Current Issue

The journey home

Multi-discursive perceptions on the movement patterns of internally displaced persons, Northern Uganda

In August 2006, the Government of Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army signed a ceasefire agreement, putting a hold on 20 years of violent conflict in Northern Uganda. The conflict uprooted 1.6 million people. They found havens in congested and hazardous internal displacement camps in the region. The Government of Uganda declared the war to be over and the region to be safe enough to return home. However, in Acholiland, people appeared to be hesitant to return.

December 17, 2009 Hilde Kroes

This thesis bridges different academic disciplines and has a multi-discursive approach. It is based upon fieldwork conducted in Northern Uganda between August 2007 and February 2008. It endeavours to answer the question: why are the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) of Gulu and Amuru districts not returning home?


This question may be simple at first glance, but it is actually complex and multi-layered. Explaining why people are not returning home demands an analysis that goes beyond current dynamics. The explanation lies in historical interpretations, various perceptions on war, peace, movement and development, the life worlds of the displaced, and the relationships between several actors influencing and shaping the chain they are connected with.

Local dynamics reveal that the improved level of security does not necessarily mean that one can speak of a post-conflict phase. This thesis approaches ‘war’ and ‘violence’ as socially constructed phenomena. Humanitarian paradigms are dominated by the terms ‘relief’, ‘reconstruction’, ‘rehabilitation’, ‘recovery’, etc. However, IDPs do not think in these terms. They have different notions and understandings of the current security situation in Northern Uganda. The Government of Uganda and most humanitarian agencies fail to understand that the fact that the peace deal has not yet been signed is a serious restriction in the security situation in Northern Uganda. This creates a gap in perceptions and local realities. A universal approach is needed about the definition of the level of security, and the implications for humanitarian programming. When this is not met, the social, political and economical positions of the war-affected people are endangered or damaged.

‘Home’ and ‘return’ are dynamic concepts for IDPs in Acholiland. Many who have built their huts in the villages still commute and do not feel at home anywhere. There is fear – that the rebels that might come back – and doubt that these peace talks will fail again. This thesis suggests seeing movement as a process, not as a solution, or an ending to a long-lasting conflict.

There is no holistic humanitarian approach to the situation in Northern Uganda. This is deeply felt in the field. There are major gaps in terms of service delivery, return facilitation and humanitarian response. There are cases of segregation, corruption, stigmatization and uncertainty in the humanitarian aid response to IDPs. The current humanitarian approach promoted by the government and some humanitarian agencies seriously undermines the displaced people’s rights and their authority to make their own choices. After all, the displaced people of Acholi have the right to decide when to move and where to.



Reviewers' Comments

Reviewed by: Nicky Pouw
With regard to scientific quality (8), the study is a breathtaking account on the movements of displaced people in conflict-torn Northern Uganda, where people are lost in fear despite humanitarian interventions and a government that wants people to return home. By adopting a multi-discursive approach, the researcher succeeds in shedding light on the complexity of the movement problem; although, understandably, the position of the rebels is only partially documented. The study displays originality (9) in the sense that it explores the many faces of the movement problem from within the displaced community itself, including humanitarian aid and government actors. It has high applicability (8); the study makes an important contribution by pointing out the major gap between donor interventions and government planning and policy making on the one hand, and lived realities – the fears and wants of displaced people – which easily leads to a dead-end situation from everyone’s perspective. The legibility and structure is marked at (7); it is rather long and written in non-academic English.
Reviewed by: Jan Pronk
My overall assessment is that this is an excellent thesis and I advise that it is published. The relevance of the subject is high and the relevance of the findings is also high. The approach and methodology are thorough and the presentation and language are good; it is very well written. It is a long paper, but both the subject and the methodology used deserve this. The presentation is systematic and logical. The academic level is very high. This is perhaps the best paper which I have reviewed so far in the framework of the Broker Thesis Project. The case is very well presented. The thesis describes the context, the theoretical basis and views presented by others very well. This description serves a purpose: it is not a separate chapter, without relevance to the specific research by the author herself. The presentation of that research is systematic, the findings and conclusions convincing. The study deserves a wide readership among policy makers in Uganda, as well as in partner countries and in international organizations and humanitarian agencies.