Jamie Hitchen wrote this fascinating article for Africa is a Country on the general discourse relating to rebel groups in Africa. He uses examples from When the Walking Defeats You and from the writings of Nigerian expert on Boko Haram Atta Barkindo to question the simplistic narratives used in media accounts to describe rebels.

“The researcher and writer, Ledio Cakaj’s newly published book, When the Walking Defeats You: One Man’s Journey as Joseph Kony’s Bodyguard, which chronicles life in the LRA from the perspective of a foot soldier, George Omona (a pseudonym), breaks with this consensus.”

I also liked this paragraph.

“Both Boko Haram and the LRA have stirred religious fanaticism; tapped into a feeling among citizens of government neglect; carried out attacks and abductions on civilian populations causing large scale internal displacement; and have successfully avoided military defeat despite a substantial technological and logistical disadvantage.”