Many children growing up in the early 2010’s were exposed to their first geopolitical issue by simply browsing Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube in March of 2012. They may not have been able to grasp the subtleties of the situation, but they understood an injustice was occurring and became first time activists without even knowing it. You could not escape the hashtags #stopkony or #kony2012 online, browse your social media without seeing a share, or hold a conversation with your friends without mentioning the name Joseph Kony. This of course was all due to the documentary Kony 2012, produced by Invisible Children, Inc., which has garnered over 100 million views and has been widely considered one of the most viral videos of all time. The younger generation became so involved that some were informing their parents on the situation. Delaware Senator Chris Coons admitted that his three pre-teen children had asked him what he was doing to stop the African warlord Joseph Kony.[1] Quickly, adults and children alike were all asking themselves that question and actions were being taken. However, eventually years passed, and it seems Joseph Kony was able to slip through the cracks despite his internet infamy.
Joseph Kony is a Ugandan warlord who founded the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in 1987 and leads them to this day. The LRA has risen and shrunk throughout the years and has operated in Uganda, South Sudan, Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.[2] The ideology of the LRA is complicated but entails a form of radical Christianity mixed with nationalism and a veneration of Kony himself. The goal of the LRA was to overthrow the government of Uganda by any means necessary and place themselves in positions of governance.
Kony and his men have been documented as displacing millions from their homes, raping, torturing, and murdering anyone they get their hands on and generally committing war crimes as they please. Their reign of terror includes cannibalism, disfigurements, and brutality the likes of which humanity has rarely seen. However, what made Joseph Kony and his LRA so infamous was the use of child soldiers and child sex slaves. Young girls have been abducted to serve as sex slaves to the soldiers or given away as “gifts” to arms dealers in Sudan.[3] Additionally, young boys are kidnapped and brainwashed into becoming soldiers for the group. These young boys are then condemned to commit murder (and worse) and die for Joseph Kony on the front line of battle. Kony tells these boys that they will be invincible to bullets after he draws a cross on their chest with oil.[4] The film Kony 2012 claimed that the LRA had recruited over 30,000 child soldiers at up to that point in March of 2012.[5]
Even though Kony was indicted in 2005 for war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC), he had so far successfully evaded capture and Kony 2012 hoped to help shed a light on him to the general public.[6] It was effective and Kony 2012 went viral overnight with polls suggesting that 59% of young Americans heard about Kony 2012 in the first few days of the films release.[7] The popularity of the film garnered support of the citizens of the world and governments were now listening. Shortly after the films release, 34 members of U.S. Congress introduced a bipartisan resolution to condemn Joseph Kony and the LRA and, “…for the U.S. effort to help regional forces pursue commanders of the militia group.”.[8] Additionally, the African Union increased its efforts to capture Joseph Kony by sending 5,000 troops after him with 100 American special forces advisors attached to the detail.[9]
In subsequent years that followed, Joesph Kony was still able to resist capture or death. Even with boots on the ground and air unit support from the United States. Even with President Barrack Obama offering a $5 million award.[10] Even with all the heat brought on by Kony 2012. It still was not enough. Luckily though, some of the measures did work though in demoralizing, disbanding, and dissuading his army. Once at a height of 3,000+ men, Kony could only count around 100 men in his army in April of 2017.[11] This limited their capability and impact of attacks and turned the LRA into a shell of its former self. This lead to both the United States and African countries no longer considered the LRA a threat at this point. Meaning the search for Kony was all but over and failed.
Fast forward to September 2021 and that failure still stands. Even with a vast majority of his army gone, and all his former commanders killed or captured, Kony remains at large. It is reported that he only commands a few dozen men, and they are dispersed between the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, South Sudan and Sudan. According to LRA defectors, today the army’s main activities consist of, “…subsistence farming and sometimes selling honey at local markets.”, as they try to survive.[12] The frequency and ferocity of the LRA attacks on local populations have also slowed down. Crisis Tracker reports that the LRA has been involved in 25 attacks, 1 killing, and 55 abductions in the last 365 days.[13]
Today, the LRA does not pose a threat to any government but can be viewed as more of local criminal group fighting for its survival. Looting and stealing from the local populace to eat and drink enough to stay alive. The war to overthrow the Ugandan government is lost and Kony is struggling to hold on to what little he has left. Crisis tracker believes the aging warlord to be living in the contested enclave of Kafia Kingi where he tries to command his demoralized army.[14] It is unlikely that the LRA will be able to recruit or abduct as they once have and is more likely to continue to lose men this year. Morale is low, food is scarce, and leadership is lacking. Kony does not command the respect of his men anymore and their loyalty is waning. The best course of action is for local governments to continue playing defection messages for his men to hear to encourage them to leave the LRA. The warlord will live on for now – however, his ideology, his army, and his ability to cause harm will soon fade into the history books as his measured demise continues.
Featured Image: by William Murphy https://www.flickr.com/photos/infomatique/7103869103 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
[1] Wong, Scott. “Kony Captures Congress’ Attention.” POLITICO, March 22, 2012. https://www.politico.com/story/2012/03/kony-captures-congress-attention-074355.
[2] National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism. “Terrorist Organization Profile: LRA.” Terrorist Organization Profile. Accessed September 16, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20111022042344/http://www.start.umd.edu/start/data_collections/tops/terrorist_organization_profile.asp?id=3513.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Briggs, Jimmie, and Aryeh Neier. Innocents Lost When Child Soldiers Go to War. New York: Basic Books, 2005.
[5] Kony 2012. Invisible Children, Inc., 2012.
[6] McKay, Hollie. “Where Is Ugandan Warlord Joseph Kony?” Fox News. FOX News Network, February 19, 2020. https://www.foxnews.com/world/viral-vanish-what-happened-to-joseph-kony.
[7] Kanczula, Antonia. “Kony 2012 in Numbers.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, April 20, 2012. https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/apr/20/kony-2012-facts-numbers?newsfeed=true.
[8] Wong, Scott. “Kony Captures Congress’ Attention.” POLITICO, March 22, 2012. https://www.politico.com/story/2012/03/kony-captures-congress-attention-074355.
[9] “African Union Launches U.s.-Backed Force to Hunt Kony.” Reuters, March 24, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120427192840/http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/24/us-southsudan-kony-idUSBRE82N08T20120324.
[10] Lee, Matthew. “US Offers $5 Million Bounty for Kony.” The Seattle Times. The Seattle Times Company, April 4, 2013. https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/us-offers-5-million-bounty-for-kony/.
[11] Cooper, Helene. “A Mission to Capture or Kill Joseph Kony Ends, without Capturing or Killing.” The New York Times. The New York Times, May 15, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/15/world/africa/joseph-kony-mission-ends.html.
[12] Ronan, Paul, and Kristof Titeca. “Kony’s Rebels Remain a Threat, but They’re Also Selling Honey to Get By.” African Arguments , March 24, 2020. https://africanarguments.org/2020/03/joseph-kony-lra-rebels-threat-selling-honey/.
[13] “Crisis Tracker.” Crisis Tracker. Accessed September 17, 2021. https://crisistracker.org/.
[14] Ibid.