The Lord's Resistance Army : Violence and Peacemaking in Africa

"The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) is one of Africa's most notorious armed rebel groups, having operated across Uganda, South Sudan, Sudan, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. When they entered the Juba Peace Talks with the Ugandan Government in 2006, the peace deal seemed like a gift to fighters who had for years barely been surviving in Central Africa's jungles. Yet the talks failed. Why? Based on exclusive interviews with LRA fighters and their notorious leader Joseph Kony, Mareike Schomerus provides insights into how the LRA experienced the Juba Talks, revealing developing dynamics and deep distrust within a conflict system and how these became entrenched through the peace negotiations. In so doing, Schomerus offers an explanation as to why current approaches to ending armed violence not only fail but how they actively contribute to their own failure, and calls for a new approach to contemporary peacemaking."-- Provided by publisher Cover Half-title Title page Copyright information Contents List of Figures Acknowledgements Note on the Text List of Abbreviations and Acronyms 1 Introduction: Seeking Peace with the Lord's Resistance Army 1.1 Getting Ready for Peace 1.2 Understanding the Reality of Peace Negotiations 1.3 Overview 1.4 The Challenge of Peace 1.5 The Scholarship on Peace Negotiations 1.6 Modelling Negotiations 1.7 What Do Peace Agreements Achieve? 1.8 How Do Wars End? 1.9 A Comment on Methods 2 The Lord's Resistance Army: A Continuum of War, Peace and Information 2.1 War 2.2 Peace 2.3 The LRA Moves towards the Juba Talks 2.4 Space and Ideology 2.5 Affiliation 2.6 Information 2.7 A Focus on Joseph Kony 2.8 Continuing Continuum 3 The Juba Peace Talks with the Lord's Resistance Army in 2006: 'While Talking, There Is Troop Movement' 3.1 First on the Agenda: Ending Hostilities 3.2 Challenges in Ceasing Hostilities 3.3 Implementation Challenges 3.4 Approaching the Assembly Deadline 3.5 Talks Continue amidst Confusion 3.6 Peace Talks Conditions 3.7 The Cessation of Hostilities Monitoring Team Fact-Finding Mission 3.8 Violations 3.9 Museveni Comes to Juba 3.10 Continued Violence 3.11 Comprehensive Political Solutions 3.12 Doubts over Continuation 3.13 Strengthening Negotiations 3.14 Conclusion 4 'Am I an Animal?': Identity, Rules and Loss in the Lord's Resistance Army 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Identities and Personal Choices 4.3 Prize Identity 4.4 Rules 4.5 Achievements 4.6 Conclusion 5 The Juba Peace Talks with the Lord's Resistance Army in 2007: 'We Don't Know If We Can Trust' 5.1 What Will Happen to the Juba Talks? 5.2 Managing the Impasse 5.3 The Talks Continue 5.4 Leadership Struggle 5.5 Conclusion 6 'Reach Out a Hand and Pull It Back': The Lord's Resistance Army's 'Connect/Disconnect' Meets International Galvanic Surges 6.1 Introduction 6.2 The Lord's Resistance Army/Movement's Connect/Disconnect 6.3 Making Broader Connections for Peace 6.4 An Example of Reaching Out and Pulling Back 6.5 Internationalisation and Africanisation 6.6 Connect/Disconnect Tensions 6.7 Misinterpretation of Disconnect 6.8 Galvanic Surges 6.9 Skewed Incentives and Cognitive Dissonance 6.10 Acting in Dissonance: Connect/Disconnect and Galvanic Surges 6.11 Conclusion 7 The Juba Peace Talks with the Lord's Resistance Army in 2008: 'Maybe We Came Too Close to the Enemy' 7.1 January Changes 7.2 Final Talks 7.3 The Missing Signature 7.4 Operation Lightning Thunder 7.5 Conclusion 8 'LRA Has Already Become a System': Representation and Distrust in the Lord's Resistance Army 8.1 Who Represents the LRA? 8.2 Battling a Hostile Environment 8.3 System of Distrust 8.4 Distrust and Approval 8.5 Maintaining the Status Quo 8.6 Conclusion 9 'We Are All Learning in This Peace Process': Peacemaking and the Legacy of the Juba Peace Talks with the Lord's Resistance Army 9.1 A Thumbnail Assessment of the Juba Talks 9.2 Dynamics 9.3 Entrenchment 9.4 Understanding 9.5 Implications for Contemporary Peacemaking 9.6 In Place of a Conclusion: How It Continues References Index "Maybe Angelina Jolie's honey trap could have been the end of Joseph Kony's existence as one of the world's most notorious war lords. Jolie, world-famous superstar of the screen, and the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Louis Moreno Ocampo, had toyed with the idea of embedding Jolie with US troops in the Central African Republic (CAR). Her presence with the soldiers, so the plot went, would allow her to invite Joseph Kony for dinner. The leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) would then, to his surprise, soon learn that he was not in for a date with Jolie. Instead, she would help to arrest him. Even Jolie's then-husband Brad Pitt was to play a role-maybe as a soldier?"-- Provided by publisher Based on exclusive interviews with the LRA, one of the most notorious armed rebel groups in Africa, and their leader Joseph Kony, this study explores why current approaches to ending armed violence not only fail, but how they actively contribute to their own failure, calling for a new approach to contemporary peacemaking