In 2011, Invisible Children started working on FM Radio projects across central Africa that broadcast messages from family members and former LRA combatants to encourage current LRA soldiers to peacefully surrender. The group of 28 women and children who recently defected confirmed listening to the Come Home programs that our newest supported project, UBC Radio, broadcasts from Kampala and reaches deep into central Africa.

FM Radio project

Below is a transcription from a message recorded from an LRA commander who recently escaped after 15 years in the bush.

“And to you Joseph Kony, you are now very famous and you will remain famous. I am talking to you because I know you listen to the radio every time. I cannot intimidate you into defecting because you even know that I can’t do that. So for me I cannot force you in anyway because you even told us that you got possessed by spirits against your will, for that reason I also want to advise you against your will that try very hard to pray to God so that he may relieve you of these spirits so that you may once again live like a human being because you are not living like a human being now. You are suffering and this is not in your interest.

I remember very well what has been happening to you because of those spirits which we don’t know whether it is an evil or Holy Spirit but you call it Holy Spirit and you now abide by every little thing it tells you. You have been trying by yourself to get out of these things but it proved difficult for you. Now it is time for you to turn to the one and only true God to get you out of this suffering because it is now obvious that the spirit in you is actually an evil spirit.

So many things are being said but you should know that sin started long time ago that’s why there is forgiveness. If you have also been forgiving so many people for the wrong they have done to you then who are you not to be forgiven for the wrongs that you do. You are not Jesus Christ who was born of the Holy Spirit but you are the son of man so you can be forgiven just like any other human being. You are truly famous and people respect you.”

“Come Home” messaging like this can only be truly effective if there is a safe place or trustworthy people to surrender to. The presence of Ugandan military forces and the U.S. advisers have helped ensure the safety of LRA members in CAR who decide to leave the LRA. If the counter-LRA operation withdraws from CAR in light of the government overthrow, these programs could become less effective. And no one wants that.

[JOIN US] in encouraging the U.S., Uganda, and the African Union to remain committed to stopping LRA violence in the midst of the turmoil in CAR.