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Human rights watch, Joseph Kony, LRA - Luc Schrijvers

Catching Joseph Kony

zaterdag 10 maart 2012 02:57

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And Ending the Scourge of the Lord’s Resistance Army

More than 50 million viewers of the Kony 2012 viral video now know that Joseph Kony, founder and leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army, is a wanted man with the blood of many on his hands.

Human Rights Watch has spent years investigating the horrors perpetrated by the LRA in Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic (CAR), and South Sudan. We’ve gathered evidence at massacre sites and interviewed hundreds of boys and girls forced to fight for his army or held captive as sex slaves.We’ve taken our findings to government leaders, pushing for action, even appealing directly to the Obama administration.

The Lord’s Resistance Army began fighting the government of Uganda in the mid-1980s partly as a response to the marginalization of people in the north. It swiftly degenerated into a brutal and merciless armed group, able to replenish its ranks only by abducting, terrorizing and brainwashing children to fight. Its forces, thought to number 150-300 fighters plus hundreds of captive civilians, left Uganda in 2005 and now operate in Congo, South Sudan and the CAR.

Because the LRA moves in remote areas, it is hard to track. Its three most senior leaders, including Kony, are thought to be in the CAR, with smaller groups carrying out attacks in South Sudan and northern Congo.