A Chronology of events in the northern Uganda conflict

1986
- Remnants of the Uganda National Liberation Front/Army – the national army of the government toppled in January by President Yoweri Museveni’s guerrilla National Resistance Movement/Army (NRM/A) reorganise themselves to form the Uganda People's Democratic Army (UPDA).
- UPDA launches a bush war against the NRA, with the first significant attack in Gulu on 20 August.
- By the end of 1986, many schools and dispensaries in rural areas of northern Uganda are closed, and some roads blocked.

1987
- A self-proclaimed Acholi priestess, Alice Lakwena, mobilises uneducated youths and links up with UPDA to form the Holy Spirit Movement.

1988
- Lakwena's movement advances across northern and eastern Uganda and finally is defeated near Jinja. She flees to neighbouring Kenya.
- Remnants of the Holy Spirit Movement regroup under the command of Joseph Kony, Lakwena’s nephew, in Gulu, and her father, Severino Lokoya, in Kitgum.

1989 - 1990
- Lokoya is arrested by the NRA and imprisoned.
- Joseph Kony's group starts ambushing and looting civilians and burning schools.
- An Italian priest, Fr Egidio Biscaro, is killed in a rebel ambush.

1991
- NRA launches a military campaign led by Maj Gen David Tinyefuza. From April to August it seals off the northern districts of Apac, Lira, Gulu and Kitgum from the rest of Uganda.
- The rebels begin the practice of maiming and mutilating civilians, including cutting off lips, ears, breasts and hands.
- Tension between Sudan and Uganda increases after the Ugandan town of Moyo is bombed a number of times, reportedly by Sudanese government aircrafts, and rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) officials - including leader John Garang – are seen in Gulu and Kitgum.

1993
- Pope John Paul II visits Gulu on 6 February. A lull in rebel activities follows until August, when groups of heavily armed insurgents come from Sudan under the new name of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and launch attacks on Ugandan army units.
- Towards the end of the year, peace talks between the government and the LRA are initiated under the leadership of the minister for the pacification of the north, Betty Bigombe.

1994
- Peace talks continue until the beginning of February, when the rebels reject President Museveni’s seven-day ultimatum to surrender.
- The LRA responds by launching armed attacks, especially on roads.
Reportedly supported by the Sudanese government, which accuses Uganda of helping the SPLM/A, the LRA plants landmines on main roads and footpaths.

1995
- Violence escalates. In April, the LRA kills more than 200 people in Atyak.
- Uganda and Sudan cut diplomatic ties.
- In August, the LRA invades Kitgum district and carries out the first large-scale abduction of children to beef up their forces. During a retreat towards the Sudanese border they are bombed by an army helicopter, leaving dozens of rebels and abductees dead.
- The new constitution is introduced in October 1995, and the NRA is renamed the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF).
- From October, a joint offensive by the SPLM/A and UPDF dislodges the LRA from its base in Palotaka in southern Sudan. The fighting continues well inside Sudan.

1996
- Presidential and parliamentary elections are held. Over 90 percent of the Acholi people vote for opposition leader Paul Ssemogerere.
- In February the LRA makes a violent comeback, laying ambushes, planting landmines and abducting children.
- The year sees some of the worst atrocities committed by the rebels, who line up the bodies of their murdered victims along the Gulu-Kampala Road.
- Mass displacement begins and the government begins a policy of moving people into "protected villages" in Gulu – Pabbo camp for the internally displaced is opened in Gulu.
- In July, the LRA attack a refugee camp at Acholpii, in Kitgum district, killing 115 Sudanese refugees. Two elders who attempt to go on a peace mission to talk to the rebels are murdered on arrival at the venue.
- In August, the rebels kill 20 civilians in a market in Cwero.
- In October, 139 schoolgirls are abducted from St Mary's College at Aboke in Lira District. Most of them are released after the deputy headmistress, Sr Rachelle Fraser, follows the rebels and pleads for the girls, managing to get most of them released. More students are abducted from Sir Samuel Baker Secondary School in Gulu.

1997
- The new year starts with a five-day killing spree in Lamwo county and Kitgum district, with the LRA killing 400 people killed and displacing thousands more.
- Later in January, a parliamentary commission of inquiry about the war in the north passes a recommendation to pursue a military solution and not engage in peace talks with the rebels.
- In April, another joint offensive by the SPLM/A and the UPDF inside Sudan forces the LRA to move its camp further north from Aruu to Jebelein.
- Catholic, Protestant and Muslim religious leaders begin local peace initiatives.

1998
- Kitgum’s assistant resident district commissioner, James Canogura, is shot dead in an ambush on the Kalongo-Kitgum Road. Thirty girls are abducted from a secondary school in Kalongo.
- The Acholi Religious Leaders' Peace Initiative is formed.

1999
- Seventy LRA rebels are killed in a battle with Karimojong warriors near Morulem, Kotido.
- Rebels abduct more than 70 children and youths from Omiya Anyima, Kitgum.
- In February, rebels retreat to Sudan, and for about 10 months, there is almost complete peace. Many people attempt to leave the IDP camps to go back to their homes.
- Uganda and Sudan sign a peace accord on 8 December. The return of all abductees and the restoration of diplomatic relations are pledged.
- Uganda’s parliament passes an amnesty bill that offers immunity from prosecution to rebels who denounce the rebellion and voluntarily surrender to the government.
- Hopes for peace collapse as LRA attacks Gulu at the end of December.

2000
- Rebels attack Padibe IDP camp, Kitgum district, in March, leaving 12 people dead.
- Kitgum’s resident district commissioner, John Baptist Ocaya, dies after being ambushed on the Kitgum-Gulu Road in June.
- A second peace deal between Uganda and Sudan, brokered by Former US President Jimmy Carter’s peace programme, the Carter Centre, is signed in September.
- A Catholic priest, Fr Raffaele di Bari, is shot dead in an ambush near his mission in Pajule on 1 October.

2001
- Presidential elections are held in March. Again, the majority of the Acholi people vote against Museveni. Twelve people, including 11 students from a catering college, are killed by the LRA near Paraa Lodge, in Masindi district in northwestern Uganda.

2002
- In March, Museveni sets up camp in Gulu to personally oversee operations against the rebels. Army commander James Kazini vows to resign if Kony is not captured or killed by 31 December.
- The LRA sets up Richard Matsanga, a.k.a. David Nyekorach, as its spokesman in London.
- In June, LRA field commander Vincent Otti sends a letter to the government seeking peace talks.

2003
- In January, a newly created presidential peace team gives the LRA hotlines on which to conduct peace talks.
- In February, Uganda says it has ended its support of the SPLM/A, and Sudan allows the Ugandan army to pursue Kony inside Sudanese territory.
- In April, the LRA abduct 290 people in Lira. In June, it launches attacks in the eastern region, hitting Katakwi and then Soroti districts, causing the displacement of thousands.

2004
- In February, nearly 30,000 people are displaced and 4,000 huts burned in Pabbo IDP camp.
- Later in February, the LRA attack Barlonyo IDP camp in Lira, killing over 200 civilians. Street protests follow the killings, with mobs hunting suspects from Acholi and demanding that Museveni resign.
- In July, the army captures Kony's training commander, Brig Kenneth Banya. He is the first high-profile rebel captured by the army since the rebellion started.
- The Uganda army claims to have the upper hand in the conflict.
- Betty Bigombe begins a fresh peace initiative in November. A government ceasefire ends unsuccessfully when the LRA refuses to sign the government's draft peace agreement.

2005
- In January, north and south Sudan sign a comprehensive peace agreement - both sides pledge to help the Ugandan government defeat Kony.
- In February, the government declares an 18-day truce to enable LRA soldiers to come out of the bush and seek amnesty. Brig Sam Kolo, LRA spokesman, becomes the highest-ranking rebel so far to surrender to the UPDF.
- In March, the LRA intensifies its attacks on civilians, killing and maiming several IDPs in Kitgum, Gulu and Pader districts.
- In May, the UN puts pressure on the government to seek a peaceful solution to the war. Bigombe says she is in regular contact with Kony and negotiations are "on course".
- In May, the UPDF kill the LRA's chief of operations, Brig Sam Okullu, near Gulu.
- In June, the rebels kill eight people in Kitgum, lining their bodies up on the road 10 km out of Kitgum town.
- In June, Museveni says Kony will benefit from the amnesty if he surrenders, in contrast to his previous statement that the LRA leadership should not be eligible for the amnesty.

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