In 1986, rebel leader Yoweri Museveni seized power and control, leading to a 20-year conflict in Northern Uganda. The Acholi people have known nothing but war, death, mutilation, rape, starvation, disease, and displacement since
that day of despotism.

Museveni's troops, The National Resistance Army (NRA), blame the Acholi people for alleged rebel collaboration and opposition to Museveni's government; thus, they are ordered to kill and plunder the Acholi, shooting them on sight, burning their homes, raping the women and men, and destroying their schools, crops and animals. Local and international media were barred from the region so the Museveni atrocities could be hidden from the international community.

Although ostensibly formed to overthrow the NRA, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) presents its own brand of terror for the innocent Ugandans. Bolstered by support from the Sudan government, the LRA has grown to an estimated 2,000 members. The LRA claim the Acholi are government collaborators, so they cut off their legs to prevent them from walking to report the LRA. They also cut off their arms because, without their arms, they cannot work for the government.



Two women whose lips have been cut off by LRA rebels socialize in Gulu District.

Since 1996, the Ugandan government (Museveni), which should have been protecting the Acholi from the brutality of the LRA, ordered all Acholi to immediately vacate their villages for relocation in concentration camps. Those who delayed, suffered immediate attack from bombs, military tanks, and helicopters. Nearly 2 million Acholi have been forced to live in internally displaced person (IDP) camps where they face beatings and rape. Hundreds of Acholi are dying everyday, and the surviving Acholi now number only about 1.5 million.

The LRA atrocities permeate Ugandan society, extending to the children who are abducted at night by the LRA and transformed into LRA soldiers and assassins as young as age 5. Those children who are not strong enough to carry a weapon or heavy load are brutally killed by other children with machetes or pounding sticks. The children are forced to kill these weaker children to instill fear, so they will not think of escaping. To avoid abduction, each night over 40,000 children between ages 3-17, referred to a “night commuters,” walk up to 12 miles from IDP (internally displaced person) camps to larger towns in search of safety. The United Nations estimates that the LRA rebels have already abducted and recruited over 20,000 children.


A room full of night commuters in northern Uganda, which is affected by the insurgency of the Lord's Resistance Army. "Night commuters" like these leave their homes in the evenings to sleep in public places, where they are more protected from abduction by rebel groups. Credit: K. Burns

Today, the impoverished Acholi people cling to existence in some of the most deplorable conditions known in human history. The situation is complicated, however. The government, which should be their protector, has destroyed their homes and holds them hostage in concentration camps. The LRA abducts their children and mutilates the men and women. The Ugandan military (NRA) is also trying to crush the LRA, but the Acholi prefer a negotiated peace with the LRA in hopes of getting their children back. The Acholi are caught between two forces – the LRA and the NRA. The Acholi people need nations to rally behind them.

Please support Water-Walking Foundation's efforts to promote and assist other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and international humanitarian organizations to put an end to the barbaric treatment of the Acholi and restore peace and hope to their land. Contact us for more information.