Politicians and Prophets

Yoweri Museveni, who took power in a military coup, has subsequently been elected seven times as president, defying constitutional limits. During his four decades in office two rebellions arose in northern Uganda, motivated both by ethnic and regional conflict and by leaders’ claims of spiritual authority: Alice Lakwena’s short-lived Holy Spirit Movement and Joseph Kony’s far more enduring, and far more destructive, Lord’s Resistance Army. This chapter recounts the rise of these movements, the reasons for their success, the effects on the region of LRA dominance, and some international entanglements that impeded resolution of the conflict.