How it all started...

·         The war initially was started when a woman named Alice Lakwena declared that the government was not treating the Acholi people justly and that God had come to her and told her to revolt against the Ugandan government and overthrows it. 

·         The movement she started was called the “Holy Spirit Movement”

·         After Lakwena’s exile there was not anyone to lead this resistance until a man named Joseph Kony came along. 

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·         Kony claimed to be a relative of Lakwena yet still could not find the support he needed to wage war.

·         He then began to instruct his rebel fighters to abduct children to fight in his war since he had no other support. 

·         These children were kidnapped and forced to fight a war that they knew nothing about and for a cause that they had no stake in.

·         For those children who tried to run away or resist the rebels they were either killed or maimed. 

 

·         The Ugandan government did their best to try and protect the citizens yet it has not worked.

·         In a last ditch effort to protect the citizens the government forced all of the citizens to relocate into displaced persons camps so that they might be easier to protect from the rebels. 

·         Poverty, Famine, and disease are rampant in these camps and the government does not seem to care nor have the ability to provide for its citizens in such a location as well as fight back the rebels. 

 

·         At its height Uganda had almost 2 million people living in these displaced persons camps. 

·         Currently one million people are still forced to live here by the government and for fear of the rebels. 

Citizens are in between choosing a greater of two evils. Either they must try and survive out on their own in their villages and risk being attacked by rebels or give up their way of life to live in overcrowded camps that have terrible living conditions.

 

·         Uganda is a place locked in civil war that has been taking place for over twenty three years.

This war has claimed the lives of over 100,000 people since the start.  

·         The crisis in Uganda has been referred to as the “forgotten war” as many around the world did not even know that this was still going on.