Some researchers, activists, and legal specialists designate the massive abductions and captivity reported for recent African conflicts as slavery. They highlight the gendered nature of these phenomena: crimes of forced marriage and sexual slavery perpetrated against women are particularly visible and debated. But not everyone agrees that they should be defined and understood as slavery. This paper examines different types of evidence and sources on the LRA abductions in Uganda and develops some critical reflections about the nature of these sources and the positioning of their authors. Who defines the LRA abductions (and the forms of coercion that followed them) as slavery? Who doesn’t? In which circumstances, and with what consequences, are these phenomena characterized as slavery? The paper also considers debates over the interpretation of the underlying causes of these phenomena: positions are divided between, on the one hand, perspectives that blame gender discrimination in African institutions, and on the other perspectives that blame activists and humanitarian organizations for imposing allegedly ‘Western’ representations and agendas on African societies. Interpreters taking the latter position blame humanitarian actors and agencies for producing an image of African backwardness that is reminiscent of colonial discourse and instrumental to the entrenchment of Western control over African societies, including its most intimate spheres (i.e. marriage and sexuality). Indeed, defining these phenomena as slavery implies a particular chain of causation which legitimizes intervention and triggers slavery’s suppression in accordance with the dictates of international human rights conventions and, where appropriate, through the intervention of institutions such as the International Criminal Court. By considering the case of Northern Uganda, this paper discusses the boundary between description and prescription in debates on sexual slavery in recent African conflicts, and reflects on the implications of the political sensitivity of this topic for research on African slavery and gender violence.