Diagnostic study of the Lord's resistance army

Since the failures of the Juba Peace talks and operation lightning thunder, there has been much public discussion about ways and means of dealing with the challenge posed by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). However, few attempts were made to analyze the political, historical and military dimensions of the problem in a coherent way. The aim of the LRA diagnostic study is to arrive at an adequate contextual description of these three main elements of the LRA problem in order to facilitate discussion among the members of the International Working Group (IWG) on the LRA. The study was conducted over the period December 2010-April 2011 by a small team of experts working in close collaboration with a network of established researchers. In addition to interviews and consultations with diplomats, representatives from engaged agencies and governments, academics and military officers, the study team members conducted a series of field visits to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Uganda and South Sudan. Visits to the Central African Republic (CAR) were not possible due to time and logistical constraints. The study includes a review of the operational history of the LRA in an attempt to delineate some of the factual premises necessary to greater political consensus. Illustrating ways in which the LRA has operated successfully over decades against a numerically and logistically superior Ugandan People's Defense Force (UPDF), this part of the study lays out reasons why present characterizations of the LRA as being in 'survival mode' may be mistaken. The study concludes with arguments in support of more serious analysis, more realistic planning based on better research, and the need to review the capacities of existing structures to address an exceedingly complex context.