This week our students have had the opportunity to be part of real-time current events. With the media circus buzzing around Kony2012, Invisible Children, and the LRA – I created a (fairly) student-friendly powerpoint that objectively explains the background of Kony and the LRA. I am not getting into the hype surrounding supporters and opponents of Invisible Children, but have included them as well as other organizations at the end of the presentation to give students options regarding how to get involved. No matter what people feel about Invisible Children, it’s obvious that they have created a successful awareness raising campaign. My students have had a lot of questions about the whole situation, so I created this powerpoint that I am now sharing with you.

1. #Kony2012
It’s Complicated
Basic info for students and society about the LRA, Joseph
Kony, Invisible Children, and other aid organizations

2. Historical Background
• The Acholi people live in the Gulu and
Kitgum districts of northern Uganda.
British colonial policy designated them
as a source of labor and recruited them
to positions in the military.
• Alcholi power in the military continued
after independence and served as a
source of political power for the
otherwise numerically inferior group,
until Idi Amin's coup d' etat in January of
1971.
• Amin removed Alcholi from their
positions in the military and thereby
deprived them of political power.
Source: A Primer on the Lord's Resistance Army
By Dean Pagonis, Feb 27, 2012
www.ocnus.net

3. Joseph Kony
• Joseph Kony was born in 1961 in the village of Odek
among the Acholi people of northern Uganda.
• He inherited power through his aunt because she was
the tribe's mystic who started the Holy Spirit Movement,
which sought to unseat the Kampala government.
• This movement was started by his aunt, Alice Auma,
and required that the Acholi people retake the capital
city Kampala.
Source: GlobalSecurity.org

4. Civil War and LRA
• The initial motivation for civil war within Uganda was the
overthrow of the Ugandan National Liberation Front
(UNLF) government comprised mainly of Acholi in 1986
and the subsequent loss of the Acholi's traditional power
base derived from a large membership in the army as
well as massacres by Museveni's forces.
• The LRA derived its political agenda, much of its forces
and large parts of its spiritual origins from previous groups,
most notably the Uganda People's Democratic
Movement/Army (UPDM/A) and Alice Lakwena's Holy
Spirit Movement/Mobile Forces (HSM/MF).
Source: A Primer on the Lord's Resistance Army
By Dean Pagonis, Feb 27, 2012
www.ocnus.net

5. LRA
• Kony refused to go along with
a peace agreement in 1988
and splintered off with other
soldiers.
• With the combination of his
military background and
religious beliefs he created
the Uganda Christian
Democratic Army and began
fighting against the
government. In 1991 he
changed the name of the
group to the Lord's Resistance
Army.
Source: GlobalSecurity.org

6. LRA
• The LRA rebels stated that they fought for the establishment of a
government based on the biblical Ten Commandments. They were
notorious for kidnapping children and forcing them to become rebel
fighters or concubines. More than one-half-million people in
Uganda's Gulu and Kitgum districts had been displaced by the
fighting and lived in temporary camps.
• As the years progressed, the LRA lessened their attacks in Uganda
and began to attack other regions. They spread to the Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC), Sudan, and the Central African Republic
(CAR).
• The LRA continued to plague these regions with their only goal being
survival. They performed raids on remote locations to gather food,
money, or people which would help sustain their rebellion.
Source: GlobalSecurity.org

8. LRA and Sudan
• In addition to the war crimes committed by the LRA to
maintain money and power, Kony has been receiving
significant amounts of aid from Sudan.
• Sudan was involved in their own conflict and the LRA was
used for the Sudanese government's struggle against the
Ugandan backed Sudanese People's Liberation Army.
• The absence of voluntary support from the Acholi
community forced the LRA to rely on criminal activity and
external Sudanese military assistance in order to fund its
operations.
Source: A Primer on the Lord's Resistance Army
By Dean Pagonis, Feb 27, 2012
www.ocnus.net

9. Peace?
• Peace was difficult to obtain in the period between 1999-2006 primarily because of
the International Criminal Court's (ICC) decision to issue an arrest warrant for top
LRA leaders and the movement of some LRA rebels into the eastern portion of the
Democratic Republic of Congo.
• The LRA and Ugandan government signed a truce in August of 2006 and LRA
members are currently assembling in camps for disarmament, although many have
chosen to migrate north to southern Sudan. Joseph Kony has yet to emerge from
the bush, and the Ugandan government has expressed its willingness to attack the
rebels if further peace talks in southern Sudan fail.
• International peace keeping is challenging due to the reluctance of the Ugandan
government to allow foreign troops and the difficulty of persuading the Sudanese
government to allow peacekeepers on its border.
Source: A Primer on the Lord's Resistance Army
By Dean Pagonis, Feb 27, 2012
www.ocnus.net

10. SUMMARY
• The conflict between the LRA and the NRA dominated Ugandan
government was primarily the result of the NRA's seizure of power and
economic collapse in 1987.
• The LRA's objectives were proclaimed to be spiritual and political;
however in reality they were largely criminal. Indiscriminate violence
served as the LRA's primary method for maintaining power, through a
strategy which emphasized the use of fear over hatred.
• The majority of the LRA's funding was derived from asset transfers,
although between 1994 and 1999 the Sudanese government provided
significant military assistance in the form of arms and funds.
• The prospects for peace remain bleak unless the current fragile truce
holds.

11. How to Help
• There are many organizations out there working to
improve the lives of people caught in the turmoil of
Central African conflict.
• Many are operated locally and others by the
international community.
• A few of these organizations are featured in the
slides that follow:

12. Invisible Children
• MISSION STATEMENT: Invisible Children uses film, creativity
and social action to end the use of child soldiers in Joseph
Kony's rebel war and restore LRA-affected communities in
central Africa to peace and prosperity.
• “We are storytellers, activists and everyday people who use
the power of media to inspire young people to help end
the longest running armed conflict in Africa. We make
documentaries, tour them around the world, and lobby our
nation’s leaders to make ending this conflict a priority.”

13. Invisible
Children:
Where does the
money go?
Source: IC Annual Report, 2011

14. Invisible
Children:
Where does the
money go?
Source: IC Annual Report, 2011

15. War Child
• Provides medical care, sanctuary and counseling to
girls who have been the victim of sexual violence.
• Creats safe havens where children can escape the
dangers of life on the streets after war has forced them
to leave home.
• Rebuilds schools destroyed by war and getting kids out
of army uniforms and into school ones.
• Helps children get their voices heard and their rights
met, and helping local people to protect their children
better.
• www.warchild.org.uk

16. Unicef
• UNICEF partners with local Ugandan communities to
provide them with the tools they need to protect, heal
and empower former child soldiers.
• The organization works to take guns away from children
and moves children away from living in barracks.
• When it comes to reintegrating ex-soldiers into their
communities, UNICEF gives local centers shelter materials,
medical services, counseling and job-training support.
• www.unicef.org
Source: Kony 2012 And 7 Other Charities Fighting For Child
Soldiers
First Posted: 03/ 8/2012 8:06 pm

17. Oxfam
• Oxfam raises awareness of child soldiers in Uganda
and lobbies for an end to war.
• The organization provides clean water and sanitation
to soldiers living in camps and provides counseling for
returning child soldiers.
• www.oxfam.org
Source: Kony 2012 And 7 Other Charities Fighting For Child
Soldiers
First Posted: 03/ 8/2012 8:06 pm

18. Save the Children
• Save the Children works to ensure that former child-
soldiers, among other vulnerable populations, have
access to basic services when they're reintegrated.
• The organization provides education, vocational
skills training mentorship and more. Its ultimate goal
is to help child soldiers establish their livelihoods.
• www.savethechildren.org
Source: Kony 2012 And 7 Other Charities Fighting For Child
Soldiers
First Posted: 03/ 8/2012 8:06 pm

19. The International Rescue
Committee
• The humanitarian organization offers medical and
psychological attention and promotes community
child protection committees.
• The IRC also improves academic options and
develops vocational-training programs.
• www.rescue.org/child-soldiers
Source: Kony 2012 And 7 Other Charities Fighting For Child
Soldiers
First Posted: 03/ 8/2012 8:06 pm
www.huffingtonpost.com

20. SOS Children’s Villages
• SOS Children's Villages offers lifesaving support for
these ex-soldiers with its family-tracing trauma
counseling and community reconciliation.
• www.child-soldier.org
Source: Kony 2012 And 7 Other Charities Fighting For Child
Soldiers
First Posted: 03/ 8/2012 8:06 pm

21. Child Soldiers
International
• When Child Soldiers International was born, it
pressed for a global ban on military recruitment of
people below the age of 18 years.
• Today, the organization works to implement the the
treaty that was passed in 2002, according to its
website , which more than 140 governments have
ratified.
• www.child-soldiers.org
Source: Kony 2012 And 7 Other Charities Fighting For Child
Soldiers
First Posted: 03/ 8/2012 8:06 pm
www.huffingtonpost.com