deaths are not quick--a child killed by a single rebel bullet is a rarity. If one child attempts to escape, the rebels force the other abducted children to kill the would-be escapee, usually with clubs or machetes. Any child who refuses to participate in the killing may also be beaten or killed.
bring their captives across the border to a Lord's Resistance Army camp in Sudan. In the bush in Sudan, a shortage of food and water reduces many children to eating leaves for survival; deaths from dysentery, hunger and thirst are frequent. Living conditions in the Lord's Resistance Army camp are slightly better, because the Sudanese government supplies the Lord's Resistance Army with both food and arms in exchange for assistance in fighting the rebel Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA).
BACKGROUND:
The report says the seeds of this terrible conflict were sown in the defeat in 1986 of Presidents Milton Obote and Tito Okello by forces loyal to Uganda's current leader, Yoweri Museveni.
The remnants of the defeated forces fled north, to their home areas - fearful that the new government would carry out attacks in retribution for government massacres in the Luwero triangle under the previous regimes.
The International Criminal Court has issued arrests warrants for five leaders of the Lord's Resistance Army, a Uganda cult notorious for raping, maiming and killing children, a U.N. official said on Thursday.
The warrants, which follow sealed indictments, are the first issued by the new court in The Hague, the first permanent global tribunal set up to try individuals for genocide, war crimes and systematic human rights abuses
http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/uganda/document.do?id=3D73A7B74B786C84802569A500717FF6
Human rights abuses are also being committed against adults in northern Uganda, by government forces as well as by the LRA. UPDF soldiers have been responsible for illegal detentions, extrajudicial executions, rape and other forms of torture. However, Amnesty International has chosen to issue a report which focuses on abuses against children (and therefore mainly on abuses committed by the LRA) because thousands are currently being abused and tens of thousands more live each day at risk of being abducted. The wider dynamic of human rights abuses in Gulu and Kitgum Districts, including violations by the army, will be the subject of a separate report in late 1997
Northern Ugandans made up a significant proportion of the armed forces of these past governments. Some northerners claim that since 1986, when the current government took power, the rest of Uganda has turned its back on the north, blaming the Acholi in particular for mass human rights violations in the past. They say that this has created two nations - a prosperous, politically stable south and a devastated, backward north.(3)
http://rhaarsager.blogspot.com/2005/10/lords-resistance-army.html
has bases in Southern Sudan (east of the Nile, north of the Uganda border).
http://hrw.org/english/docs/1997/09/18/uganda1528.htm
The Lord's Resistance Army's abduction of children is part of a troubling world-wide trend towards the increased use of children as soldiers. Children are more easily coerced and manipulated than adults, and the proliferation of light-weight automatic weapons makes it possible for even young children to take part in armed conflicts. Throughout the world, an estimated quarter of a million children under the age of eighteen serve as soldiers in government forces or armed opposition groups today. "Involvement in armed conflict violates every right a child has," said Yodon Thonden, counsel to the Human Rights Watch Children's Right's Project. "The fact that so many children are being used as soldiers throughout the world demonstrates the failure of the international community to protect and care for its children, and the abduction of children by the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda represents a particularly tragic instance of that failure."
http://www.oslis.k12.or.us/framesets/ebsco_All_Frameset.php
The LRA, a Christian fundamentalist group lead by Joseph Kony, seeks to install a government ruled by the Ten Commandments. It was declared a terrorist organization by Western countries earlier this year.
The assistance involves American satellite photography and other electronic surveillance methods to help Uganda cut off support the group apparently enjoys from neighboring Sudan.
"There will be no U.S. soldiers on the ground; we are using American dollars and American technology," an unidentified U.S. official reportedly told the Washington Times.
Earlier this year, President Yoweri Museveni traveled to Washington and greeted U.S. President George W. Bush in a reciprocal visit in July. The Bush administration approved a Ugandan request for logistical support and intelligence in August as part of a wider strategy to defeat terrorist groups operating in East Africa.
Any resemblance to these religions is superficial: While the army observes rituals such as praying the rosary and bowing toward Mecca, there is no prescribed theology in the conventional sense. Kony's beliefs are a haphazard mix from the Bible and the Qur'an, tailored around his wishful thinking, personal desires, and practical needs of the moment. Jesus is the Son of God. But instead of saving the world from sin through his sacrificial love on the Cross, he is a source of power employed for killing those who oppose Kony. The Holy Spirit is not the Divine Comforter, but one who directs Kony's tactical military decisions.
http://www.oslis.k12.or.us/framesets/ebsco_All_Frameset.php
The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) is one of the larger terrorist organizations in the world.
LRA crimes against humanity are so repulsive that its only former ally, the Islamic government of Sudan, jettisoned its relationship with the LRA to improve Sudan's international relations. (Credible sources in Uganda insist Sudan still supplies weapons to the LRA, however
Nearly 90 percent of LRA fighters are enslaved children, kidnapped from their families.
Akello Lwanga, a physician, spent two years treating LRA victims at an internally displaced persons camp in Pader. "If Americans saw this on TV as often as they see the Middle East," he said, "it would stop."
Ordinary Christians can help stop LRA terrorism. Presenting the issue to churches, continuing in intercessory prayer over the conflict, donating to Christian agencies that work with Ugandan children, and pressing government officials for action all work to save LRA victims.
Michael Oruni, director of Uganda's Children of War Rehabilitation Center, told CT he was urging Christians to get
How to HELP
Here are key Christian and charitable organizations that work with the victims of the LRA conflict in northern Uganda.
FAR REACHING MINISTRIES
www.farreachingministries.org
951-677-4474
WORLD VISION
www.worldvision.org
www.seekjustice.org
888-511-6548
SAVE THE CHILDREN
www.savethechildren.org
800-SAVETHECHILDREN
OXFAM
www.oxfam.org.uk
www.oxfamamerica.org
800-77-OXFAM
JESUIT REFUGEE SERVICE
www.jesref.org
202-462-0400
]
http://www.oslis.k12.or.us/framesets/ebsco_All_Frameset.php
AS THE LIGHT FADED from the northern Ugandan sky; the children emerged from their families' mud huts to begin the long walk along dirt roads to Gulu, the nearest town. Wide-eyed toddlers held older kids' hands. Skinny boys and girls on the verge of adolescence peered warily into roadside shadows. Some walked as far as seven miles. They were on the move because they live in a world where a child's worst fears come true, where armed men really do come in the darkness to steal children, and their shambling daily trek to safety has become so routine there's a name for them: "night commuters."
Michael, a thin 10-year-old wrapped in a patched blanket, spoke of village boys and girls abducted by the armed men and never seen again. "I can't get to sleep at home because I fear they'll come and get me," he said.
Around the time of my trip to northern Uganda this past November, some 21,000 night commuters trudged each twilight into Gulu, and another 20,000, aid workers said, flocked into the town of Kitgum, about 60 miles away. The children, typically bedding down on woven mats they'd brought with them, packed themselves into tents, schools, hospitals and other public buildings serving as makeshift sanctuaries that were funded by foreign governments and charities and guarded by Ugandan Army soldiers.