Back جوزيف كوني Arabic چوزيف كونى ARZ Yozef Koni Azerbaijani Joseph Kony BCL Джозеф Коні Byelorussian Joseph Kony Catalan جۆزێف کۆنی CKB Joseph Kony Czech Joseph Kony Welsh Joseph Kony Danish
Joseph Kony | |
|---|---|
| Head of the Lord's Resistance Army | |
| Assumed office August 1987 | |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1961 (age 62–63) Odek, Northern Region, Uganda |
| Children | 42 (as of 2006)[1] |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Lord's Resistance Army |
| Years of service | 1987–present |
| Rank | General |
| Battles/wars | Lord's Resistance Army insurgency |
Joseph Rao Kony (born c. 1961) is a Ugandan militant and warlord who founded the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), designated as a terrorist group by the United Nations Peacekeepers, the European Union, and various other governments including the United Kingdom and United States of America.
An Acholi, Kony served as an altar boy in his childhood. After the Ugandan Civil War, Kony participated in the subsequent insurgency against president Yoweri Museveni under the Holy Spirit Movement or the Uganda People's Democratic Army before founding the LRA in 1987. Aiming to create a Christian state based on dominion theology, Kony directed the multi-decade Lord's Resistance Army insurgency. After Kony's terror activities, he was banished from Uganda and shifted to South Sudan.
Kony has long been one of Africa's most notorious and most wanted militant warlords. He has been accused by government entities of ordering the abduction of children to become child soldiers and sex slaves. Approximately 66,000 children became soldiers, and 2 million people were displaced internally from 1986 to 2009 by his forces. Kony was indicted in 2005 for war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, but he has evaded capture. He has been subject to an Interpol Red Notice at the ICC's request since 2006. Since the Juba peace talks in 2006, the Lord's Resistance Army no longer operates in Uganda. Sources claim that they are in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Central African Republic (CAR), or South Sudan. In 2013, Kony was reported to be in poor health, and Michel Djotodia, president of the CAR, claimed he was negotiating with Kony to surrender.
By April 2017[update], Kony was still at large, but his force was reported to have shrunk to approximately 100 soldiers, down from an estimated high of 3,000. Both the United States and Uganda ended the hunt for Kony and the LRA, believing that the LRA was no longer a significant security risk to Uganda. As of 2022, he is reported to be hiding in Darfur.
- ^ Debut, Beatrice (10 February 2006). "Portrait of Uganda's rebel prophet, painted by wives". Mail & Guardian. Archived from the original on 7 March 2012. Retrieved 7 March 2012.