The arrest of Joseph Kony, a prominent leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), must be carried out in

accordance with human rights standards, Amnesty International said today following the massive public response to
the Kony 2012 campaign.
Kony and three other LRA leaders have evaded capture since 2005 when they were charged by the International
Criminal Court (ICC) with crimes against humanity and a raft of war crimes, including murder, forcible enlistment of
children under the age of 15, sexual slavery and rape.
For many years, Amnesty International has been calling for the LRA leaders to be arrested.
Joseph Kony and other LRA leaders have evaded arrest for far too long and this campaign is a salient reminder of
the continuing crimes by LRA members and the need to arrest and surrender their leaders to the ICC so they can
face trial, said Erwin van der Borght, Africa director at Amnesty International.
For more than two decades, Amnesty International has documented crimes committed by the Lords Resistance Army
and their horrific impact on the lives of thousands of civilians in Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of
Congo, South Sudan and Uganda.
Amnesty International has also documented human rights violations committed by the Uganda Peoples Defence
Forces against the civilian communities where the LRA were present, and against captured LRA members.
It is important to remember that many of LRA members were themselves victims of human rights violations including
forcible recruitment, said Erwin van der Borght Forces pursuing the LRA must seek to arrest the suspects in
accordance with international law.
Every effort must also be taken to protect the civilian communities where the LRA are present, recognizing that they
are at grave danger of attack and being forcibly recruited into the LRA.
Amnesty International believes that efforts to arrest Joseph Kony should be led by the governments of the countries
in the region where the LRA operates, not by the US armed forces. The UN and the African Union, both of which are
involved in the effort to arrest the LRA suspects, also have an essential role to play in supporting efforts to arrest the
LRA leaders, in protecting affected communities and monitoring and reporting on the status of human rights
protection.
Anyone joining the Kony 2012 campaign should insist that efforts to arrest Joseph Kony must respect human rights.
It is also vital to make sure that any action ensures the protection of civilians in the surrounding areas.
The death of any of the accused men would deny justice to the victims of LRA abuses.
Measures also need to be taken to provide reparation to the victims of human rights violations by the LRA to address
their suffering, including providing medical and psychological care to victims of sexual violence and reintegrating child
soldiers back into their communities and to make education and vocational training available to them.

Joseph Kony (pronounced IPA: [ko];[7] born 1961)[1] is the leader of the Lord's Resistance
Army (LRA), a guerrilla groupwhich used to operate in Uganda. While initially purporting to fight
against government suppression, the LRA allegedly turned against Kony's own supporters,
supposedly to "purify" the Acholi people and turn Uganda into a theocracy.[2] Kony proclaims himself
the spokesperson of God and a spirit medium, and has been considered by some as a cult of
personality, and claims he is visited by a multinational host of 13 spirits, including a Chinese
phantom.[2] Ideologically, the group is a syncretic mix ofmysticism, Acholi nationalism, Islam,
and Christian fundamentalism, and claims to be establishing a theocratic state based on the Ten
Commandments and local Acholi tradition.[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]
Kony has been accused by government entities of ordering the abduction of children to become sex
slaves and child soldiers.[20] 66,000 children became soldiers. 2 million people were displaced
internally from 1986 to 2009.[21]
Kony was indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal
Court in The Hague, Netherlands, in 2005 but has evaded capture.[22] Kony has been subject to
an Interpol Red Notice at the request of the ICC since 2006.[4]Since the Juba peace talks in 2006, the
LRA no longer operate in Uganda. Sources claim that they are in the Democratic Republic of Congo,
or Central African Republic or South Sudan.[23] In 2013 Kony was reported to be in poor health
and Michel Djotodia, president of the Central African Republic, claimed he was negotiating with Kony
to surrender.[24]
Contents
[hide]

1 Biography
o

1.1 Early life

1.2 Rebel leader

1.3 Lord's Resistance Army

1.4 Indictment

2 Religious beliefs

3 Action against Kony

o

3.1 Uganda

3.2 United States

3.3 African Union

3.4 Kony 2012

3.5 The "Arrow Boys" Militia

4 See also

5 References

6 Bibliography

7 External links

Biography
Early life
Kony was born in August 1961[1] in Odek, a village east of Gulu in northern Uganda,[2][25] to farmers
Luizi and Nora Obol.[26] He is a member of the Acholi people.[2][27] Kony enjoyed a good relationship
with his siblings, but was quick to retaliate in a dispute and when confronted he would often resort to
physical violence.[28] His father was a lay catechist of the Catholic Church and his mother was
an Anglican. His older sister, Gabriela Lakot, still lives in Odek.[29]
Kony was an altar boy for church until 1976.[28] and also dropped out of school.[2]

Rebel leader
In 1995, Kony came to prominence in Acholiland after the Holy Spirit Movement of Alice Auma (also
known as Lakwena and to whom Kony is thought to be related). [2] The overthrow of Acholi
President Tito Okello by Yoweri Museveni and his National Resistance Army (NRA) during
the Ugandan Bush War (19811986), had culmunated into mass looting of livestock, rapes, burning
of homes, genocide, and murder by Museveni's army.[30]
The atrocities committed by the Museveni's National Resistance Army now known as Uganda
People's Defence Force led to the creation of LRA or Joseph Kony. The insurgencies also gave rise
to concentration camps in Northern Uganda where over 2 million people lived. The government
burned people's properties using helicopter gunships killing many of them. There were forceful
displacements in the northern region. However, international campaigns called for all camps to be
dismantled, and for the people to return to their former villages. In 2006 in the course of Juba peace
talks with the LRA rebels, the Museveni's government gave permission for the local people to return
to their villages. This marked the beginning of rehabilitation of homes, roads and so on. [31]

Lord's Resistance Army

Further information: Lord's Resistance Army

Kony has been implicated in abduction and recruitment of child soldiers. While there is no doubt that
Kony recruited children, the government of Uganda has equally been accused of abducting and
recruiting children into the army. In June 2006, the UN's representative found more than 5000
children in the Ugandan army.[32]
The LRA have had battle confrontations with the government's National Resistance Army or UPDF
within Uganda and in South Sudan for ten years. However, in 2008 the Ugandan army invaded the
Democratic Republic of the Congo in search for the LRA in Operation Lightning Thunder., [33] in
November 2013, Kony was reported to be in poor health in the East CAR town of Nzoka [34]

Indictment
Main article: International Criminal Court investigation in Uganda
In October 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
Odhiambo, and Dominic Ongwen. According to spokesmen for the military, the Ugandan army killed
Lukwiya on 12 August 2006.[22]The BBC received information that Otti had been killed on 2 October
2007, at Kony's home.[35]
In November 2006, Kony met Jan Egeland, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs
and Emergency Relief Coordinator.[36] Journeyman Pictures released a 2006 interview with Kony in
which he proclaims, "I am a freedom fighter not a terrorist." [37] He told Reuters: "We don't have any
children. We only have combatants."[38]

Religious beliefs
Kony was thought among followers and detractors alike to have been possessed by spirits; he has
been portrayed as an elusive leader. 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.
[28]

He also believes in polygamy. He is thought to have had many wives--some of whom were killed

during the insurgency--and there are claims that he has 42 children.[5][6] 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."[39]
Betty Bigombe remembered that the first time she met Kony, his followers used oil to ward off bullets
and evil spirits.[40] In a letter regarding future talks, Kony stated that he must consult his selfstyled 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.[25] According
to Francis Ongom, a former LRA officer who defected, Kony "has found Bible justifications for
killing witches, for killing [those who farm or eat] pigs because of the story of theGadarene swine,
and for killing [other] people because God did the same with Noah's flood and Sodom and
Gomorrah."[41]

Action against Kony

Uganda
The Ugandan military has attempted to kill Kony throughout the insurgency. In Uganda's attempt to
track Kony down, former LRA combatants have been enlisted to search remote areas of the Central
African Republic, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo where he was last seen. [42]

United States
After the September 11 attacks, the United States declared the Lord's Resistance Army a terrorist
group.[43] On 28 August 2008, the United States Treasury Departmentplaced Kony on its list of
"Specially Designated Global Terrorists", a designation that carries financial and other penalties. [44]
In November 2008, U.S. President George W. Bush personally signed the directive to the United
States Africa Command to provide financial and logistical assistance to the Ugandan government
during the unsuccessful 20082009 Garamba offensive, code-named Operation Lightning Thunder.
No U.S. troops were directly involved, but 17 U.S. advisers and analysts provided intelligence,
equipment, and fuel to Ugandan military counterparts. The offensive pushed Kony from his jungle
camp, but he was not captured. One hundred children were rescued. [45]
In May 2010, U.S. President Barack Obama signed into law the Lord's Resistance Army
Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act,[46] legislation aimed at stopping Kony and the
LRA. The bill passed unanimously in the United States Senate on 11 March. On 12 May 2010, 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.[47] In November 2010, President Obama delivered a
strategy document to Congress, asking for more funding to disarm Kony and the LRA. [48] In October
2011, President Obama authorized the deployment of approximately 100 combat-equipped U.S.
troops to central Africa.[49] 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," President Obama said in a letter to Congress. [50][51]
On April 3, 2013, the Obama administration offered rewards of up to $5 million for information
leading to the arrest, transfer or conviction of Kony, Ongwen and Odhiambo. [52][53][54][55]
On March 24, 2014 the United States announced they would deploy at least four CV-22 Ospreys and
refuelling planes, and 150 Air Force special forces personnel to assist in the capture of Kony.[56]

African Union
On 23 March 2012 the African Union announced its intentions to "send 5,000 soldiers to join the hunt
for rebel leader Joseph Kony" and to "neutralize" him while isolating the scattered LRA groups
responsible for 2,600 civilian killings since 2008. This international task force was stated to include
soldiers "from Uganda, South Sudan, Central African Republic and Congo, countries where Konys
reign of terror has been felt over the years." Prior this announcement, the hunt for Kony has primarily
been carried out by troops from Uganda. The soldiers will begin their search in South Sudan on 24
March 2012 and that the search "will last until Kony is caught".[57]

Kony 2012
Main article: Kony 2012
Kony received a surge of attention in early March 2012 when a 30-minute documentary titled Kony
2012 by film maker Jason Russell for the campaign group Invisible Children Inc was released.[58] The
intention of the production is to draw attention to Kony in an effort to increase United States
involvement in the issue and have Kony arrested by the end of 2012, [59] A poll suggested that more
than half of young adult Americans heard about Kony 2012 in the days following the video's release.
[60][61]

Kony 2012 has been widely criticized for largely ignoring the fact that Joseph Kony was already

pushed out of Uganda long before the film was made, for using funds largely for themselves, and for
hypocrisy by ignoring human rights abuses by the Ugandan military.[62]

The "Arrow Boys" Militia

The Arrow Boys militia was founded in Teso in Eastern Uganda. The name comes from the fact that
they use primitive weapons such as bows and arrows or clubs against the superior armed LRA child
soldiers. Between 2003 and 2005 they waged a counter insurgency campaign that forced the LRA
out of that region. [63] Militia in Southern Sudan who have fought against the LRA since it fled their
from Uganda have adopted the same name. They have had success in driving off small groups of
LRA rebels.[64

The LRA attacks followed the beginning of a joint military operation on December 14, led by
the Ugandan army with support from the Congolese, Southern Sudanese, and Central African
Republic armies. The Ugandan army attacked the LRA headquarters in Congo's Garamba National
Park, near the border with Sudan.
Following this attack, the LRA dispersed into several groups, each of which targeted civilians along
its path. The rebels waited until December 24 for the most devastating of their attacks, waiting until
people had come together for Christmas festivities, then surrounding and killing them by crushing
their skulls with axes, machetes, and large wooden bats.[4]

Media reports indicated that more than 400 people were killed, [1] many of them hacked into pieces,
[5]

decapitated,[6] or burned alive in their homes.[6] Several people reportedly had their lips cut off as a

"warning not to speak ill of the rebels",[7] and two three-year-old girls suffered serious neck injuries
when rebels tried to twist their heads off.[4]
More than 20,000 people were reported to have been displaced by the attacks,[3][7][8] and at least 20
children were abducted by the LRA.[8][9] The United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) reported that as many as 225 people, including 160 children, may have been
abducted and more than 80 women raped.[3]
According to Human Rights Watch, "the similar tactics and the near-simultaneous attacks indicate
this was a planned operation meant to slaughter and terrorize as many civilians as possible". [4] The
LRA has denied responsibility for the attacks; an LRA spokesman suggested that LRA defectors who
had joined the Ugandan army may have been responsible.[7]

Death toll[edit]
On 29 December 2008, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs estimated that 189 people had been killed on 2627 December.[10] Caritas International has
put the death toll at over 400,[11] while Human Rights Watch reported that at least 620 civilians were
killed between 24 December and 13 January.[4]
At least five villages were attacked:

Faradje: Approximately 150 people were killed on 2526 December. Rebels reportedly
attacked a Christmas Day concert organised by the Catholic Church, and returned the following
morning to "continue their killing spree".[11] The UNHCR reported that at least 70 were killed and
37,000 people were forced to flee.[3] Human Rights Watch reported that at least 143 people were
killed and 160 children and 20 adults abducted. [4]

Batande: At least 80 people were killed on 25 December when rebels attacked a Christmas
lunch following the morning church service.[4]The men and boys were reportedly taken about 40
meters from the church and killed immediately, then the women and girls were taken into the
forest in small groups and many of them raped before they were killed. [4] One witness reported
that only six people were left alive in the village. [4] The rebels then ate the Christmas feast the
villagers had prepared and slept among the dead bodies.[4]

Duru: 75 were reportedly killed and a church burned down in the village. [11][12]

Bangadi: 48 were killed.[11]

Gurba: 213 were killed.[11]