Forced marriage as a political project

Published date01 May 2014
Date01 May 2014
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1177/0022343313519666
Subject MatterResearch Articles
Forced marriage as a political project:
Sexual rules and relations in the Lord’s
Resistance Army
Erin Baines
Liu Institute for Global Issues, University of British Columbia
Abstract
One of the most vexing contradictions about the Uganda originated rebel group, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA),
is the fact that it institutionalized forced marriage on the one hand, while actively discouraging sexually immoral
behavior on the other: rape, sexual violence, and promiscuity both within the group and outside it were punishable
by severe beating or death. What explains this contradiction? The article suggests that in addition to maintaining
discipline and control over a diverse and reluctant group, forced marriage and the regulation of sexual relations repro-
duced a political project of imagining a ‘new Acholi’ nation. The article draws on original data collected in focus
group discussions with former commanders and wives to commanders to discuss the historical evolution of this
vision, how the LRA enforced rules regarding sexual behavior, and finally, the way forced marriage implicated women
and girls in the organization of power and domination in the group until it was forced from permanent bases in
Sudan in 2002.
Keywords
armed groups, forced marriage, Lord’s Resistance Army, rape, sexual violence
Introduction
One of the longest running (1986– ) and most elusive
armed groups operating on the African continent,
1
the
Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has a modus operandi and
political agenda that continue to be the subject of sus-
tained attention (Allen & Vlassenroot, 2010). Some
scholars suggest the LRA articulates a political agenda
that contests neoliberal policies and politics, national
policies of exclusion, and repressive state practices against
the Acholi people in northern Uganda, such as state-
induced forced displacement, child recruitment, and
human rights suspension and abuses (Branch, 2011;
Dolan, 2009; Finnstro
¨m, 2008). Yet the LRA enacts its
own form of violent retribution against the Acholi pop-
ulation for its perceived collaboration with government
policies, exposing them to murder, massacre, mutilation,
and threat, leaving Acholi civilians in ‘just a dilemma’
(Finnstro
¨m, 2008: 96). The LRA’s signature strategy
of recruitment – the mass abduction of tens of thousands
of children and youth from northern Uganda over two
decades – is a repulsive but effective means to train and
retain soldiers from an otherwise unsupportive populace
(Blattman & Annan, 2010). As a part of this strategy,
young women and girls are forced into marriage with
commanders, creating ‘families’ within the military orga-
nization.
2
All sexual relations between men and women
in the group are rigorously regulated; the punishment for
1
The LRA operated in northern Uganda and South Sudan and
presently in the Central African Republic and Democratic Republic
of Congo.
2
In effect, some men too were forced into marriage, without being
given a choice of whom or when to marry, but this is the subject
of further study.
Corresponding author:
erin.baines@ubc.ca
Journal of Peace Research
2014, Vol. 51(3) 405–417
ªThe Author(s) 2014
Reprints and permission:
sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0022343313519666
jpr.sagepub.com

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