Joseph Kony

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Joseph Kony

Joseph Kony (born 1961 in Odek, a village to east of Gulu in northern Uganda) is the primary leader of a guerrilla paramilitary group, and possibly new religious movement, called the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), that is engaged in a violent campaign to establish a theocratic government in Uganda reportedly based on the Bible and the Ten Commandments. The LRA, which has earned a terrifying reputation for its brutality against the people of northern Uganda, has abducted an estimated 20,000 children over the years.p.73 Aboke Girls by Els De Temmerman [link]

A high-school dropout, Kony made his first appearance 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. However, the conflict in the north began in the resentment among the Acholis 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. Kony is a practising polygamist.

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 apparent belief in two different religions may be to serve two purposes. They claim to believe in Christianity in order to gain acceptability in the conservative dedicated rural Christian community in which they operate, although it appears Christians and other non-Muslims are their primary targets, as in Sudan. It is reasoned their attempt is to be a proxy disconnecting itself in all appearance from its main backers in Sudan. It must be noted Uganda's proximity to the similarly troubled regions of Sudan where the Non-Muslim and black populations are killed and displaced by the Janjaweed militia.

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.

Indictment

Lord's Resistance Army

HSM - Alice Auma
Joseph Kony - ICC

1987-1994
1994-2002
2002-2005

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.

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." [link]

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

References

External links

[I want peace, but Museveni is the problem, says Kony], transcript of Joseph Kony's call in to a political talk show on the Mega FM radio station broadcasting from Gulu on 28 December 2002
J. Carter Johnson, [Deliver Us from Kony], Christianity Today, January 2006
[Portrait of Uganda's rebel prophet, painted by wives], Mail & Guardian, 10 February 2006
Sam Farmar, [Uganda rebel leader breaks silence] (interview with downloadable audio in MP3 format), BBC Newsnight, 28 June 2006
Ochola John, [LRA victim: 'I cannot forget and forgive'], BBC, 29 June 2006
[Profile: Ugandan rebel Joseph Kony], BBC News profile from 2005

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