For the past 27 years, rebel leader Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) have been killing, mutilating, raping, and displacing innocent civilians in central and East Africa. Kony abducts men and young boys and brainwashes them into fighting in his army and abducts women and young girls to be used as sex slaves. Here are eight things you may or may not know about the brutal rebel leader:
1. Kony is considered the LRA’s top doctor
According to a June 2011 report by the International Working Group on the LRA, former combatants say Kony is often consulted on the kinds of medicinal herbs to use for various illnesses.
2. Kony listens to BBC radio
In the same report, sources state that Kony and his top commanders are avid listeners of Ugandan and foreign radio stations, particularly BBC World Service.
3. Kony’s two oldest sons are gradually rising through the ranks of the LRA
According to interviews conducted by Kasper Agger in March 2013, Kony’s two oldest sons, Salim and Ali – both born in the bush – are in their early twenties and gradually rising through the ranks of the LRA. Defectors have told Enough Project that he gave them Arabic names because of strong relations that the LRA has with Sudanese authorities.
4. Kony tells his fighters that forced abductions are an act of purification
A 2010 report by Enough Project, states that forced abductions and violence are often portrayed in religious terms as the cleansing and purification of sinful people, especially of the Acholi in northern Uganda.
5. Kony refers to himself as King David, Solomon, and Hitler
According to the same report, former fighters claim that Kony, who refers to himself as King David, Solomon, or even Hitler, has said that he will never surrender or be captured alive. Kony fears being killed or poisoned by the Ugandan government if he comes out.
6. Kony was once a brilliant dancer
In an interview with BBC News, one of Kony’s childhood classmates recalls Kony as a “brilliant dancer”.
7. Kony is thought to have between 50 – 100 “wives”
While it is nearly impossible to verify an exact number, it is widely cited that Kony has anywhere from 50 – 100 wives, all of whom have been abducted by the LRA and forced into a life of sexual slavery by Kony and his top commanders. Many of his wives are only teenagers at the time of their abduction. Through these wives, Kony is expected to have fathered close to 50 children.
8. Kony served as a Catholic altar boy in his youth
Long before Kony began his tragic reign of terror across central and East Africa, he spent his youth as an altar boy in Odek, a small town east of Gulu. According to Jimmie Briggs’s book “Innocents Lost: When Child Soldiers Go To War“, Kony quit attending the church and subsequently dropped out of school at the age of 15.
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