Joseph Kony
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Described as a terrorist, prophet, brutal killer at different times, Uganda’s Joseph Kony’s Lord Resistance Army (LRA) gained notoriety in abducting thousands of children to use as soldiers. Some were also used as sex slaves.
Kony, a former Catholic altar boy waged war and violent attacks in Uganda and after being pushed out continued in South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Central African Republic (CAR).
He was chased by the Ugandan and US troops at some point in 2017.
In 2005, ICC Pre-Trial Chamber II issued an arrest warrant for five senior LRA members, including leader Joseph Kony, second-in-command Vincent Otti, along with commanders Dominic Ongwen, Okot Odhiambo and Raska Lukwiya. All were believed to be key members of the LRA’s “Control Altar” command structure.
Kony was wanted on 12 counts of crimes against humanity and 21 counts of war crimes.
He was accused of brutalizing civilians in northern Uganda through murder, abduction, mutilation and the burning of property. LRA attacks became infamous from the 90s. Rebel fighters would hack off their victims’ limbs or parts of their faces.
Hundreds of thousands of people were forced to flee their homes, tens of thousands were killed and thousands of others were abducted for fighting and sexual slavery.
