Background Information on Uganda

For the past two decades northern Uganda (Acholiland) has been terrorized by civil war.
The Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA, is led by Joseph Kony. Joseph Kony is thought to have special powers that he inherited from his pseudo-predecessor, Alice Lakwena. These powers give Kony immunity from bullets as well as give his organization some sense of legitimacy. Although, Kony describes the LRA as an organization that fights for the rights of the Acholi people, from the actions of the organizations it is difficult to believe this stance: It is from the Acholi people that Kony and his army kidnap new recruits and it is towards the Acholi people that most of the violent acts are directed.
These "new recruits" that the LRA kidnap are forced into membership of Kony’s movement. The male children become soldiers while the female children become "wives" of the Lord's Resistance Army leaders. Joseph Kony and his fellow LRA leaders force these children, as young as five, to kill their families or loved ones as initiation into the army. From there on out, the child soldiers are forced to take part in violent and bloody battles in order to increase the power and legitimacy of their leader. Many of the recruits are killed for not following through with orders or because they attempt to escape captivity. Those that remain in the LRA are brainwashed into becoming "true believers" of the LRA cause. If, somehow, a child escapes this horrible fate and returns to his or her hometown or family he or she is put in yet another awful situation. Former child soldiers are often not welcomed home, families and community members may not trust them or may even fear them. These children or young adults have other problems assimilating because of their missing education as well as because of the traumatic experiences in the army. Children that have luckily not been kidnapped into the army also face traumatic conditions. These children live in constant fear and many, like those filmed in "Invisible Children", travel every night to towns in order to feel safe from Kony's raiding parties.
Although there have been peace talks in the past, and in fact there are some peace talks underway currently, these have continuously failed to bring about the end to this horrific situation.