Thursday 14th April, 2011, 5.00pm
Seminar Room 4, New Arts Building

The Lord's Resistance Army, the Ugandan State and the Failure of Governance

Seminar by
Emma Leonard

Bio

Emma Leonard is a Research and Administrative Assistant in CSTPV. Her research interests include conflict and terrorism, peacekeeping and peace-building (all with a specific focus on sub-Saharan Africa), as well as the role that foreign actors (particularly the US and UK governments) play in conflicts in East Africa. She previously studied at the University of St Andrews (MA International Relations) and the University of Oxford (MSc African Studies) and will be starting her doctoral research at the Pennsylvania State University in August.

Abstract

There are few ‘terrorist groups’ in sub-Saharan Africa. There are, however, a number of other groups that use terrorist tactics on occasion, often within a civil war situation. This poses a problem for any state that is threatened by such a group, which then has to choose between responding to the group as a terrorist group or as a rebel or insurgent group. The Ugandan government has at various times responded to the LRA as if it was a terrorist group (the attempts at crushing the group militarily instead of negotiating), and also responded as if the LRA were a rebel group (by offering amnesties). This paper will explore the Ugandan government’s differing responses to the LRA and will argue that by labelling the LRA as a terrorist group the Uganda government has actually made the conflict in northern Uganda more difficult to resolve. It will conclude by arguing that the lack of effective governance in the north has allowed this conflict to continue and the continuation of the conflict has called into question the authority of the government in northern Uganda. Thus, this cycle weakens both the state and the state’s ability to effectively counter this threat.