Northern Uganda

Introduction

The Lord's Resistance Army is a violent rebel group led by a self-proclaimed messiah, Joseph Kony. Formed in 1987, the group was first called the Uganda People's Democratic Christian Army , but later changed the name to the Lord's Resistance Army in 1991. The fight between the Ugandan government and the LRA is one of the longest running conflicts in Africa, and the LRA is one of the most brutal forces in the world. Though the LRA originated in northern Uganda, it has since spread to neighboring Congo, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic.

In May 2010 after intense pressure by U.S. based activist groups, the U.S. Congress passed legislation aimed to end this crisis, the “Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act”— the most widely supported Africa-specific legislation in recent congressional history. As required by the legislation, President Obama submitted the “Strategy to Support the Disarmament of the LRA” on November 24, 2010.

On October, 14, 2011, President Obama President Obama announced that he would deploy a force of 100 American soldiers to serve in an advisory role to remove Kony from the battlefield.

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