One of the greatest individual contributors to poverty in central Africa has been Joseph Kony, the 50-year-old leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army. Part religious cult and part rebel army, the LRA was formed some 25 years ago with the aim of seizing power in Uganda, and since then has worked its way through central Africa slaughtering, raping and maiming defenceless villagers and kidnapping and brainwashing children who become recruits in perpetuating the process.
The depredations of Kony’s evil organisation have reduced the victims of his attacks to grinding poverty. For many years most of the inhabitants of northern Uganda were housed in IDP camps for protection, meaning that they were unable to engage in ordinary work to support themselves. Six years ago the International Criminal Court indicted Kony for crimes against humanity and war crimes, but no-one has managed to capture him and bring him to justice.
Last year the US government passed the Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act, and now the US has sent 100 troops to central Africa to help in the pursuit of Kony. The LRA Crisis Tracker website has been set up to provide up-to-date information about LRA sightings, attacks and other incidents. Whether the US troops will succeed where so many others have failed remains to be seen.