The Truth about Kony

Three weeks ago the Invisible Children foundation uploaded a video called Stop Kony 2012, which was aimed to gain support of ending the terror Joseph Kony has brought to East Africa. While I found the idea of the “Kony 2012” movement inspiring, I was shocked at how little people knew about what was actually going on in Uganda. After doing my own research on Joseph Kony I came to learn three major things- Joseph Kony has been at this for years, he is no longer actually in Uganda and the Invisible Children are supporting the Ugandan military which is just as bad as Kony.

Joseph Kony became the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in 1986 reports the United Kingdom’s The Independent. Kony was kidnapping children and forcing them to be sex slaves and soldiers as a part of his movement. The Independent reported in 2008 that Kony had started to spread his movement into the Congo and was creating the same terror there that he had in Uganda. So my question is, why are we so concerned about Joseph Kony’s actions 26 years after he started terrorizing the people of Uganda? If The Independent is correct, his movement to the Congo was still 22 years after he started his tirade. Shouldn't we have tried to stop him 15 or 20 years ago?

All of the attention that Joseph Kony has been getting the last few weeks makes it seem as if he is in Uganda right now. In its original statement on its website, the Invisible Children foundation stated that Kony was still in Uganda. The Invisible Children foundation recently released a statement correcting this, acknowledging that Kony had left Uganda in 2006 and was currently in hiding in The Congo. Again, I believe that this man should be stopped and that it is important for him to be captured and tried for his crimes, however, why is his capture and arrest so important now, six years after he left Uganda and four years after he went into hiding? The United States military has had over 200,000 troops in Uganda looking for Kony and have come up with nothing. The Ugandan Army has also been in search of Kony and has also come up with nothing.

The Invisible Children foundation has advocated in their video and their website that we support the Ugandan Army in their search for Kony and that they are the best group to run Uganda. After an outcry from many who know of the atrocities committed by the Ugandan Army, the Invisible Children foundation released a statement saying they do not condone the human rights violations committed by the Ugandan Army, yet they still support them. In 2005, The Human Rights Watch reported that the Ugandan Army was continuing to “kill, rape and uproot civilians”. How is this group any better than Jospeh Kony and the LRA? Why should they have a free pass while we hunt down Kony?

I do not understand why after 26 years of reigning terror on the people of Uganda and the Congo, we suddenly need to take a stand. Kony has been doing this for years, is no longer in Uganda and the Ugandan Army has gained support from the Invisible Children foundation even though they have committed crimes as bad or worse as Kony has. The demand for Kony’s arrest should have been done years ago, so I find the current “movement” rather out of date.