Academic (and blogger) Chris Blattman just published a new report on young women in one of Africa’s longest conflicts, between the Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army and the Ugandan government. The LRA is the definition of brutality: routinely targeting civilians, attacking aid convoys, practicing mutilations, and abducting adults and children to swell their ranks.
Chris’ report contains many insights and is a fascinating read, but one particular point stands out: the role of abducted women in the LRA. Male abductees are primarily used as expendable troops and it has typically been assumed captive women are used as sexual slaves and forced wives for LRA officers. However, the report finds the vast majority of female LRA abductees are used in combat support roles with almost two thirds of women employed as porters or cooks. Only 7.5% of returned abductees reported being “wives” of LRA members and 7.4% used primarily for childcare.
The statistics offer a rare glimpse of the LRA as a rational, functioning organization requiring significant human resources to perform essential combat support duties rather than their more common, but simplistic portrayal as madmen.
