View source for National Resistance Army

{{Short description|Military wing of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) of Uganda (1981–1995)}}
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{{Infobox war faction
| name             = National Resistance Army
| native_name      = 
| native_name_lang = 
| war              = 
| image            = 
| caption          = 
| active           = June 1981 – 1995
| ideology         = [[Maoism]]<ref name="mak">{{cite web |last1=Simba |first1=S. K. |title=Same Same but Different: Parties, Politics and Ideology in Uganda |url=https://chuss.mak.ac.ug/news/sites/default/files/downloads/Dr%20Simba%27s%20Presentation.pdf |publisher=Makerere University College of Humanities and Social Sciences |access-date=27 April 2020 |pages=8 |date=2015 |archive-date=9 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809161300/https://chuss.mak.ac.ug/news/sites/default/files/downloads/Dr |url-status=dead }}</ref>
| position         =
| leaders          = [[Yoweri Museveni]]
| headquarters     = 
| area             = 
| size         = 
| partof           = 
| predecessor         = [[Popular Resistance Army|PRA]]<br>[[Uganda Freedom Fighters|UFF]]
| successor            = [[Uganda People's Defence Force|UPDF]]
| allies           = 
| opponents        = 
| battles          = [[Ugandan Bush War|Bush War]]<br>[[War in Uganda (1986–1994)]]<br>[[Lord's Resistance Army insurgency (1987–1994)|LRA insurgency]]<br>[[Kenyan-Ugandan border conflict]]
}}
The '''National Resistance Army''' ('''NRA''') was a [[Guerrilla warfare|guerilla army]] and the military wing of the [[National Resistance Movement]] (NRM) that fought in the [[Ugandan Bush War]] against the government of [[Milton Obote]], and later the government of [[Tito Okello]]. NRA was supported by [[Muammar Gaddafi]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/03/03/140004.html |title=Mercenaries paid between $300 and $2,000 a day – Gaddafi amasses army of African mercenaries |date=3 March 2011 |publisher=Al Arabiya}}</ref>

NRA was formed in 1981 when [[Yoweri Museveni]]'s [[Popular Resistance Army]] (PRA) merged with ex-president [[Yusuf Lule]]'s group, the [[Uganda Freedom Fighters]] (UFF). Museveni, then leader of the [[Uganda Patriotic Movement]] party, alleged [[electoral fraud]] and declared an armed rebellion, following the victory of [[Uganda Peoples Congress]] in the bitterly disputed [[1980 Ugandan general election|1980 general election]].<ref name="loc2">[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+ug0023) "A Country Study: The Second Obote Regime: 1981–85"], ''[[Library of Congress]] Country Studies''</ref>

Museveni, who had guerrilla war experience with the [[Mozambican Liberation Front]] (FRELIMO) in Mozambique, and his own [[Front for National Salvation]] (FRONASA) formed in Tanzania to fight [[Idi Amin]], led the NRA to victory against Ugandan government troops ([[UNLA]]) in 1986. By the time the victorious NRA entered [[Kampala]] in 1986, about a quarter of its 16,000 combatants were [[Banyarwanda]]{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}, while [[Fred Rwigema]] was its deputy commander. The NRA then became the national army.

Shortly afterwards, the UNLA carried out a number of attacks against civilians in the north of Uganda.<ref name=green75 /> The attacks largely targeted the [[Acholi people]] and were in part seen as a form of revenge for [[Operation Bonanza]], the scorched-earth operation there that had been ordered by [[Milton Obote]] during his presidency.<ref name=green75>{{cite book | last = Green | first = Matthew | authorlink = Matthew Green (journalist)| title = The Wizard of the Nile: The Hunt for Africa's Most Wanted | publisher = Portobello Books | year = 2008 | isbn=9781846270314| page=75}}</ref>

From 1986 to 1990, the Museveni regime tried to end various insurgencies and establish control over the army.<ref>Library of Congress, [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+ug0142) The Rise of the National Resistance Army], accessed February 2009</ref> Despite repeated government claims that the NRA had defeated the UNLA and other rebel groups, insurgent activity continued, especially in the northern, eastern, and western regions. In April 1988, 3,000 former [[Uganda People's Army]] (UPA) fighters and members of several other small rebel groups accepted a government amnesty by surrendering and declaring their support for Museveni's regime. In June 1988, the president concluded a peace agreement with [[Uganda People's Democratic Army]] (UPDA) commander Lieutenant Colonel John Angelo Okello. Although the NRA subsequently integrated many UPA and UPDA personnel into its ranks, thousands of others rejected the peace accord and continued to fight against the NRA.

After the 1995 Ugandan constitution was enacted, the NRA was renamed the [[Uganda People's Defence Force]].

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061002003306/http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNACC245.pdf The Anguish of Northern Uganda] by the [[United States Agency for International Development]]

{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Factions of the Ugandan Bush War]]
[[Category:Guerrilla organizations]]
[[Category:Rebel groups in Uganda]]
[[Category:National Resistance Movement]]
[[Category:Military wings of political parties]]
[[Category:Maoism in Africa]]
[[Category:Socialism in Uganda]]