Coming Home: Understanding Why Commanders of the Lord’s Resistance Army Choose to Return to a Civilian Life

This 23-page description of collaborative research by Conciliation Resources (CR) and Quaker Peace & Social Witness (QPSW) in Uganda examines the role of communication in the return to civilian life of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) commanders following years of civil war. The document found that communication played an important role among the factors that contributed to the decision to return home. While radio broadcasts were considered the most accessible source of information, the report found that telephone conversations, letters, notes, and personal contacts between LRA commanders and members of their families and communities also contributed to influencing the decision to return. Based on this, the report makes recommendations on how the process of encouraging middle-ranking LRA commanders to return can be strengthened.

From the document summary: “In 2005 it seemed as if conflict transformation and peacebuilding efforts in northern Uganda were more and more sidelined while a military approach to end the war between the Government of Uganda (GoU) and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) became increasingly dominant. In this environment, Conciliation Resources (CR) and Quaker Peace & Social Witness (QPSW) together with their partners set out to assess the actual impact of ongoing peacebuilding processes and their potential to contribute to ending the war in the LRA-affected areas....In this context this report examines options that can contribute to a peaceful resolution of the conflict in northern Uganda through a strategy of helping middle-ranking LRA commanders choose to return to civilian life. It is based on field research carried out in Gulu district between May and August 2005. We interviewed 26 former LRA commanders about their return, and particularly about the process they went through to make a decision to return....”

The report cites three leading factors that it calls the "pull factors" in decisions on homecoming: 1) information about home; 2) amnesty; and 3) possibility of education. Because the source of information on these possibilities is critical to the LRA members' decisions, the means by which this information is conveyed is also described as highly important. "While radio undoubtedly reaches the greatest number of LRA fighters and is the most accessible source of information, its impact on the actual decision to leave the LRA is limited unless its messages are reinforced by information from individuals who are personally known to them." The Dwog Cen Paco (Come Back Home) programme on Radio Mega FM was the most popular programme with the respondents while they were within the LRA. Radio was able to give information on the wider world, the possibility of amnesty and other negotiations, and the activities of the International Criminal Court (ICC). However, any information available by radio, as stated here, could be contradicted by propaganda campaigning within the LRA. Direct and indirect contact with civilians, particularly family members, in person and via telephone, was cited as most effective. "Almost all respondents identified the need to open up space to allow them and others to make contact with former colleagues/relatives/friends in the bush as crucial to a sustained process of voluntary return.....Civil society should be permitted and empowered to talk to the LRA as much as groups or individuals who are officially sanctioned by the government."

The document focuses on pursuing a multi-pronged approach to disseminating information to the LRA including the following actions:

• Investigate the possibilities of greater use of posters, letters, and written communications with the LRA;
• Develop and promote genuine and coherent messages - including clarity on justice approaches, the availability of amnesty, the process of return, and what can be expected in terms of assistance and quality of life post-return;
• Continue to use radio programmes, but improve these and spread their reach to southern Sudan:
  1. "Expand the reach of local language programmes directly relating to the conflict and offer assistance to Mega FM and others to allow them to expand their coverage.
  2. Give more careful thought to broadcasting coherent information about the ICC, the Amnesty Commission, and Amnesty Act.
  3. Mega FM and others should carefully monitor the accuracy of information they broadcast and the consistency across all of their programming.
  4. The radio should be used to answer some of the frequently asked questions and attempt to address certain misunderstandings within the LRA. Returned commanders can help to identify the issues in question."
• Use former LRA commanders without politicising them;
• Recognise the importance of personal contacts and seek to open space to facilitate these - “Supporting peace committees at a local, grassroots level, with members who are trained in dialogue skills, and also with sound understandings of the ICC, the Amnesty Act, and the return process may be one way of supporting a first point of contact....Religious and traditional leaders were mentioned in this regard....";
• Look carefully at the assistance given to returnees and particularly at education; and
• Identify and engage with the risks and challenges.