Paper short abstract:

By describing the activities of the LRA in the DRC and CAR, and the various initiatives towards the movement, the paper wants to show how the different interests and actions of the involved actors have a negative effect on both the security situation in the area, and the interventions towards the movement.

Paper long abstract:

After the Lord's Resistance Army moved to the Democratic Republic of Congo, the conflict became part of very different security dynamics, giving the conflict a fundamentally different character - as opposed to its operation in its initial phase. Fundamentally, it became part of a broader security landscape in which a multitude of armed groups were present, all of which (certainly from 2010 onwards) constituted a security threat. This paper argues how a variety of actors are supposed to be involved in curbing the LRA threat, but how different perceptions and interest of the LRA problem lead to a range of problems. All of the actors involved - the respective national governments, Monusco, international humanitarian actors -take a fundamentally different approach to the LRA, something which is closely relate with the actors' interests. In the first phase of the conflict (2008-2010), this for eaxmple led to strong tensions between Ugandan and Congolese troops, reducing the effectiveness of the fight against the LRA. In the second phase of the conflict (2010 - today), different perceptions of the LRA have led to difficult and inefficient interventions. Moreover, a range of actors try to instrumentalise the LRA for particular agenda's.