Guerra, religione e rituali in Africa. La Lord’s Resistance Army di Joseph Kony (Uganda)

Abstract

This article focuses on the religious discourse behind the rebellion among the Acholi in northern Uganda. The war began in 1986, after Alice Auma, a young Acholi woman, had been possessed by a spirit called Lakwena. Alice founded an armed movement called the Holy Spirit Movement and she tried to conquer the capital Kampala, but she was defeated by the national army. For a short period, the rebellion was led by his father Severino Lukoya. Later a new leader emerged, Joseph Kony, who founded a movement called Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The religious discourse of the different rebel leaders is characterized by a millenarian and apocalyptic conception of history inspired by the Bible. During the 80s the idea of being an impure people had spread among the Acholi because of the horrible crimes committed by their soldiers during the civil war. Once possessed, Alice began to purify the ex-combatants and to enrol them in the Holy Spirit Movement. Her goal was to rid the country of witchcraft and to redeem Acholi of the sins they committed in the past. On the contrary, once at head of the rebellion, Kony began to consider the Acholi guilty and to take revenge against them. Consequently, the rebellion became a fratricidal war characterized by massacres and forced enrolment of children. The Ugandan army weakened the LRA and the rebels left Uganda, but they are still active in a large area between Congo, Sudan and Central Africa.