Uganda has been suffering from civil unrest since the 1980’s, and have been having a civil war for about 20 years. At the height of the crisis, almost 1.8 million people lived in Internally Displaced Persons Camps, or IDP Camps. The conflict has been between two main rebel groups- the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) and the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF). Both groups have been abducting children to serve as fighters. The leader of the LRA is a man named Joseph Kony (who we have all probably heard about from the news or youtube). A charity group called the ‘invisible children’ made a video about him and posted it to youtube, which gave it internet popularity, as well as making it popular with the younger generation. The war in Uganda was caused by fragmented national politics, and has continued because of tactics and strategies used by those who are armed, as well as regional and national interests. The international community is helping by sending some medical teams in to help those in refugee camps, especially women and children.
I think that while the war in Uganda and the fact that children are being abducted are important, the whole ‘Kony 2012’ thing is a bit overrated by all the internet buzz around it. There is a lot of debate over whether the charity group ‘Invisible Children’ was actually giving enough money that they have been making to Uganda.
Sources:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/uganda.htm
http://www.c-r.org/accord-article/causes-and-consequences-war-acholiland-2002
http://www.medicalteams.org/where_we_work/africa/uganda.aspx
http://www.internal-displacement.org/countries/Uganda
Picture Sources:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-08/who-is-joseph-kony/3877490
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kony_2012
Comments
Good but be sure to split info into shorter paragraphs and add personal thoughts!