The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2004

66 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U LY- A U G U S T 2 0 0 4 ore than 120,000 children under the age of 18 are reported to have taken up arms in sub-Saharan Africa as of 2003. The majori- ty of these child soldiers are between 15 and 18 years of age, but children as young as 7 years old are involved in numerous conflicts. One of the most perverse of these wars, which continues to devour thousands of children each year, is centered in Uganda. Located in East Africa, Uganda is one of the most geographically diverse nations in the world. With its large mountains, deep verdant forests and open savan- nas, there is little wonder why Winston Churchill bestowed upon it the title, “Pearl of Africa.” After gain- ing independence from the British in 1962, however, the country endured two dictatorial regimes during the 1960s and 1970s — including Idi Amin’s infamous reign of terror — that threatened to destroy the very fabric of Uganda’s social structure. Unfortunately, the pattern of violence and strife the people of Uganda have known for far too long continues in the current war in the Acholi region in the northern area of the country. There, in the mid-1980s, the Lord's Resistance Army launched a brutal war against the Ugandan government. A quasi-religious insurgency, the LRA is focused on overthrowing the government of President Yoweri Museveni and ruling Uganda accord- ing to the Ten Commandments and its own pseudo- Christian beliefs. LRA leader Joseph Kony is said to receive his military strategies from invisible spiritual messengers and is allegedly able to read minds. In 2001, the Department of State added the LRA to its list of known terrorist groups. Ugandan government representatives often refer to the LRA as the greatest and most sustained threat to the country’s stability. For 18 years this group has been involved in raiding villages, killing innocent civilians and kidnapping children to serve as slaves, soldiers and wives. In response, the government has waged a so-far- unsuccessful military campaign against the LRA. Kony’s brutality is compounded by apparent instability, a factor that clouds the prospects for resolving the dispute. And, despite appeals from international nongovernmental organizations and the Ugandan government’s own public statements that it seeks a negotiated settlement, Pres. Museveni has shown little commitment to a peaceful solution. To fully understand this seemingly intractable situa- tion — the role of the LRA, the response of the Museveni government, and the prospects for peace — it is necessary to review how the group was first estab- lished and look at the socio-political climate in Uganda at the time. I T ’ S T IME TO W IN THE B ATTLE FOR U GANDA ’ S C HILDREN A PERVERSE WAR CONTINUES TO DEVOUR THOUSANDS OF CHILDREN EACH YEAR IN U GANDA , PUTTING P RESIDENT M USEVENI ’ S INTERNATIONAL REPUTATION AT RISK . B Y M ICHAEL O RONA M Michael Orona is a foreign affairs officer in the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, where he is responsible for monitoring democracy and human rights issues in East, Central and Southern Africa. Previously he was employed with the U.S. Department of Labor’s International Child Labor Program, where he investigated the Chinese Laogai (forced labor sys- tem) and supervised the department’s work on an executive order regarding employment of children in China’s rural fireworks industry. He has a J.D. in international law and a Ph.D. in international development.