Reflection

Pei Duan's Reflection

I think that we should not use violence to solve the problems as it will only make it worst because innocent people might be killed during the conflict. To stop the death rate from increasing, we should try to negotiate and not carry on with the conflict as it will never end. And i also think that people who uses violence is trying to get the attention from others so that they would not treat them as 'invisible'.


Ting Yi's reflection

Personally, I feel that using violence is definitely not the best way to solve a problem. In fact, there are other ways like negotiating with the government. Using violence to solve a problem would only hurt innocent people and create chaos in a country. It does not solve the problem at all. I think the government can manage terrorism by setting a strict law as terrorism is very serious and it will not only affect the people living in the country, it will also affect the economy of the country. Furthermore, setting a strict law can prevent terrorism to take place because the terrorists would not dare to hurt people in the country. On the other hand, we should consider the feelings of the terrorists as well. It is not entirely the LRA’s fault. The reason why they did these is because they want the government to listen to them. They do not wish to use violence as well, but they were forced to do that. Therefore, through this project, I really learnt a lot of things. Things such as we do not have to resort to violence to solve a problem. It would only create conflicts between the both parties. Last but not least, I also learnt that it is not easy to handle terrorism as it needs a lot of courage and a long period of time.

Neutral take on the topic

We support the LRA and we think that what they did is the right thing. The LRA are fighting for the Ten Commandments of God which is the constitution that God has given to the people of the world and nobody will accept people who steal, to go and take somebody’s wife, to innocently kill and many more of the crimes that you can think of. The LRA believe in the Holy Spirit of God and whenever they go into battle, they would use shea nut oil to draw a cross on their chest as protection from bullets which was instructed from God. I believe that the LRA would not do things that would hurt the people as God is instructing them to do things that would help them to armed rebellion against the Ugandan government in a ‘good’ way, because the spirit doesn’t want them to kill civilians or prisoners of war. We would definitely help them if they are in trouble and wish them all the best.

- LRA Army (Pro-Terrorist Group)

Positive take on the topic

We think that LRA has its rights and wrongs. It is not entirely the LRA’s fault. We understand that why the LRA did this. Their motive is to ensure that there is peace and security in Uganda and to remove dictatorship. The LRA want peace in Uganda because they want to ensure that Uganda is a safe place for people to live in. They used violence on people in Uganda because they know that nobody would listen to them. Thus, they think that if they use violence to threaten the government of Uganda, the government has no choice but to listen to them. However, they should not use violence to solve problems in the first place. Using violence to solve problems would only make the situation worst. Innocent lives were killed and everything in Uganda was being destroyed. The way the LRA did would only make the government of Uganda loses trust in them and they definitely do not want to listen to the LRA. They should negotiate with the government and not use violence. Thus, the LRA is not entirely right or wrong.

-News reporters (Neutral Group)

Critical take on the topic

Why must the LRA do this? Why must they hurt gullible people? We feel that they should not use violence to threaten the people in the Uganda. The civilians in Uganda are innocent, they did nothing and yet they are being killed. Using violence is definitely not the best way to solve problems. In fact, it is the worst way to solve the problems. Why not they solve the problems in a peaceful and more sophisticated way? If they had not used violence on the people in Uganda, there would be no innocent people being killed. We feel that they should use other ways to solve the problem such as negotiating with the Southern Uganda.

Did you see the poor kid standing on the thin branch trying to cross over to the other side? These were caused by the LRA. Civilians living in Uganda were petrified and they were living in immense fear everyday. They do not know when the LRA would come and kill them. They just have to live in great fear everyday, wondering they would be alive the next minute. We just don’t understand why must they do such a ridiculous thing, don’t they feel very guilty about it? If we were them, we definitely would not do such a thing because we would feel extremely remorseful. How would they feel if they were the civilians? They should put themselves into the shoes of the civilians. Therefore, we want to tell people in the whole world that the way the LRA did is not the right way to do and they should not follow the LRA’s steps.

- A group of civilians living in Uganda (Anti-Terrorist Group)

Background: Lord's Resistance Army (LRA)

The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) is a sectarian christian militant group in Northern Uganda. The group was formed in 1987 and it is led by Joseph Kony, Deputy Vincent Otti, and LRA commanders Raska Lukwiya, Okot Odhiambo and Dominic Ongwen.

Their motive is to armed rebellion against Ugandan government so as to ensure that there is peace and security in Uganda. LRA was involved in human rights violations which include murder, abduction, sexual enslavement of women and children, and forcing children to participate in hostilities. The LRA operates mainly in northern Uganda, but also in parts of Sudan and DR Congo. The LRA tried to overthrow the Uganda government and they used violence on people in Northern Uganda. They targeted at local government officals, employees and local NGO workers. In addition, they abducted huge numbers of civilians, which were mainly children and young adults. Some victims were beaten, raped and forced to march until they were tired.

The government of Southern Sudan are the ones who support the LRA and they provide them with military assistance whenever they need help. The government also supplies them with cash and food as an incentive to stop them from attacking Southern Sudanese citizens. However, the government of Southern Sudan has stopped aiding the LRA since 2002.

On the other hand, there are several groups who oppose them. These groups are the International Criminal Court and the Ugandan government. The International Criminal Court tried several ways to stop the LRA such as giving warning letters to the LRA. Unfortunately, the LRA ignored them.

The news agency that represent them is the BBC.