A sad day from the conflict in Northern Uganda with the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). I just received news that the owner of the guesthouse I always stayed at in Kampala, Steve Willis, was killed in an ambush in Murchison Falls National Park as he was rescuing some stranded rafters. He leaves behind a young wife and 2 ½ year old son.
Hopefully some day soon the conflict in the North will be over, though as it has been going on since 1986 or so, I am not holding my breath. There have been over 20,000 children kidnapped by the LRA over the course of the conflict, with about 10,000 of those in the last 4 years. There are approximately 1.1 million people who have been displaced internally within Uganda by the fighting, leading to the complete devastation of their livelihoods. Of late the LRA seems to be targeting more expatriates, so it is possible that it will start to gain some international attention and a resolution can be found.
On final thought on the conflict... Something has changed it seems to me. The LRA does not have a history of attacking foreigners, but in the last month there have been 3 aid workers killed in addition to Steve (and at least 4 more injured). The only thing that I can think of is the International Criminal Court (ICC) handed down indictments against the leaders of the LRA last month. Did that action convince the LRA that now was the time to start targeting foreigners and escalate the conflict? It seems plausible.
Here are some links of recent articles involving the LRA and Uganda:
EU calls for Protection of Civilians
Northern Uganda is a Disaster Area
Information on Conflict from Wikipedia
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