Final review of the ‘Civil society-led conciliation, LRA demobilization and peacebuilding’ project 2011-15

Brief description

For almost 30 years Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has caused death and suffering. Since the breakdown of the Juba peace process in 20081, the conflict spread to the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan with grave humanitarian consequences.

In these areas, the LRA can operate where there is little governmental presence. The LRA is today seen by the governments as a more peripheral problem, but the group is still a destabilizing factor in their area of operation. The aim of the CR project was to connect and train organisations and people at the village level, facilitate cross-border learning and networking, and enable the local partners to engage in peace building, mitigate the threat of LRA and do advocacy towards authorities at the local, national and international level.

Over the project period other social and political conflicts has captured much of the attention of national governments and the international community. The LRA is today reportedly consisting of 100-150 soldiers, in addition to women and children. Nevertheless, it is a fact that LRA continue to terrorize parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Central African Republic (CAR). In 2016 it was reported 191 attacks by LRA, 25 people were killed and 715 persons abducted, some of which have been released after a shorter period of time2.