Joseph Kony: Difference between revisions
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Kony received a surge of attention in early March 2012 when a thirty-minute documentary titled "[[Kony 2012]]" by film maker Jason Russell for the campaign group [[Invisible Children Inc]] was released. The intention of the production is to draw attention to Kony in an effort to increase United States involvement in the issue. Michael Geheren, blogger for ''[[The Huffington Post]]'', commented: "The 27-minute video was posted on Vimeo and YouTube by Invisible Children and became a worldwide trending topic on the Internet. Personally, I have never seen an outpour of support from people on my Facebook news feed like this."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-geheren/post_3074_b_1326942.html |title=Michael Geheren, "Kony 2012: Changing the World, One Tweet at a Time", March 7 2012 |publisher=Huffingtonpost.com |date= |accessdate=2012-03-08}}</ref> |
Kony received a surge of attention in early March 2012 when a thirty-minute documentary titled "[[Kony 2012]]" by film maker Jason Russell for the campaign group [[Invisible Children Inc]] was released. The intention of the production is to draw attention to Kony in an effort to increase United States involvement in the issue. Michael Geheren, blogger for ''[[The Huffington Post]]'', commented: "The 27-minute video was posted on Vimeo and YouTube by Invisible Children and became a worldwide trending topic on the Internet. Personally, I have never seen an outpour of support from people on my Facebook news feed like this."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-geheren/post_3074_b_1326942.html |title=Michael Geheren, "Kony 2012: Changing the World, One Tweet at a Time", March 7 2012 |publisher=Huffingtonpost.com |date= |accessdate=2012-03-08}}</ref> |
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[[The Daily Telegraph]] pointed out that the film has quickly received attention from celebrities.<ref>{{cite web|author= |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/uganda/9129085/Joseph-Kony-2012-online-video-campaign-to-bring-Uganda-war-criminal-to-justice-goes-viral.html|date=2012-03-07 |title=Joseph Kony 2012: online video campaign to bring Uganda war criminal to justice goes viral|publisher=Telegraph.co.uk|accessdate=2012-03-08}}</ref> Elizabeth Flock, writer for the ''[[Washington Post]]'', offered more background on the LRA as well as Invisible Children in response to the documentary.<ref name=WashingtonPost/> Flock and ''[[The Toronto Star]]'' stated that Invisible Children hoped to raise Kony's notoriety enough to provoke a massive overnight poster campaign on April 20.<ref name=WashingtonPost>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/invisible-childrens-stop-kony-campaign/2012/03/07/gIQA7B31wR_blog.html"Invisible Children’s ‘Stop Kony’ campaign", Elizabeth Flock, Washington Post: BlogPOST, March 7 2012.]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1142287--kony-2012-campaign-goes-viral-in-an-effort-to-help-hunt-down-ugandan-warlord-joseph-konyLiam |title=Casey, "Kony 2012 campaign goes viral in an effort to help hunt down Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony", March 7 2012 |publisher=Thestar.com |date= |accessdate=2012-03-08}}</ref> |
[[The Daily Telegraph]] pointed out that the film has quickly received attention from celebrities.<ref>{{cite web|author= |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/uganda/9129085/Joseph-Kony-2012-online-video-campaign-to-bring-Uganda-war-criminal-to-justice-goes-viral.html|date=2012-03-07 |title=Joseph Kony 2012: online video campaign to bring Uganda war criminal to justice goes viral|publisher=Telegraph.co.uk|accessdate=2012-03-08}}</ref> Elizabeth Flock, writer for the ''[[Washington Post]]'', offered more background on the LRA as well as Invisible Children in response to the documentary.<ref name=WashingtonPost/> Flock and ''[[The Toronto Star]]'' stated that Invisible Children hoped to raise Kony's notoriety enough to provoke a massive overnight poster campaign on April 20, 2012.<ref name=WashingtonPost>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/invisible-childrens-stop-kony-campaign/2012/03/07/gIQA7B31wR_blog.html"Invisible Children’s ‘Stop Kony’ campaign", Elizabeth Flock, Washington Post: BlogPOST, March 7 2012.]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1142287--kony-2012-campaign-goes-viral-in-an-effort-to-help-hunt-down-ugandan-warlord-joseph-konyLiam |title=Casey, "Kony 2012 campaign goes viral in an effort to help hunt down Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony", March 7 2012 |publisher=Thestar.com |date= |accessdate=2012-03-08}}</ref> |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
Revision as of 17:01, 8 March 2012
Joseph Kony | |
---|---|
File:JosephKonyGreenHat.jpg | |
Born | Joseph Kony 1961 (age 62–63)[1] |
Nationality | Ugandan |
Known for | Leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) |
Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) |
Title | Leader of the Lord's Resistance Army |
Spouse | Thought to have over 60 wives[4] |
Children | Thought to have 42 children[5] |
Joseph Kony (born c. 1961)[1] is a Ugandan guerrilla group leader, head of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a group engaged in a violent campaign to establish theocratic government based on the Ten Commandments throughout Uganda.[2] The LRA is a militant group with a syncretic Christian extreme religious ideology. They are known for the extreme atrocities they commit against civilians, including murder, mutilations, rape, and in some accounts even cannibalism.[6]
Directed by Kony, the LRA has earned a reputation for its actions against the people of several countries, including northern Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, and Sudan. It has abducted and forced an estimated 66,000 children to fight for them, and has forced the internal displacement of over 2 million people since its rebellion began in 1986.[7] In 2005 Kony was indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, but has evaded capture.[8]
Biography
Early life
Kony was born c. 1961[1] in Odek, a village east of Gulu in northern Uganda.[2][4] A member of the Acholi people,[2] The son of farmers, he enjoyed a good relationship with his siblings, but was quick to retaliate in a dispute,[9] and when confronted he would often resort to physical violence. His father was a lay catechist of the Catholic Church and his mother was an Anglican. Kony was an altar boy for several years, but he stopped attending church around the age of 15.[9] As a teenager Kony apprenticed as the village witch doctor under his older brother, Jamie Brow, and when his older brother died, Kony took over the position.[10] He did not graduate from high school. Kony first came to prominence in January 1986 as the leader of one of the many premillennialist groups that sprang up in Acholiland in the wake of the wildly popular Holy Spirit Movement of Alice Auma (also known as Lakwena), to whom Kony is thought to be related.[2] Their relative loss of influence after the overthrow of Acholi President Tito Okello by Yoweri Museveni and his National Resistance Army (NRA) during the Ugandan Bush War (1981–1986) spurred resentment among the Acholi, which boosted Joseph Kony's popularity.[citation needed]
Lord's Resistance Army
Lord's Resistance Army insurgency |
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Conflict history |
Related articles |
Originally, Kony's group was called the United Holy Salvation Army (UHSA) and was not perceived as a threat by the NRA. By 1988, it had became a major player in Ugandan affairs: an agreement between the NRA and the Uganda People's Democratic Army left members of the latter group unsatisfied, and many joined the United Holy Salvation Army as a form of rebellion. One such person was Commander Odong Latek, who convinced Kony to use standard military tactics instead of attacking in cross-shaped formations and sprinkling holy water. The new tactics proved successful, and the UHSA delivered several small but stinging defeats against the NRA. After these victories, the NRA responded by significantly weakening Kony's group through political actions and a military campaign named Operation North. The operation was devastating to what would become the Lord's Resistance Army, and with their numbers reduced from thousands to hundreds, they engaged in retaliatory attacks on civilians and NRA collaborators. The LRA say that spirits have been sent to communicate this mission directly to Kony.[11]
The bulk of Kony's foot soldiers were children.[9] Whilst estimates of the number of children conscripted since 1986 vary, some put the figure as high as 104,000.[9] When abducting the children, Kony and his army often killed their family and neighbors, thus leaving the children with little choice but to fight for him.[9]
By 1992 Kony had renamed the group the United Democratic Christian Army and it was at this time that they kidnapped 44 girls from the Sacred Heart Secondary and St. Mary's girls schools.[12]
Religious beliefs
Betty Bigombe remembered that the first time she met Kony, his followers used oil to ward off bullets and evil spirits.[13] In a letter regarding future talks, Kony stated that he must consult the Holy Spirit. When the talks did occur, they insisted on the participation of religious leaders and opened the proceedings with prayers, led by LRA's Director of Religious Affairs Jenaro Bongomi. During the 1994 peace talks, Kony was preceded by men in robes sprinkling holy water.[4]
Kony was thought among followers and detractors alike to have been possessed by spirits; he has been portrayed as either the Messiah or the Devil. He reportedly made annual trips to the Ato Hills in Uganda. He would allegedly ascend to the highest of the hills and lie down in the hot sun for days. He would be covered by a blanket of red termites that bit deeply into his skin. Oil from the Yao plant was spread over his body. Then he would enter a cave and stay in seclusion for weeks.[citation needed] Kony believes in the literal protection provided by a cross symbol and tells his child soldiers a cross on their chest drawn in oil will protect them from bullets.[9] Kony insists that he and the Lord's Resistance Army are fighting for the Ten Commandments. He defends his actions: "Is it bad? It is not against human rights. And that commandment was not given by Joseph. It was not given by LRA. No, those commandments were given by God."[14]
Indictment
On October 6, 2005, the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced 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 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.[8] The BBC received information that Otti had been killed on October 2, 2007, at Kony's home.[15]
On October 13, 2005, ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo released details on Kony's indictment. There are 33 charges; 12 counts are crimes against humanity, including murder, enslavement, sexual enslavement, and rape. Another 21 counts of war crimes 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."[citation needed]
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.[citation needed] The following day, 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.[citation needed]
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."[16]
Action against Kony
Ugandan
The Ugandan military has attempted to kill Kony throughout the insurgency. In Uganda's latest attempt to track Kony down, former LRA combatants have been enlisted to search remote areas of the Central African Republic, the Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo where he was last seen.[17] After the September 11th attacks, the United States declared the Lord's Resistance Army a terrorist group.[18] On August 28, 2008, the United States Treasury Department placed Kony on its list of "Specially Designated Global Terrorists", a designation that carries financial and other penalties.[19] It is not known whether Kony has any assets that are affected by this designation.
United States
In 2008, the United States military assisted financially and logistically during the unsuccessful Garamba Offensive, code-named Operation Lightning Thunder. No US troops were directly involved, but US advisers and analysts provided intelligence, equipment, and fuel to Ugandan military counterparts.[20] Though the offensive may have pushed Kony from his jungle camp, he was not captured.
In May 2010, U.S. President Barack Obama signed into law the Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act,[21] legislation aimed at stopping Kony and the LRA. The bill passed unanimously in the United States Senate on March 11. On May 12, a motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill was agreed to by voice vote (two-thirds being in the affirmative) in the House of Representatives.[22] In November Obama delivered a strategy document to Congress, asking for more funding to disarm Kony and the LRA.[23] In October 2011, Obama authorized the deployment of approximately 100 combat-equipped U.S. troops to central Africa.[24] Their goal is to help regional forces remove Kony and senior LRA leaders from the battlefield. "Although the U.S. forces are combat-equipped, they will only be providing information, advice, and assistance to partner nation forces, and they will not themselves engage LRA forces unless necessary for self-defense," Obama said in a letter to Congress.[citation needed]
In the media
Kony received a surge of attention in early March 2012 when a thirty-minute documentary titled "Kony 2012" by film maker Jason Russell for the campaign group Invisible Children Inc was released. The intention of the production is to draw attention to Kony in an effort to increase United States involvement in the issue. Michael Geheren, blogger for The Huffington Post, commented: "The 27-minute video was posted on Vimeo and YouTube by Invisible Children and became a worldwide trending topic on the Internet. Personally, I have never seen an outpour of support from people on my Facebook news feed like this."[25]
The Daily Telegraph pointed out that the film has quickly received attention from celebrities.[26] Elizabeth Flock, writer for the Washington Post, offered more background on the LRA as well as Invisible Children in response to the documentary.[27] Flock and The Toronto Star stated that Invisible Children hoped to raise Kony's notoriety enough to provoke a massive overnight poster campaign on April 20, 2012.[27][28]
See also
{{{inline}}}
- Children of War
- Invisible Children 2006 documentary film about the abduction and forced enlistment of children by the LRA
- The World's 10 Most Wanted
Bibliography
- Green, Matthew (2008). The Wizard of the Nile: The Hunt for Africa's Most Wanted. Portobello Books. ISBN 978-1846270307.
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(help) - Briggs, Jimmie (2005). The Innocents Lost: When Child soldiers Go to War. Basic Books.
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(help) - Bussman, Jane (2009). The Worst Date Ever: War Crimes, Hollywood Heart-Throbs and Other Abominations. Macmillan. ISBN 0230737129.
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References
- ^ a b c Craine, Anthony. "Joseph Kony". Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
- ^ a b c d e Daniel Howden (November 8, 2008). "The deadly cult of Joseph Kony". The Independent. Retrieved March 7, 2012.
{{cite news}}
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(help) - ^ "Joseph Kony". Nndb.com. Retrieved 2012-03-08.
- ^ a b c "Profile: Joseph Kony". BBC News. October 7, 2005. Retrieved March 7, 2012.
- ^ Beatrice Debut Gulu (February 10, 2006). "Portrait of Uganda's rebel prophet, painted by wives". Mail & Guardian Online. Retrieved March 7, 2012.
- ^ Richard Dowden. "Court threatens to block cannibal cult's peace offer". Royal African Society. Retrieved January 5, 2011.
- ^ "Read The Bill: H.R. 2478". GovTrack.us. 2009-05-19. Retrieved July 11, 2011.
- ^ a b "Ugandan army 'kills senior rebel'". BBC News. August 13, 2006. Retrieved March 7, 2012.
- ^ a b c d e f Jimmie Briggs (2005). Innocents Lost: When Child soldiers Go to war. pp. 105–144.
- ^ Peter Eichstaedt, First Kill Your Family: Child Soldiers of Uganda and the Lord's Resistance Army, p. 206
- ^ "Joseph Kony". The New York Times. October 13, 2011. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
Mr. Kony has presented himself over the years as the channel through which these lingering voices communicate from the beyond.
- ^ "Crises in Sudan and Northern Uganda". Subcommittee on Africa. U.S. House of Representatives. July 29, 1998. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
- ^ Boustany, Nora (July 11, 2007). "The Woman Behind Uganda's Peace Hopes". The Washington Post. p. 3. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
- ^ "I will use the Ten Commandments to liberate Uganda". Times Online.
{{cite news}}
: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=
(help) (subscription required) - ^ "Otti 'executed by Uganda rebels'". BBC News. December 21, 2007. Retrieved March 8, 2012.
- ^ "[AlertNet]". (subscription required)
- ^ Gettleman, Jeffrey (2010-04-10). "Uganda Enlists Former Rebels to End a War". NYTimes.com. Retrieved 2011-07-11.
- ^ Philip T. Reeker (December 6, 2001). "Statement on the Designation of 39 Organizations on the USA PATRIOT Act's Terrorist Exclusion List". U.S. Department of State.
- ^ Capaccio, Tony (October 14, 2011). "Obama Sends Troops Against Uganda Rebels". Bloomberg News. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
- ^ "U.S. Aided a Failed Plan to Rout Ugandan Rebels". The New York Times. 2009-02-06. Retrieved 2012-03-07.
- ^ "LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act of 2009". Resolve Uganda. May 24, 2010.
- ^ 2010 Congressional Record, Page H3416.
- ^ Kavanagh, Michael J. (November 25, 2010). "Obama Administration Asks for Funds to Boost Uganda's Fight Against Rebels". Bloomberg. Retrieved October 15, 2011.
- ^ Gerson, Michael (January 26, 2011). "Joseph Kony and the international effort to bring him to justice". Washington Post. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
- ^ "Michael Geheren, "Kony 2012: Changing the World, One Tweet at a Time", March 7 2012". Huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2012-03-08.
- ^ "Joseph Kony 2012: online video campaign to bring Uganda war criminal to justice goes viral". Telegraph.co.uk. 2012-03-07. Retrieved 2012-03-08.
- ^ a b "Invisible Children’s ‘Stop Kony’ campaign", Elizabeth Flock, Washington Post: BlogPOST, March 7 2012.
- ^ "Casey, "Kony 2012 campaign goes viral in an effort to help hunt down Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony", March 7 2012". Thestar.com. Retrieved 2012-03-08.