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Child Soldiers

Child Soldiers. Northern Uganda. OVERVIEW. Population below poverty: 31 % Hosts refugees Agricultural – employs over 80% of workforce Coffee is the biggest export Substantial natural resources Fertile soil, consistent rainfall, deposits of copper and gold. Seeking economy stability

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Child Soldiers

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  1. Child Soldiers Northern Uganda

  2. OVERVIEW • Population below poverty: 31 % • Hosts refugees • Agricultural – employs over 80% of workforce • Coffee is the biggest export • Substantial natural resources • Fertile soil, consistent rainfall, deposits of copper and gold • Seeking economy stability • Currency reform • Raising producer prices on export crops • Increasing prices of petroleum products • Improving civil service wages • GOAL: dampen inflation and boosting production/export earnings

  3. HISTORY OF COUNTRY • Milton Obote (horrible, corrupt leader) 1962 • Idi Amin 1971-1979 (comes to power because of military coup) • Milton Obote (via election) 1980 - 1985 • Obote is deposed of in military coup and replaced by Tito Okello - 1985 • National Resistance Army rebels take Kampala and install YoweriMuseveni1986-present • Very distinct ethnic groups • Isolated from the outside world, ethnic groups functioned as separate kingdoms • David Livingston • Henry Morton Stanley • Berlin Conference • Independence 1962

  4. HISTORY OF LRA • Originally know as the the Holy Spirit Movement • Evolved into LRA under the leadership of Joseph Kony • Active since1986 - One of Africa’s oldest, most violent, and persistent armed groups • Estimated that 66,000 children were abducted between 1986 and 2005 (www.state.gov) • At the height of the conflict more than 2 million people were displaced

  5. CHILD SOLDIERS • Heavy importance on recruitment of children (5 years and older) • Abducted from villages and forced to fight • 90% of LRA recruits are children (Pham, P. N. & Stover, E. 2009) • Children are programmed (brain washed) to become “unfeeling, killing machines, a mere extension of the gun or machete” (Dunson, 2008). • Boys are told that their “guns are now their mothers, best friends, everything” (Dunson, 2008). • “In a very calculated way the rebels worked to destroy the human instincts of these young children in order to make them efficient” (Dunson, 2008). • Roles include: soldiers, cooks, spies, messengers, sexual slaves and mothers to out-of-wedlock children

  6. LOCAL RESPONSE • Uganda sign agreement aimed at containing Uganda rebel group, LRA • Army evacuates 400,000 civilians to neighboring countries to escape from LRA • 2004: Government & LRA rebels hold first face-to-face talk, but no breakthrough • 2005: Warrants issued for LRA leaders (including Joseph Kony) • 2006: Government & LRA sign a truce aimed at ending their conflict – troops reduced & moved to bordering countries • 2007: LRA claims that lack of funds for travel will delay peace talks • 2008 (February): LRA sign what is meant to be a permanent ceasefire in Sudan • 2008 (November): Joseph Kony fails to show up at signing of a peace agreement • 2009 (March): Ugandan army withdraws from the DR Congo, where it was pursuing LRA rebels • 2012: Ugandan Army captures senior LRA commander Caesar Achellam (major breakthrough)

  7. LRA TODAY • Mostly left Uganda after the Juba Peace Talks in 2006. Since 2008, they have carried their attacks in the border regions of Northeastern Congo, South Sundan, and Central African Republic • The LRA is composed of several bands of fighters • Due to increase awareness of the issue the size has gone from 1,000 in 2006, to 300 in 2012 (not counting women or children) • Despite the smaller size their “destruction continues to be disproportionately large (Invisible Children, 2013).

  8. PERSONAL RESPONSE • Education (don’t believe everything you read) • Government pressure • Support • GO THERE 

  9. References • Angucia, M. (2009). Children and war in Africa: The crisis continues in Northern Uganda. International Journal on World Peace, 26(3), 77-95. • "CIA: The World Factbook 2000: Uganda." CIA World Fact Book (2002): • Derluyn, I., Broekaert, E., Schuyten, G., & Temmerman, E. (2004). Post-traumatic stress in former Ugandan child soldiers. The Lancet, 363(9412), 861-863. doi:10.1016/S0140- 6736(04)15734-6 • Doom, Ruddy & Vlassenroot, Koen (1999). Kony’s Message: A New Koine? TheLord’s Resistance Army in Northern Uganda. Africa Affairs, 98(390). 5-36. • Dunson, D. H. (2008). Child, victim, soldier.Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books. • Hanson, H.B. & Twaddle, M. (1988). Uganda Now: between decay & development. London: J. Currrey. • "History." Uganda Country Review (2011): 6-8. Business Source Complete. EBSCO.13 Oct. 2011. • J.B. (Oct 21, 2012). Can America make a difference? The economist. Retrieved from http://www.economist.com/blogs/baobab/2011/10/ugandas-lords-resistance-army • Kaplan, J. (2009). The Lord’s Resistance Army: Millennialism, violence, and the timeless dream. Religious Studies And Theology, 28(1), 95-127.  • Pham, P. N., Vinck, P., & Stover, E. (2009). Returning home: Forced conscription, reintegration, and mental health status of former abductees of the Lord's Resistance Army in Northern Uganda. BMC Psychiatry,9doi:10.1186/1471-244X-9-23 • Tapper, J. (Oct 14, 2011). Obama sends 100 US troops to Uganda to help combat Lord Resistance Army. ABC News. Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/10/obama-sends-100-us-troops-to-uganda-to-combat-lords-resistance-army/

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