This report examines the key drivers of conflict at the community level in the post-conflict regions of Acholi, Lango, and West Nile in northern Uganda, and identifies effective mechanisms for constructive social change processes with implications for transitional justice in Uganda. It represents a significant step towards identifying and analyzing key obstacles to positive peace and reconciliation in the region, ensuring that post-war recovery and reconciliation initiatives are conflict-sensitive and aligned with the socio-political and economic needs and aspirations of the communities. Through observational analysis and empirical data from participants, the report identifies strategic and effective mechanisms to foster transitional justice that value local realities, capacities for peace, and forms of agency within the communities.
Specifically, Chapter 2 explores the conflict drivers that continue to hinder positive peace, discussing the prevailing manifestations of overt conflict, including widespread land and boundary disputes across the post-conflict region. Other manifestations include clashes between communities and environmental regulations enforced by government officials, such as the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) and National Forestry Authority (NFA), youth disenfranchisement, domestic violence, gender-based violence, and conflicts between communities and former combatants.The inadequately addressed legacies of the war with the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) have been driven by new and long-standing grievances that keep post-war communities in a state of latent conflict, where trigger events could lead to a rapid escalation of violence. As grievances grow, so does the potential for trigger events in Acholi, Lango, and West Nile to lead to greater unrest and more organized forms of violence, potentially spiraling into a return to conflict if unaddressed.