The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in the Democratic Republic of Congo: (un)invited guests?

While much has been written about the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), hardly any analyses focus on the rebel group’s activities in (northeastern) Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – althoughthe rebel group conducted some of the biggest massacres in its history in the country, and continuesto be active there. This analysis focusses on a consistent claim which is made among many actors inthe DRC: that the LRA was invited, and supported, by the Congolese authorities. This analysis reviewsthis claim, by zooming in on the available evidence, such as the circumstances in which the rebelgroup arrived in the country. It concludes that, while freelancing individuals indeed might havebrokered such an agreement, institutional Congolese government support to the LRA was (mostprobably) not the case. Yet, it shows the murky circumstances which allowed such claims to emerge,involving war entrepreneurs, freelancing government officials, ineffective protection, and agovernment more interested in state security rather than human security.