For nearly twenty years, Northern Uganda endured the longest violent conflict in Africa. From 1987 to 2006, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), led by Joseph Kony, and the Ugandan army engaged in fierce battles in the districts of Pader, Kitgum, and Gulu.
The LRA justified their actions as a fight against the Ugandan government, although there was neither a clear ideology within the group nor support from the population. The resistance against the government was linked with a spiritual mission. Christian ideas merged with traditional beliefs, and they claimed to be fighting for a theocratic state based on the biblical Ten Commandments. Attacks on the civilian population increasingly intensified, as did their brutality.
In places where farmers are once again cultivating their fields and communities are living together, the fighting has destroyed most of the infrastructure. More than 700 schools were closed. Agriculture, as the most important economic sector, came to a halt. More than 1.2 million people lived in catastrophic conditions in refugee camps, accounting for more than 92 percent of the local population. Over half of the refugees were under 15 years old.
During the war, the phenomenon of Nightcommuters or “Night Commuters” occurred. With the onset of darkness, fights and raids broke out regularly. Every evening, in an attempt to escape, children and young people left their villages or refugee camps before dark and headed to Gulu. They fled from the violence and terror of the LRA, but most of all from their abductions.
Photojournalists documented these children and their nightly quest for safety. One of them is Marco di Lauro, a photographer based in Rome. His photos have reported from numerous countries around the world for many years and have received multiple awards.
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