Kony and the LRA
Born in Uganda, Kony is the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army. For years, the
rebel group kidnapped children in northern Uganda, using the boys as fighters for
his movement and raping the girls. It's estimated he's abducted 66,000 children and killed tens of thousands; often families of the kidnapped children. Since he was indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court in 2005 on 33 charges including murder, enslavement, rape, pillaging, and forced fighting, he has left Uganda for the bush; his whereabouts are unknown. The LRA now operates in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic, and may now number in the hundreds. After the indictments, Kony came out of hiding, apparently to participate in a peace deal. But he backed out in 2008. The L.R.A. is an off-shoot of a rebel group led by Alice Lakwena, who said spirits possessed her and led her to war. When Kony took over, he said he was the spirits' new channel. Abductees who have escaped have said that Kony told them his battle instructions came from the Holy Spirit. He's believed to have at least 60 wives. The U.S. has worked with Ugandan and central African regional troops to divert the L.R.A. Those efforts probably helped scatter the group across central Africa, but no one has ever caught him and if we don’t act soon, it’s possible no one ever will.
rebel group kidnapped children in northern Uganda, using the boys as fighters for
his movement and raping the girls. It's estimated he's abducted 66,000 children and killed tens of thousands; often families of the kidnapped children. Since he was indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court in 2005 on 33 charges including murder, enslavement, rape, pillaging, and forced fighting, he has left Uganda for the bush; his whereabouts are unknown. The LRA now operates in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic, and may now number in the hundreds. After the indictments, Kony came out of hiding, apparently to participate in a peace deal. But he backed out in 2008. The L.R.A. is an off-shoot of a rebel group led by Alice Lakwena, who said spirits possessed her and led her to war. When Kony took over, he said he was the spirits' new channel. Abductees who have escaped have said that Kony told them his battle instructions came from the Holy Spirit. He's believed to have at least 60 wives. The U.S. has worked with Ugandan and central African regional troops to divert the L.R.A. Those efforts probably helped scatter the group across central Africa, but no one has ever caught him and if we don’t act soon, it’s possible no one ever will.