November 29th, 2010 
Admin Community Based Reintegration of Ex-Combatants: A Case Study Of The Lord’s Resistance Army In Northern Uganda
Muwonge J. Maxie
Human Rights, Peace and Development Worker and Researcher
Introduction
The specific context of any conflict, and the differentiating dynamics therein, inform the processes for resolving that conflict. In the case of northern Uganda Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) war, the nature and scope of commitments and interventions; evolving political and security frameworks, vision and objectives set by the various stakeholders in an attempt to end this twenty years insurgency are informed by the nature and dynamics of this war. Many studies have indicated the nature of the LRA war. The LRA rebels mutilate, abduct children, widely kill civilians, commit rape and other acts of sexual violence as well as crimes against property including though not limited to burning down civilians’ huts, destruction of vehicles, economic extortion and stealing food and medical stuffs.1 Although it is right to argue that nature of LRA atrocities is synonymous with other armed conflicts in Africa like the Darfur insurgency in Sudan, the 1994 Rwandan genocide and other scenarios, in the case of the LRA, many of those who have committed crimes against humanity are under coercion from their abductors. At the core of the internal organization of the LRA are the abductees, mainly children and youths, who are turned into porters, soldiers and wives.
