In many cases, the standard response by governing authorities to those who have committed crimes is prosecution. The punishment for those guilty of having engaged in resistance (deemed as acts of treason and/or terrorism) can often entail lengthy prison sentences or execution. It is perhaps worth noting that not all resistance to state authority is necessarily warranted and if it is, there are limits to the means and methods employed. Where resisters engage in conduct that entails murder and mutilation of non-combatants, such actions constitute acts of oppression and brutality in their own right.
In the midst of its challenge to the government of Uganda for the past two decades, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has engaged in a number of atrocities, including the conscription of child soldiers, children who then carry out brutal acts of violence. Years later however, many of these forced recruits have since turned themselves in, in exchange for amnesty and are now working to serve the state which they were forced to challenge for so many years. Their new goal: to hunt down their former leader, Joseph Kony and remaining fighters within the LRA.
As a recent New York Times article illustrates, the former LRA fighters are skilled at combating their former colleagues in terrain and jungle conditions that Ugandan soldiers have not been so adept at fighting in. And, their efforts and skills have won them praise.
Ultimately, the Ugandan military's goal is to end the conflict and the recruitment of the former LRA soldiers has received some support from the United States, even if mixed. As one US military officer observed to the Times' writer: “these guys may be some of the best they got.”
Offering immunity and employment to resisters can be effective tools to diminish and curtail the acts of those involved in a resistance movement that observes few rules of combat themselves. Even though those who turned themselves in may have committed a host of crimes that would otherwise warrant the death penalty, they are now greeted with praise for the very prowess and skill that once earned them tremendous scorn. Yet such methods may be the only way to encourage those within groups such as the LRA to engage in a form of resistance - by deserting the outfit and using the skills acquired in hostile territory to hunt down those responsible for having recruited them as children.
Furthermore these methods appear to have received some degree of legitimacy and support not only from sections of the US military but also from certain quarters within international NGOs like Human Rights Watch. As reported in the aforementioned Times article, one Human Rights Watch researcher offered praise: “I’m really pleased by their behavior...they’re doing a hell of a hard job.”
Source:
Jeffrey Gettleman, "Uganda Enlists Former Rebels to End A War" New York Times (10 April, 2010), online: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/world/africa/11lra.html?hp#
In the midst of its challenge to the government of Uganda for the past two decades, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has engaged in a number of atrocities, including the conscription of child soldiers, children who then carry out brutal acts of violence. Years later however, many of these forced recruits have since turned themselves in, in exchange for amnesty and are now working to serve the state which they were forced to challenge for so many years. Their new goal: to hunt down their former leader, Joseph Kony and remaining fighters within the LRA.
As a recent New York Times article illustrates, the former LRA fighters are skilled at combating their former colleagues in terrain and jungle conditions that Ugandan soldiers have not been so adept at fighting in. And, their efforts and skills have won them praise.
Ultimately, the Ugandan military's goal is to end the conflict and the recruitment of the former LRA soldiers has received some support from the United States, even if mixed. As one US military officer observed to the Times' writer: “these guys may be some of the best they got.”
Offering immunity and employment to resisters can be effective tools to diminish and curtail the acts of those involved in a resistance movement that observes few rules of combat themselves. Even though those who turned themselves in may have committed a host of crimes that would otherwise warrant the death penalty, they are now greeted with praise for the very prowess and skill that once earned them tremendous scorn. Yet such methods may be the only way to encourage those within groups such as the LRA to engage in a form of resistance - by deserting the outfit and using the skills acquired in hostile territory to hunt down those responsible for having recruited them as children.
Furthermore these methods appear to have received some degree of legitimacy and support not only from sections of the US military but also from certain quarters within international NGOs like Human Rights Watch. As reported in the aforementioned Times article, one Human Rights Watch researcher offered praise: “I’m really pleased by their behavior...they’re doing a hell of a hard job.”
Source:
Jeffrey Gettleman, "Uganda Enlists Former Rebels to End A War" New York Times (10 April, 2010), online: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/world/africa/11lra.html?hp#
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