Joseph Kony, the cause of countless of tears of
grief and sorrow in Uganda, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo
and the Central African Republic.
Joseph of Kony whose actions of terror held large
portion of Uganda hostage for over 20 years. Joseph Kony whose actions
of terror caused 2 million to flee their villages and homesteads in the
Acholi and Lango areas of Uganda and settle in squalid Internally
Displaced People Camps. Joseph Kony who enslaved 35,000 or more
children, kidnapping whole boarding schools under the cover of the
night. Joseph Kony who slashed and
burned villages, settlements and even
refugee camps, killing, raping, kidnapping and keeping a people under
the yoke impending terror. Joseph Kony whose LRA dismembered, cut off
lips, ears, fingers, hands, feet off of the innocent to keep them in
fear. Joseph Kony who impoverished a whole region of Uganda through
oppression and intimidation, through sheer terror. Joseph Kony, who took young women, called
them his wives, beat them into submission, raped and impregnated them,
scarring them emotionally for life.
“Joseph Kony” – Who has eluded the Ugandan Army,
the army of South Sudan, the army of the Democratic Republic of Congo,
the army of the Central African Republic and the UN Peace keeping force
inside of the Congo (MONUC).
Who is this man Joseph Kony?
Joseph Kony came into this world in April of 1963
(some sources claim 1961, or 1962, 1963 would be one year after Uganda’s
Independence from Britain) in a house just outside of what is referred
to as the Trading Center of Odek, 1½-hours drive from the town of Gulu.
Joseph Kony was born into an Acholi family in the
midst of the Acholi People’s area of Uganda. He was
the last of six children, his father was Luigi Abol ( also called Cilio
Obol), a teacher and very
active in the Catholic Church. (The name Luigi would attributable to the
fact that many of the Catholic missionaries were of Italian Origin).
His mother, who died on November 10th, was Nora Anek Oting 86 years
old.
Her dying wish
was that her son Joseph Kony make peace with the government of Uganda
and the people of Central and East Africa.
His family was not wealthy since teachers did not
receive much of a salary, most likely the food on the table came from
the family garden that his mother Nora Anek Oting tended with the help of the
children.
Joseph Kony was not the brightest student, but he
had a sense of humor, he was pleasant, polite,
loved soccer (football) and he was one of the best Larakaraka dancers
(traditional Acholi Dance) and he loved when others cheered him on.
Since his father was a lay preacher in the Catholic
Church it be only natural that Joseph Kony wind up as one of the altar
boys in the church where his father also served.
Joseph Kony attended Odek Primary School, if you
went looking for it, you would only find some ruins today. His
education ended before he graduated and it is said that he joined his
older brother Ginoni Okello who operated a traditional shrine outside of
Odek and had become a witch doctor. There he assisted his brother with
the shrine and it is very likely that a lot of the mystical and
occultist ways were formed in those days within Joseph Kony.
In the early and mid 80’s the now President
Museveni was in the bush outside of Kampala and the soldiers fighting
him were mostly Acholi or Langi. In 1985, there was even a short-lived
rule of an Acholi, President Okello.
The Acholi people felt that they were in power with one
of their own as President. Museveni and his National Resistance Army
were perceived as wanting to take that power from the Acholi People.
In January of 1986, Yuweri Museveni’s army marched
victoriously into Kampala while the army of Okello fled to the north and
into South Sudan. The end had come, so it was thought, then there was
fear of retribution since Acholis had fought against the army whose
government was now in power.
The scattered Acholi troops regrouped and formed
the Uganda People’s Army. Joseph Kony gave them his spiritual input
that he had gained as altar boy and witch doctor apprentice and he
recruited others to the cause.
It was1986 in Uganda, Museveni was in power, the
Acholis seemingly defeated. Enter “Alice Lakwena- the cousin of Joseph
Kony.” An Acholi “Joan of Arc” (perceived as that by her people) who briefly came upon
the scene to inspire
thousands of Acholi Men into battle with sticks and stones with the
promise that the bullets of the enemy would not penetrate their bodies
which had been anointed with water and oil. That
the stones of the Acholi would turn into grenades as they were thrown, that the enemy,
Museveni's Army
be routed and the land cleansed and the Acholis returned to power.
Her initial successes were most amazing, but as she
and her troops attempted to cross the Nile near Jinja, Alice Auma
Lakwena was routed by superior troops with superior weapons. Alice
fled
to Kenya where she remained in a refugee camp until the time of her
death in 2007.
The National Resistance Army rejoiced at their
victory, but it was short-lived when it was announced that another rebel
army had declared war on Kampala, led by Alice Lakwena’s cousin, the
former altar boy Joseph Kony.
The land of the Acholi was going through a hard
time. The heavy hand of the government’s National Resistance Army
was being felt everywhere. Precious cattle were disappearing in
the thousands. A man’s worth was as to how many heads of cattle he
owned, some Acholi lost hundreds of cattle in one night, people
disappeared, and women were raped. Accusation against the
government troops abounded, something that is still discussed and
disputed today.
Most of the government troops had fought the Acholi
soldiers who had been the soldiers of the former government and they had
been accused of hundreds of atrocities in the Luwero area near Kampala
of stealing, murdering and raping civilians, so now some Ugandan
government soldiers felt it was
payback time.
Joseph Kony with his band of former soldiers (he
was not into abducting children in those days) led some successful raids
on government troops, the Acholi people once again
thought that
someone had come to restore their dignity, status, cattle,
land and of course power. In those days, Kony’s plan was to overthrow
the government rule Uganda according to the 10 commandments of the Old
Testament.
Little did people in and near Gulu know that twenty some
years of death, destruction, and abductions would await them.
The response to Kony’s victories was two fold,
Betty Acan Bigombe, an Acholi was appointed Minister of State for
Pacification of Northern Uganda, a title soon to be changed to something
gentler such as Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister,
Resident in Northern Uganda. The second part was a military operation
that was simply an iron fist birthed in frustration because of losses
that Kony and his troops had inflicted upon the government army.
The military operation literally blocked out the
northern Acholi region. Politicians were arrested in fear that they
were collaborating with Kony, a media-blackout took place. There were
also the alleged crimes against the civilian population that abounded in
all corners of Acholi land. Betty Bigombe and her staff started handing
out bows and arrows to the Acholis to defend themselves against Joseph
Kony in the small villages of northern Uganda. This infuriated
Kony.
The result was that Kony’s wrath turned against his
own people. He felt betrayed. His own people were now caught between
the government army and their methods, and Kony and his retribution
against the Acholis who he felt had deserted him. Kony also continued to
attack the Army.
Kony issued a threat to the Acholi elders that they
had cast him aside. Resulting in 250 innocent people being massacred.
In 1992,
the abductions began with secondary
schools for girls. A group of 44 girls was abducted from Sacred Heart
Secondary School and St. Mary's Girls School near Gulu. Both were
boarding schools, the kidnappings began. Joseph Kony was going to
produce a new kind of Acholi people. He would use young children that
were a blank slate on which he could draw his ideas. Shaping a new
Acholi people, loyal to him, a pure people. (shades of Adolf
Hitler)
Joseph Kony would become President’s Museveni’s
thorn in the flesh for years to come. Joseph Kony also showed that he
was different from his relative Alice Lakwena who had a strict moral
code of behavior for her army. Though such a code existed at first it
quickly faded along with all the Biblical rhetoric that Joseph Kony
spewed out. Kony's religious rhetoric quickly lost its validity
replaced by violenc.
Joseph Kony needed cash to buy weapons; he needed
supplies to continue his war. He would take food from villages around
him, but weapons were something else.
Enter the Khartoum connection. At this time,
President Museveni was supporting the John Garang of the SPLA
who
was fighting the Khartoum in the south of Sudan. Garang and Museveni
and were close in thought, both had been in Tanzania at Dar es Salam and were friends.
The Khartoum government began to use Joseph Kony
and the LRA as a proxy to do harm to Museveni and his government and
also to become an irritant to John Garang’s SPLA in South Sudan.
The Khartoum support became evident in the smart
uniforms the leaders in the SPLA wore and the type of weapons they
used and are using. This support is seen as ongoing even in 2009,
though denied by the government of President Bashir in Khartoum. (It is
ironic that both Bashir and Kony have been indicted by the International
Criminal Court)
The association with Khartoum also changed some of
the up to now so called Christian ways, “Allah Akbar” could now be
heard as LRA fighters raided villages, Friday became a Holy Day. Pork
was no longer served, and it is said that Kony received the name
“Mohammed.” A blending of animist, Christian beliefs along with some
Islamic practices was now a part of the LRA. (Joseph Kony
is not a Christian nor is he a Muslim - He is a person mis-guided by his
demonic visions and his selfish desires for power, his theology consists
of violence for violence sake.)
President Museveni entered into peace negotiations
with Kony, but Kony used that time to regroup and get ready for next
phase.
Kony and his troops had been receiving training in
Sudan and other countries in guerilla warfare. Things were heating up.
Kony had the weapons, Kony’s top leaders were being trained, they were
ready for war but they would need more fighters, more foot soldiers and
support personnel.
The answer to the need for troops began to rear its
ugly head in full in1994 when child abductions began in mass. Children
were being taken from boarding schools at night, and boys brainwashed
and forced to be killers-child soldiers of Uganda, while girls were
forced to become sex slaves even though they were referred to as wives.
(Not surprisingly, many of these women upon release will say that their
abuser such as Kony was a kind man and always apologized after beating
them – the mind in captivity does strange things to many.)
Boys had to kill other boys, at times their own
family in order not to be killed and prove their new loyalty. Violence
for violence sake became the rule of the day. Children were scarred for
life, their childhood snatched from them, turned into ruthless killers, mindless
robots doing the bidding of a crazed man. Joseph Kony claims he never killed
himself, he only heard the spirits and gave the orders, which were then
put into marching orders.
Thousands were killed, maimed, kidnapped and
displaced from their homes. The dark of night had come to the north of
Uganda.
The government-erected camps (Internally Displaced
Persons Camps) were thousands were moved to. This was often done with a very short notice of
just a few days. The
Acholi people and then the Langi were weeping as their children were
taken from them, as their men were killed, the women were raped, and
they moved into camps.
The camps were erected for the safety of the people
but also in order to empty villages so that Kony had no support, no
places to hide and less places to kidnap new recruits for his army.
This went on for years; no end seemed in sight.
Acholi elders and religious leaders made appeals, lip service was given,
overtures of kind gestures made by the government at times like sending
Kony’s mother to Sudan to meet him (which did not take place.)
Kony would say one thing, but do another.
All
the while the cries in the night ,of mothers losing their children, of
fathers their son, the weeping continued for years. Families lived in
camps where before they had lived in villages with much cattle and
gardens where to raise their food. The Acholis always pushed their
children to be educated, now they were suffering with no education
.
Children grew up thinking that the source of food were NGO trucks rather
than the rich soil their parents used to till.
Almost 2 million people were in the IDP camps, a whole
generation of children grew up without their usual cultural ways. Sadly, the camps did not guarantee
protection from the LRA,
there were times were a whole camp would be raided and burned, many
dying as in a camp outside of Lira in the land of the Langi people.
Kampala was safe (for the most part, there were
threats and actual attacks by rebels from Western Uganda) and thriving,
while the northern region of Uganda was dying.
People accused the army, Kony and the LRA. Everyone
was pointing the finger but nothing was taking place to bring an end to
the dilemma. Kony seemed to escape every trap, every encounter with the
government army. The man with nine lives. Some began to think, that
just maybe he had mystical powers from his spirits. That he was
truly a man who was in touch with another realm.
The atmosphere in northern Uganda was tense. In
some towns such as Gulu, children would come to the
town
at night to seek shelter in fear of possible raids by the LRA and
potential abductions. They became the night commuters’ children growing
up in fear for their lives, not knowing if their parents would be alive
when they returned home the next morning.
The north had become the killing fields of
Uganda. The world stood by quietly for the most part while people died,
were abducted, enslaved, brainwashed, starved. Shades of Rwanda,
now in the north of Uganda where a people were losing their identity and
human dignity.
BBC called the situation in northern Uganda “Worse
than Iraq.” A United Nations report referred to Northern Uganda as "the
most dangerous place to live in the world."
In the meantime, a maniac, Joseph Kony, listening
to his unholy spirits kept up his evil ways. During the
war, he is said to have had 50 girls or young women as concubines (he
calls them wives), fathered a hundred children, displacing 2 million
people, killing over 30,000 kidnapping up to 30,000 or more (some
reports say 66,000 abducted children). Burning
and slashing the land of his own people. Unlike his relative Alice Auma
Lakwena, no one can call him an Acholi Patriot. Alice Lakwena asked him
to stop repeatedly, to no avail. Kony continued his campaign of
death and violence.
Joseph Kony is simply a sick man, misguided and
misled by the demonic entities that visit him. He has poisoned a
nation, violated his own people and spread it to other nearby countries
such as Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.
The war kept on and on…in 2005, the International
Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Joseph Kony
and some of his leaders for Crimes against Humanity. There are mixed
feelings in Uganda regarding the warrants. It is felt the reason that a
final Peace Treaty has never been signed is because of the warrants by
the ICC.
Many Africans are quite critical of the ICC and its seeming selective
ways of ignoring westerners but singling out Africans.
To incarcerate Kony in the Netherlands in a
comfortable cell with good food, TV and medical treatment
seems
ludicrous to many her. The thoughts are, let the Acholi people, let
Ugandans handle him. In some ways, it is the International Criminal
Court that has delayed the signing of the final peace treaty.
Since July of 2006, there has been a cessation of
hostilities agreement in force between the Ugandan government and the
LRA. Peace has slowly come to the shell shocked north, towns are
rebuilding, the camps are mostly empty, and schools are open again, even
though some have no buildings and meet under trees in the open.
Joseph Kony has not been inside of Uganda since
that time in 2006, he has been in South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of
Congo, continuing his path of destruction especially after being
attacked on the 14th of December of 2008. Once again his
vengeance came forth and many people died, including worshippers in a
church on Christmas day. Operation Lightning Thunder killed some
LRA members, captured others, but split up Kony's army into small groups
that now increased their attacks on the Congolese, causing 200,000 to
flee their homes, many innocent people have been killed and abduction
attacks are once again being made. Joseph Kony himself has kept
quiet up to now, his army continuing carrying out what Kony knows best,
a reign of terror.
The reality is, that this man, Kony, who claims to be divinely
inspired, this man who twists the minds of young men and women, who
scars hearts and minds of people, who rapes
children's sense of right and wrong and steals their soul. This man Kony
is in his heart fearful of being arrested and held accountable. He stays in the
bush, he keeps up his ways, creating continual misery in Central Africa
so that he can avoid accountability and imprisonment.
(Presently in the Democratic Republic of Congo)
The war has become chic, westerners buzz about it
on the internet, daily I get requests as to how many child soldiers
there are? How many people has Kony abducted recently? A game of
abduction has even been created by a UK charity so that they you can
experience in cyberspace of what it is like to be abducted and then find
your mother. (Acholi people and others in Uganda have
a real problem with some such things)
The reality is this, it is not a game, it is
real life and it is a war. Mothers and fathers all over the north of Uganda,
now in the Congo are still
weeping, not knowing if their son and daughter are dead or alive. The
actual LRA size is estimated to be around 1000 to 1200 with mothers and
children, about 600 actual combatants. (These are
figures from news reports in local Ugandan newspapers, there are however
reports that the LRA may be larger)
Many have died against the Ugandan army, against
the SPLA and the Congolese Army. Some say Kony sold them, that they are
in Darfur, others say they were sold as slaves, or for other purposes.
Thousands are missing, boys and girls who missed
out on being children becoming child soldiers instead, never to
be the same again. When they return home they often do so to villages where
they themselves killed someone. There mistrust exists, integration is
simply tough.
Former concubines have a hard time finding a husband, former child
soldiers a hard time finding a woman. (24,000
have been granted amnesty by the Uganda Amnesty Commission report of
December 2008. of those 17,000 were combatants. There were about 35,000
abducted from Uganda, especially the Acholi region, the Langi and Teso
region)
The tears are there, some of them will never dry,
but the resiliency of the people of the north is arising, Uganda is
rebuilding. Slowly, ever so slowly, the north is coming alive once
again….
Who is Joseph Kony…simply a mad man deluded by self
and demonic spirits, caught up in power and enjoying violence for
violence sake. May his life end soon so that others might
live…from Kampala…
jon May 14 - 2009
