Lord's Resistance Army
The Lord's Resistance Army, or LRA, is a rebel group run in central Africa by Joseph Kony. The LRA originated in Northern Uganda in 1980 as a religious movement called the Holy Spirit Movement, which was led by Alice Lakwena, who claimed that God had told her to overthrow the Ugandan government. (www.warchild.org.uk/issues/the-lords-resistance-army) The Ugandan government had been, at the time of the order, treating the Acholi people of the North unfairly. The movement quickly drew large amounts of support and gained moment, until the Ugandan government defeated the group and killed Lakwena. (www.warchild.org.uk/issues/the-lords-resistance-army) The defeat of the Holy Spirit Movement shut down all movements against the Ugandan government until 1986, which was when Joseph Kony, a man who claimed to be Lakwena's cousin revamped it and called it the Lord's Resistance Army. The mission of the Lord's Resistance Army originally was to overthrow the Ugandan government and base the New Ugandan government strictly on the Ten Commandments. (www.warchild.org.uk/issues/the-lords-resistance-army) Kony rapidly lost support for his movement and, in frustration, began abducting thousands to hundreds of thousands of innocent children to only turn them into killing machines then unleash them into the villages of Uganda. The beginning of the abductions and massacres led by Joseph Kony and his army of children started the LRA that we know today. The Lord's Resistance Army very quickly left the idea of overthrowing the Ugandan government behind as it grew in strength from the number of kids that were abducted and used as child soldiers. The movement was, not only given support and weapons by Omar Al-Bashir, the leader of Sudan at the time, it was given a new meaning and power. Joseph Kony no longer was thinking in terms of national or political gains, he was using the LRA for personal gains, as he gained a god-like sense. He was able to intimidate the children he abducted and