Kony, Joseph (1961?-…), is the leader of a Ugandan rebel group called the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The LRA began fighting against the government of Uganda in the late 1980’s. Observers have accused Kony of numerous crimes against humanity. Such crimes include kidnapping thousands of children to serve as LRA soldiers and organizing brutal attacks on civilians.
Kony was born in Odek, a small village near Gulu in northern Uganda, around 1961. He belongs to the Acholi ethnic group. Kony never completed school. In 1986, a rebel group called the National Resistance Movement overthrew Uganda’s government. The group attempted to restore peace after decades of violence. However, other rebel groups, particularly in the northern part of the country, opposed the new government.
In 1986, Alice Lakwena, a relative of Kony, started a rebel group called the Holy Spirit Movement (HSM). The group was based in the Acholi-majority area of northern Uganda. Lakwena claimed to be a mystic who could turn bullets into water. She spoke of the rights of the Acholi and led her followers into violent conflict with government troops. Lakwena fled to Kenya in 1987.
Kony soon formed a group that included former HSM members. The group eventually became known as the Lord’s Resistance Army. Kony claimed to be guided by spirits. He said he aimed to install a new government in Uganda based on the Bible’s Ten Commandments. Kony said he aimed to “purify” the Acholi, and he launched numerous attacks on civilians.
In 2005, the International Criminal Court, in the Netherlands, charged Kony with crimes against humanity and issued a warrant for his arrest. In 2006, the LRA attempted to negotiate a peace deal in return for amnesty (pardon) for Kony and the group’s other leaders. The agreement was unsuccessful. In 2008, the LRA launched attacks that killed hundreds of civilians in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The LRA continued to operate in the DRC, the Central African Republic, and South Sudan while Ugandan military forces supported by United States troops pursued Kony. In 2017, the Ugandan government ended the hunt for Kony. Although Kony was not captured, the government claimed the LRA had been effectively neutralized.
