UPPER CONGO-UBANGI
— Status: Not democratic.
— Structure: Militia answering primarily to the leader.
— Head of government: Joseph Kony.
— Governing party: Lord’s Resistance Army.
— Assessment: Acholi-based Christian fundamentalist group, responsible for massacres, abductions, and mutilations, originally formed partially to resist the government of Uganda. Once in control of northern Uganda, where the Acholi mostly live; now moving within a large area recognized variously as Congo-Kinsásá, Bęafrîka, and South Sudan, but out of the control of any of those governments. Kony’s deputy, Charles Tabuley, was killed in combat in 2003. A truce was agreed with Uganda in 2006; this was at least partially conditioned on promises of amnesty to Kony and others in LRA for crimes against humanity. Troops then began withdrawing to camps in Southern Sudan; Kony himself appeared in one, at least temporarily. The agreement specified a safe haven in Congo, which Uganda and South Sudan attacked, prompting further LRA attacks. Later deputy leader Vincent Otti was executed in 2007, apparently on Kony’s orders, over the peace process. A 2012-3 effort by Uganda and other states to defeat the LRA ended without that defeat or the capture of Kony.
— Updated: 2015 March 2.
O.T. FORD