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Chapter 2 is a historical account of the politics of the northern Uganda conflict, placing it in its local, national, and international contexts. It begins with the colonial period and follows Acholi political history to the present to demonstrate how internal and national political crises of the Acholi combined to underlie the inception and continuation of the war. The chapter examines the new forms these crises have taken since the government’s mass internment of the Acholi peasantry began in 1996. It argues that a sustainable resolution to the violence will have to be predicated upon a democratic resolution of these two crises, which can only proceed through the inclusive political organization and action of Acholi themselves. The chapter also shows the detrimental impact that the international context has had on the war: Uganda has used international support to intensify the war, increase its militarization, and repress democratic domestic politics.

Chapter 5 is a critique of “ethnojustice,” a discourse that informs interventions that claim to promote social reconstruction and peace through rebuilding traditional reconciliation mechanisms. In northern Uganda, a community of interest has emerged around the traditional reconciliation agenda among foreign donors in search of African “authenticity” for their aid programs, the Ugandan state as it looks to undermine formal legal accountability, and older male Acholi who have lost significant authority as a result of the war and face challenges from the new forms of organization that have emerged among women and youth. In this context, the performance of traditional reconciliation rituals anchors the extension of an internationally-supported, unaccountable form of power within Acholi society that has the effect of trying to discipline civilians into becoming “proper” Acholi within a patriarchal social order.

Chapter 9 discusses the social impacts of war in Uganda and, in particular, the interactions between the survivors and the victims of violence who are seeking proper burial. It shows how the bones of the Acholi massacre victims continue to assert their agency and hamper community healing. It also illustrates the persistent suffering experienced by those who survived the massacres and the dilemma they face in placating the unknown dead. The ability to solve this dilemma is complicated by a number of factors including the often-unknown identities of the deceased and the lack of resources required to perform the necessary burial rituals.

The Acholi Religious Leaders’ Peace Initiative was formed in the late 1990s, when courageous leaders of Protestant, Catholic, and Muslim communities set their differences aside to help their communities cope with LRA occupation. An initial goal was passage of an amnesty law, inspired in part by post-apartheid reconciliation efforts in South Africa, that would encourage rebel soldiers to return to their communities without fear of imprisonment, or worse. Two other important developments followed: forced relocation of most rural residents from their villages to overcrowded internal displacement camps, where they were confined for a decade or more; and nighttime movements of children still living in rural villages to the school grounds and churchyards of the towns, where they would be safe from nighttime raids. Religious leaders joined the “night commuters” to sleep in their courtyards, and this development at last brought wider attention to the suffering caused by the LRA conflict.

In the early 2000s the civil war in northern Uganda raged on, and ARLPI continued to pursue its goals of assistance to the war’s victims and advocacy for a resolution. Growing international awareness brought more humanitarian assistance and more pressure on the Ugandan government to end the suffering; but government attacks continued, and brutal reprisals followed. Indictment of LRA leaders by the International Criminal Court in The Hague complicated the peace process, because of fears of arrest and extradition. ARLPI and other concerned observers succeeded at last in convening peace talks in Juba in 2006, leading to the withdrawal of LRA forces from Uganda in the years following, in spite of the lack of any formally authorized agreement.

With the LRA’s withdrawal from Uganda and its release of those who had been abducted, ARLPI redirected its efforts to rehabilitation and reconciliation, as described in this chapter. Priorities included forming local communities to direct these efforts, creating mechanisms to resolve land disputes, and overcoming the mentality of dependence instilled in IDP camps. Traditional Acholi rituals helped facilitate the return to their former communities of both LRA combatants and those they had abducted. This chapter also recounts the remarkable story of a man who, after serving as a high-ranking officer and then escaping from the LRA, overcame others’ skepticism and mistrust, earned a university degree, and today works in youth empowerment.

Four questions about healing after conflict that were posed in the Introduction are taken up once more in this closing chapter. Divisions created by colonialism, it is argued, can be overcome, as can longstanding conflicts among ethnic groups and religious communities. ARLPI’s work demonstrates that locally grounded initiatives, guided by close relationships with those most affected, can achieve outcomes that many would consider unattainable. The story of ARLPI also shows that political authority and accountability are richer and more complex phenomena than those of formal government. In an era when political and religious differences impede progress and stifle constructive discourse in so many nations, the religious leaders of northern Uganda exemplify an alternative route to profound social change that is not founded on political theories but on courageous and steadfast shared commitments to seek what is best for all in a community.