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This 2005 briefing describes the insurgency in northern Uganda as a 'war against children,' highlighting the LRA's systematic abduction of youth and the resulting displacement of over 1.6 million people into squalid 'protected villages.' It critiques the Ugandan government's military failures, including Operation Iron Fist I, and discusses the complex regional involvement of Sudan. The report emphasizes the collapse of health and education services in the north and the challenges of achieving peace through the International Criminal Court's warrants and local amnesty processes.

This monograph by the Institute for Security Studies examines the structural causes and dynamics of the war in northern Uganda, which had lasted nearly 18 years at the time of writing. The authors argue that the conflict consists of two distinct elements: a deep-rooted northern rebellion against the National Resistance Movement (NRM) government and a separate war waged by Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), which is driven by apocalyptic spiritualism rather than conventional political goals. The report highlights how the consequences of the war, including mass displacement and a perceived war economy, have become drivers for its continuation, and it provides a series of recommendations for resolution, including a Truth and Reconciliation process and a shift in military strategy toward civilian protection.