That man, Joseph Kony

Kony is insane; Kony thinks he's the Messiah; Kony has 100 wives; Kony is a cannibal; Kony wants to free Acholi-Land; Kony is a homicidal maniac; Kony wants to create a govt based on the 10 Commandements... There are many rumors about this elusive and mysterious man, Joseph Kony, the rebel leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) that has wreaked havoc across Northern Uganda for 20 years. The product of a historical divide between Northern and Southern Uganda, ethnic rivalries, and tumultuous post-colonial politics (wow, way to reduce decades of history and a complex geopolitical situation to 3 clauses), the LRA was formed some 20 years ago in an effort to overthrow the new government of Yoweri Museveni (he came to power in '86 and is still the current president... way to go "democracy"!). However, what began as a political movement with some strong religious overtones (originally founded by Alice Lakwena and called the Holy Spirit Mvt) morphed over the years into a rebel movement of unspeakable violence and brutality. This conflict has raged on for 2 decades, with little to no attention from the international community, despite displacing nearly 2 million people, causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians, stoking conflict in neighboring countries, and causing general regional instability.

I have just returned from a week in Lira, a district in the conflict zone in Northern Uganda... What I saw and heard over the past few days has not only changed my views of the conflict and the possible ways forward, but also of how I view conflict in general. For the first time in my life, I visited an Internally Displaced Persons camp (IDPC). IDPs are basically refugees, but since they do not cross intl borders, they do not have the same rights, privileges, and protection as refugees. While the UN did pass a special protocol for IDPs, they still do not get the same kind of attention and support that they need. Indeed, the situation in Northern Uganda was called the most neglected humanitarian crisis in the world by the UN Head of Humanitarian Affairs, Jan Egeland. I visited the Barr camp, which has nearly 50,000 people living in it. It did not look like the kind of refugee camp you see on CNN. Rather, it looked like a terribly congested rural village, with thousands of small mud huts squeezed together. The settlement is almost semi-permanent since most people have been there for 4 years. Yeah, 4 years. And this is a recent camp, the product of the conflict surging again in 2002/2003. Many camps further North have housed displaced people for over a decade.
I had the opportunity to speak to many people, and sat down and interviewed a group of women in the camp, many of them single heads of households with several dependants, including vulnerables such a infants, sick people, and elderly family members. They struggle for food every day, and can barely access basic necessities like water, clothing, sanitary towels etc... Rats eat their medicine, and they don't have any farming equipment to grow their own small crops. Diseases like cholera and malaria are common, and fires can quickly sweep across the camp, destroying the few possessions they have left.
Yes, of course there are many NGOs operating in the camp, such as the World Food Program and the Christian Children's Fund, but all the NGOs are gradually phasing down their activities in the camp, due to funding constraints (aka donor fatigue) and the belief that people should begin returning to their villages because it is "safer" now. (Actually I'm totally rethinking the role/usefulness/wisdom of NGO relief work... Seems like sometimes they just perpetuate the problems... More on that later) Anyway it is indeed safer now, especially in the Lira District, but people are scared to go home, terrified of being killed or abducted. Even though many people have gradually begun returning home, their villages have been destroyed, torched and looted by rebels and the military alike. Even once people settle back home, they are extremely fearful of nighttime raids and attacks... Rumors spread quickly about "that man, Kony," and one accidental gunshot can send everyone fleeing back to the protected camps. So as long as peace and security cannot be guaranteed, these people will still be homeless and stranded within their own country, ignored by their government and forgotten by the rest of the world...

If you want more basic information about the conflict, check out the BBC link below...