Joseph Kony

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Screenshot of Joseph Kony in rare video footage, taken by journalist Ruud Elmendorp

Joseph Kony (b. 1962) is the head of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a guerrilla group that was until 2006 engaged in a violent campaign to establish a theocratic government in Uganda, reportedly based on the Bible and the Ten Commandments. The LRA, which earned a terrifying reputation for its brutality against the people of northern Uganda, abducted an estimated 20,000 children since its rebellion began in 1987.^[1]

Norah Anek Oting gave birth to Kony in Odek, a village east of Gulu in northern Uganda.^[2]A high-school dropout, Kony first came to prominence in January 1987, at age 26. His group was one of many millenarian groups that sprang up in Acholiland in the wake of the wildly popular Holy Spirit Movement of Alice Auma (aka Lakwena). However, the conflict in the north began in the resentment among the Acholi at their relative loss of influence after the coming to power of Yoweri Museveni in 1986 through the defeat of Acholi President Tito Okello. While the initial resistance to the National Resistance Army in 1986 was by the Uganda People's Democratic Army, the UPDA collapsed in 1988.

Kony claims to be a spirit medium. The primary spirit said to be channeled during the early insurgency was Juma Oris, formerly a government minister under President Idi Amin who at the time was leading the rebel West Nile Bank Front in the northwestern Uganda. Another is the spirit of a Chinese general^{[citation needed]}. Kony is a practising polygamist. Kony is also known to use Witchcraft rituals to cast protection over child soldiers, so that any bullet that hits them turns to water. [5] This is what one of the abductees that escaped from Kony observed:

It was a strange religion Kony adhered to. He prayed to the God of the Christians on Sundays reciting the Rosary and quoting the bible; but he also did the Al-Jummah prayer on Fridays, like the Muslims. He celebrated Christmas, but he also fasted for 30 days during Ramadan and prohibited the consumption of pork.

However, similar syncretic religious practices are not unknown elsewhere in the world, e.g. Druze.

There have been many observations of Kony traveling to Sudan and receiving supplies from Khartoum (currently an Islamic government). The LRA is based in northern Uganda. At the end of 2003, the LRA made an incursion outside of their traditional areas of operation in Acholiland into the Teso regions. The Ugandan government has declared that the LRA has been defeated three times since 1986. LRA lieutenants have sporadically engaged in negotiations with the government since 2003, though Kony's negotiating position is ambiguous.

[edit] Indictment

Lord's Resistance Army
HSM - Alice Auma Joseph Kony
1987-1994 1994-2002 2002-2005 ICC - Juba talks
Bibliography

On October 6, 2005 it was announced by the International Criminal Court (ICC) that arrest warrants had been issued for five members of the Lord's Resistance Army for crimes against humanity following a sealed indictment. On the next day Ugandan defense minister Amama Mbabazi revealed that the warrants include Joseph Kony, his deputy Vincent Otti, and LRA commanders Raska Lukwiya, Okot Odiambo and Dominic Ongwen. According to spokesmen for the military, the Ugandan army killed Lukwiya on August 12, 2006. ^[3]

A week later, on October 13, ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo released details on Kony's indictment. There are 33 charges, 12 counts are crimes against humanity, which include murder, enslavement, sexual enslavement and rape. There are another 21 counts of war crimes which include murder, cruel treatment of civilians, intentionally directing an attack against a civilian population, pillaging, inducing rape, and forced enlisting of children into the rebel ranks. Ocampo said that "Kony was abducting girls to offer them as rewards to his commanders." ^[4]

The Ugandan military has attempted to kill Kony for most of the insurgency.

On July 31, 2006 Kony met with several cultural, political, and religious leaders from northern Uganda at his hideout in the Congolese forests to discuss the war. The following day, August 1, he crossed the border into Sudan to speak with Southern Sudan Vice President Riek Machar. Kony later told reporters that he would not be willing to stand trial at the ICC because he had not done anything wrong.

On November 12, 2006 Kony met Jan Egeland, the United Nations Undersecretary-General for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief. Kony told Reuters: "We don't have any children. We only have combatants."

[edit] References

^ Buteera, Richard. "The Reach Of Terrorist Financing And Combating It- The Links Between Terrorism And Ordinary Crime." International Society of Prosecutors. Washington, D.C.. 12 Aug 2003. [1]
^ "Uganda rebel's mum in peace move." BBC News. 24 July 2006. 15 Feb 2007 [2]
^ "Ugandan army 'kills senior rebel'." BBC News. 13 Aug 2006. 15 Feb 2007. [3]
^ International Criminal Court. Warrant of Arrest unsealed against five LRA Commanders. The Hague: 2005. [4]