Mr. Joseph Kony is a nasty piece of work. The warlord is the founder of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), an insurgent group that has been battling the government in Uganda for over two decades. Founded in 1987, the group was formed as a rebel group that fought for power and spoils against southern Ugandans (a long-standing division within the country). Mr. Kony proclaimed himself a spokesperson for God and a spirit medium, vowing to overthrow the government in Kampala and establish a theocratic state based on the Ten Commandments and the Acholi culture from which he came.
Two decades of fighting had little impact on Uganda politics, but it established the reputation of Mr. Kony and the LRA for brutality. It is estimated that as many as 12,000 people have been killed by violence involving the LRA and 2 million more driven from their homes and forced to become internally displaced people. Most horrifying has been the way the LRA has fought. It is reckoned that as many as 30,000 boys have been kidnapped by the LRA over time and forced to become child soldiers. Young, taken from their families and forced to fight, they have become acculturated to violence and have committed terrible atrocities, such as rape, torture, mutilation and mass killings. An equal number of girls have been taken as well; they have been used as sexual and domestic slaves. In 2005, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Mr. Kony to face charges of crimes against humanity.
At one time, the LRA had thousands of soldiers. Today, it is thought that the group consists of as few as 200 to 300 troops. Yet it is a testimony to their resilience and the incompetence of the Ugandan military that the LRA continues to bedevil the authorities and wreak havoc.