Introduction In the African countries of Uganda and South Sudan, thousands of men, women and children are being brutally murdered and mutilated in their own villages. Children are being kidnapped by the thousands. Women are being brutally raped. Shockingly, the assailants in these heinous crimes are children, armed under the leadership of a military madman named Joseph Kony. Calling themselves the Lord’s Resistance Army, they are considered one of the most vicious terrorist groups in the world.
Beginning of the LRA The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) was originally founded in 1986 by Alice Lakwena in northern Uganda under the name the Holy Spirit Movement Forces. Subsequently, the group was taken over in 1987 by Joseph Kony after the
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State Department as a terrorist group since 2001. Likewise, the group’s leader Joseph Kony has also been listed as global terrorist by the State Department since 2008. Subsequently, the LRA was officially listed as a terrorist organization by the African Union in 2011.
Kony Under the leadership of Joseph Kony, the LRA has become increasingly violent, often towards the Acholi people, who they claim to protect. Kony uses scriptures taken from the Pentateuch to convince his followers that they are doing the will of God by murdering and mutilating innocent people. Moreover, while declaring he follows both Christianity and Islam, he also maintains that he receives guidance from the spirits of the dead through black magic rituals. A warrant was issued for Kony along with four of his commanders by the International Criminal Court in 2005, for crimes against humanity and related war crimes. According to the U.S. State Department, two of the commanders are assumed dead, while the whereabouts of Kony and the two others remain unknown. Currently, the United States has offered a reward of five million dollars for information leading to Kony’s arrest and capture. In 2006, the government of Uganda arranged for peace talks with Kony and the LRA. However, although Kony originally agreed to the negotiations, he repeatedly refused to come out of hiding to sign the agreements. It has been reported that in 2007, he murdered his second-in-command Vincent Otti during
2012 August - The US military discipline six soldiers for accidentally burning copies of the Koran and other religious texts in Afghanistan. They will not face criminal prosecution. Three US Marines are also disciplined for a video in which the bodies of dead Taliban fighters were urinated on. 2012 September - US hands over Bagram high-security jail to the Afghan government, although it retains control over some foreign prisoners until March 2013.
The leader of this group was called Osama bin laden.Suprisingly enough it took usa 10 years to finally catch him after the 9\11 attacks. He was then sentenced to death and killed.
Also, in an interview conducted by Journeyman Pictures, the leader of the LRA, Joseph Kony lied about abducting villages. He was trying to cover up for the atrocities that he and his troops had caused. In the video, Kony addresses, “The LRA has never been involved in any abductions, rapes or mutilations. That's just Museveni’s propaganda.” He was blaming others for his wrongdoings. Throughout the interview, Kony blamed it on “Museveni's propaganda” four
The Lord’s Resistance Army insurgency is an ongoing guerrilla campaign that started in 1987. The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel group was led by Joseph Kony. Kony proclaims himself as the “spokesperson” of god. His objective is to overthrow the Ugandan government, establishing a theocratic state based on the Ten Commandments and Acholi tradition.
This warlord of Uganda is just another Hitler of our world. Kony is a man with a mission to stay in power. He will do all he can to maintain a superior status.Kony has not committed these crimes himself, but has become the rising leader for Lord's Resistance Army
According to ICRtoP, the Democratic Republic of Congo is reported to be the “rape capital of the world” with an estimated 15,000 rape cases in the Congo’s eastern provinces alone. Rape is a tool of war used by the various armed forces in the Congo in order to “create instability in
The Lord’s Resistance Army, or the LRA, is Africa’s most violent armed group and also the oldest. Joseph Kony formed the LRA in 1986 in northern Uganda, to fight against the Ugandan Government. At the height of the conflict, about two million people were displaced in northern Uganda. Since the LRA never gained public support, they turned to forcible recruitment to build up their army (“The Lord’s Resistance Army”). Kony, and the LRA believe that Uganda should be governed and run based on the 10 Commandments. They rely on the application of terror in order to keep their campaign alive. The war in Uganda being
A group seen by many as promoting terror and intimidating others. They use the power they have to make people feel less and for them to feel above the rest. But how, why and when did they start? Did the United States already know about them way before they even made their way up to power? Many questions are asked as to whom they really are. They
This group was created in 1978 and continues to expand its power today. It began as a branch of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood. This terrorist group has several goals ranging from creating a Islamic state to continuing the armed struggle against Israeli occupation of Palestine territories. Their acts of
Who is the Lord’s Resistance Army? The LRA is a rebel Christian cult that has “terrorized” Uganda for nearly thirty years. In 1986, the LRA began as an “evolution of the Holy Spirit Movement.” Led by Alice Lakwena, the Holy Spirit Movement was a rebellion against the oppression of North Uganda by their president, Yoweri Museveni.(invisible children, 2014) Claiming that she was possessed by the spirit of a long-dead Italian soldier, Lakwena was seen unfit to remain the leader of the Holy Spirit Movement. When she was exiled in 1987, Joseph Kony, her supposed cousin, took over the group, renaming it the Lord’s Resistance Army. With hopes of bringing down the Ugandan
In 1989, al Qaeda was born. Al Qaeda, meaning “the base” in Arabic, is a group that was formally called the mujahedeen, a group of holy warriors. Their formation took place after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan which caused young Muslims to come together and rally against what they perceived as invaders. After the Soviets failed and left, all the precipitants decided the group should not disappear. They decided there was still a cause to fight for. In fact, the United States had an important response to the mujahedeen during the Soviet invasion. In 1979, President Carter signed a directive for secret aid to the warriors and the CIA started funding the mujahedeen in 1980. At that time, the United States want to assert power in Afghanistan
In over twenty-five countries, many children are abducted and beaten into submission to be used in real life wars. A very famous viral video called “Kony 2012” was trying to get people to help catch the Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony, who has kidnapped thousands of children over the past twenty years. Child soldiers are defined as: children under the age of 18 who are recruited by state or non-state armed groups and used as fighters, cooks, suicide bombers, human shields, messengers, spies, or even for sexual purposes.
Around 120,000 adolescent children are now engaged in conflicts throughout Africa (“Child Soldiers: An Overview” 4). In Sudan, for instance, thousands of children, some as young as 12, were recruited against their will into separatist and government groups (“Child Soldiers: An Overview” 5). Thousands more children have been enlisted into the armed forces throughout Asia and the Pacific. The most significant numbers are in Afghanistan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and recently, Cambodia. Myanmar, a country in Asia, has some of the most child soldiers throughout the world, with children being recruited into both non-government and government armed forces (“Child Soldiers: An Overview” 6). The number of child soldiers has been decreasing annually, but these children are still being taken against their will.
While still struggling to achieve peace with Sudan since its independence in 2011, South Sudan is now rife with inner-conflict. Rebel forces led by the former Vice-President Riek Machar want to overthrow the South Sudanese government, led by President Salva Kiir.
The country known as Uganda was once a British colony just like the majority of its neighbors in East Africa. It was initially intruded into by the Arab traders led by Speke and the British explorers led by Stanley in 1862 and 1875 respectively. They both paid homage to Mutesa who was the King (kabaka) of the Buganda. Uganda remained predominantly under the colony of the British until 1962 when they were granted internal self government by Britain (History World, 2011).