Humanitarianism, Violence, and the Camp in Northern Uganda

Abstract

This article shows how international humanitarianism and state violence developed a sustained relation of mutual support during the civil war in northern Uganda. This collaboration was anchored in the archipelago of forced displacement camps, which at the peak of the war contained about a million people, and which were only able to exist because of, first, the violence of the Ugandan state in forcing people into them, preventing people from leaving, and repressing political organisation in the camps; and, second, the intervention of international humanitarian aid agencies, which fed, managed, and sustained the camps for over a decade. The consequence was that state violence and international humanitarianism each depended on the other for its own viability.

Gender and fragile citizenship in Uganda: the case of Acholi women

“…Forms of political agency were suppressed, especially in what became the 'protected villages' or the displacement camps (Branch 2009). …”

“…Rape and sexual violence often occur as 'surprise acts' wherein a woman is overpowered by a perpetrator, for example, when leaving the camp to fetch water or firewood, when attending the lavatories at night, or when alone at home. Camp infrastructure such as street lights, and the careful physical location of lavatories, are measures commonly adopted to reduce such vulnerability (Branch 2009). …”

Recruiting Internally Displaced Persons into Civil Militias: The Case of Northern Uganda

“…53 Indeed, the government's counterinsurgency strategies have been particularly brutal against the Acholi, as the Ugandan army has focused their use of force on destroying suspected rebel support among civilians. 54 Thus, self-defence emerges as not the only, or perhaps not even the main, reason for the creation of the (principally Acholi) militias.…”

“…The LRA was, after all, in the mind of the government, first and foremost an Acholi rebel group, even though it did not represent the interests of most Acholi in Uganda. 55 of the civilian population and the militia members themselves -was prevented from protecting the camps and rather taken out on army operations, often to other regions. 57 As one MP complained to the Ugandan Parliament in 2003:…”

A porous humanitarian shield: The laws of war, the red cross, and the killing of civilians

“…However, case study evidence suggests that even explicit mandates can have counter-productive effects. Branch (2009) for instance contends, based on a study of Uganda, that Bhumanitarianism can be instrumentalised by […] warring parties for their own end, leading to a prolongation of the very violence it purports to ameliorate^(479). Moreover, conflict management by formally neutral mediators is less effective than other state-led mediations as neutral mediators often agree to intervene in relatively hopeless cases and neutral mediations are less informative (Bercovitch and Schneider 2000;Kydd 2003).…”