Lord's Resistance Army (LRA)

Northern Uganda, southern Sudan, northeast Democratic Republic of Congo

LRA leader Joseph Kony has called for the overthrow of the Ugandan government and a new government based on the 10 Commandments. Kony also says he wants to liberate the Acholi people of northern Uganda from the alleged oppression of the government of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.

Estimated between 1,000 and 3,000 fighters in 2004, though LRA numbers have likely declined significantly since that time. Many of the LRA personnel are abducted children and civilians.

Prior to 2002, the LRA was supported by the government of Sudan and its military. According to the Ugandan government, the LRA has links to a variety of anti-Museveni groups in Uganda. One such group, the West Nile Bank Front, was its closest ally during the 1990s, but is now defunct. The LRA may receive some funding from ethnic Acholi in exile who oppose the Museveni government.

The LRA was supported by the government of Sudan for several years in retaliation for Kampala's support of Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) rebels in southern Sudan.

The LRA has engaged in raids against the Ugandan military and brutal attacks against civilians in northern and eastern Uganda. LRA fighters have attacked civilian villages and refugee camps with machetes and guns, often setting homes on fire. Vehicles or convoys on roads in northern Uganda have also been frequent targets. LRA fighters have regularly abducted civilians, especially children, forcing the males to become fighters or porters and the females to become "wives" for LRA fighters.

The Lord's Resistance Army continued its opposition after forces loyal to Museveni won a long-running struggle for power in Kampala in the mid-1980s. Many of those who were defeated returned to their homelands. Many of these were in northern Uganda, where opposition groups rallied around a spiritualist leader named Alice Lakwena. She led an armed opposition movement to Museveni's government known as the Holy Spirit Movement. Lakwena's forces were defeated in 1988. Joseph Kony formed the Lord's Resistance Army to continue the movement's opposition.

Kony's forces initially targeted the Ugandan military, but when local civil defense forces were sent to fight him, he turned on his own Acholi people, apparently for their lack of support. The LRA for two decades has continued sporadic and widespread attacks on government and civilian targets. The LRA is estimated to have abducted around 30,000 children, while more than 1.2 million residents of northern Uganda were forced to flee their homes.

Violence has subsided substantially since peace talks began with the LRA in mid-2006. However, those on-again, off-again negotiations in Juba, southern Sudan, have produced little more than agreements to extend a truce between the LRA and Ugandan government. Indictments against LRA leaders by the International Criminal Court have played a significant role, since LRA leaders have refused to leave their jungle hideouts until the indictments are lifted.

A U.S. State Dept. Assessment, dated February 2009, noted that the government of Uganda and its neighbors had determined that a regional military operation was necessary to deal with the security threat posed by the LRA. The assessment cited LRA leader Kony's repeated failures to sign a final peace agreement and continued attacks on civilians in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and southern Sudan.

Washington has expressed its full support for the joint efforts of Uganda, the DRC, southern Sudan and the Central African Republic to counter the LRA threat.

Joseph Kony began Lord's Resistance Army.

The LRA abducted at least 3,000 children during 1995 and 1996.

The Ugandan government was forced to begin providing protection for convoys traveling on the main north-south road.

August: The LRA's Jabalayan camp in southern Sudan was captured by the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA). The camp was one of the LRA's largest, and the rebels suffered heavy losses.

August: War erupted in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). More Ugandan forces entered to fight against the government in Kinshasa and its allies.

July 20: Government of Sudan signed a permanent cease-fire with SPLA rebels.

July: Most LRA fighters moved from southern Sudan back into northern Uganda, causing widespread instability.

Nov. 4: The Ugandan army announced that it had killed Charles Tabuley, the LRA's second-in-command.

Nov. 7: In apparent revenge attacks, LRA rebels rampaged through two villages in Uganda's Lira district, killing 60 civilians with machetes and guns.

March 1: The SPLA announced an offensive against the LRA in southern Sudan, accusing Khartoum of continuing to supply the rebels at the town of Torit.

May 25: LRA commander Major Okot defected from the LRA along with 70 followers, according to the Uganda military.

Nov. 16: An LRA commander, Brig. Sam Kolo, announced that the rebels were willing to enter peace talks.

Nov. 18: Museveni announced a limited week-long cease-fire, which was extended after the negotiations showed some progress.

Dec. 14: The Ugandan army said it killed 16 rebels outside the cease-fire zone.

Feb. 4: The government announced a new 18-day cease-fire with the LRA and extended an amnesty offer to any who surrendered. Two LRA commanders -- Brig. Sam Kolo and Col. Onon Kamdul -- accepted the amnesty offer.

Feb. 24: Following the expiration of the truce a day earlier, the LRA resumed attacks, killing 10 people in raids on two northern Uganda villages.

March 21: LRA fighters abducted 49 people from a village near Gulu.

September: Around 400 LRA fighters crossed into the DRC from Sudan to take refuge in the GarambaNational Park. Some were flushed out when 3,000 Congolese troops deployed to the area.

Oct. 13: The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for five LRA leaders: Joseph Kony, Vincent Otti, Raska Lukwiya, Okot Odhiambo and Dominic Ongwen. The ICC charged them with war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Nov. 30: Vincent Otti announced that the LRA was willing to resume negotiations with Kampala.

May: Southern Sudanese Vice President Riek Machar met with Kony and offered to mediate negotiations with Museveni.

June: A delegation of LRA representatives arrived in Juba for talks with the Ugandan government.

Aug. 4: The LRA declared a unilateral cease-fire, and then asked the Ugandan government to reciprocate. Kampala declined, saying a cease-fire must be part of a comprehensive agreement.

Aug. 12: Raska Lukwiya, the LRA's third-ranking commander, was killed in a battle with Ugandan military forces. LRA negotiators requested a break of several days from peace talks to mourn his death.

Aug. 24: The Ugandan government offered a cease-fire if LRA rebels would assemble at locations designated and monitored by the government of southern Sudan.

Aug. 26: The LRA and Ugandan government agreed to a truce beginning on Aug. 29. Under the terms of the agreement, LRA fighters were to be given safe passage to two assembly points in southern Sudan, monitored by the southern Sudan government. The truce required renewal by both sides every two weeks.

Sept: Peace talks stalled. Rebels began to disperse from the camps where they had agreed to assemble.

November: U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland traveled to LRA camps in Uganda for a meeting with Kony.

Dec. 1: The LRA cease-fire agreement expired.

Dec. 16: Amid accusations of continued violence, the LRA and the Ugandan government renewed their truce, extended a deadline for LRA fighters to assemble in southern Sudan and agreed to continue negotiations.

March 15: The Ugandan government agreed to an LRA request for mediators from other African countries, including the DRC, Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa and Tanzania.

March: The DRC allowed LRA rebels to return to strongholds in the GarambaNational Park two months after asking them to leave. Kinshasa was reportedly concerned over the possibility of Congolese rebels using the area as a base.

April: Mozambique, South Africa and Kenya joined Sudan in the mediation process between Uganda and the LRA.

April 16: Kampala and the LRA extended the expired truce through June 30 and agreed to renew peace talks .

May 23: LRA leaders threatened to return to war if the ICC indictments against them were not thrown out. Group leaders said they could not go back to Uganda unless the indictments were lifted. Otti said, "That is impossible. We cannot go and without our going none of the other soldiers can go. But we can fight…. If they refuse then the war will continue."

May 26: LRA rebels missed a deadline to assemble at Ri-Kwangba in southern Sudan.

June 1: Peace talks resumed in Juba after the government dropped its demands for a fixed time-frame for the negotiations.

July: The LRA said its forces would remain in hiding in Uganda even if a peace agreement were reached with the Ugandan government. An LRA representative said that the group would consider giving up its locations only if the International Criminal Court lifted its indictments against five top LRA commanders.

October: The U.N. reported that an LRA commander, Opiyo Makasi, had surrendered to Congolese police. The U.N. requested that Makasi be handed over to the organization for disarmament, demobilization, repatriation and resettlement.

Nov. 1: The Ugandan government held a meeting in Kampala with members of the LRA supporting a peace agreement. LRA representative Martin Ojul denied reports of any split within the group between leader Joseph Kony and second in command Vincent Otti. Ojul said that any failure to conclude a peace agreement would not be the fault of LRA.

November: Reports surfaced that Otti was executed by LRA leader Kony. LRA deserters who surrendered to the U.N. reported that a rift had developed between Otti, who favored a peace agreement, and Kony, who was against a settlement. Other sources contended that Otti was still alive. The BBC ran Otti's obituary in January 2008.

February: The LRA and the government of Uganda signed a permanent cease-fire agreement in Juba.

March: LRA leader Kony relocated his Congolese base to the Central African Republic, according to a U.N. report. The U.N. said the move likely was a negotiating ploy to gain assurances for lifting the International Criminal Court warrants before signing a final peace agreement.

June 25: The U.N. demanded that LRA provide a list of women and children it held in captivity. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said a task force would work with countries in the region to monitor the LRA's cross-border recruitment, alleged use of child soldiers and sexual abuse of girls. The U.N. estimated that at least 25,000 children had been kidnapped.

Aug. 20: U.N. peacekeepers were deployed to the eastern Congolese provinces of Ituri and Orientale to protect civilians after a series of LRA attacks. The rebel group attacked and robbed villages around Duru.

Sept. 18: LRA militants attacked several communities in the Dungo region causing at least 1,000 people to flee their homes. The attacks continued for three days, and involved looting, abductions and rape.

Dec. 16: Uganda's army, supported by forces from Congo and Sudan, launched an attack on an LRA camp in northeastern DRC. The attack was aimed at capturing LRA militants who had conducted recent raids in Congo, southern Sudan and the Central African Republic.