Joseph Kony, the crazy cult Commander of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) is continuing to fuck Uganda around by delaying on signing a peace deal. This religious nut bar (who thinks he is the spirit medium of god and a Chinese General) has been fighting for ages in the region, resulting in numerous deaths. What’s his problem this time?
Here is a quick bio of the man, for those who aren’t up to speed on his actions.
“Joseph Kony
Religion: Christianity/personality cult
Who is he?: Commander of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA)
Country: Uganda
Quote: “[The spirits] speak to me. They load through me. They will tell us what is going to happen. They say ‘You, Mr. Joseph, tell your people that the enemy is planning to come and attack.’ They will come like dreaming; they will tell us everything.”
Why he matters: During two decades of civil war, Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army has killed more people than al Qaeda, Hamas, and Hezbollah combined. Kony, a former altar boy, aims to overthrow the Ugandan government and establish a regime based on the Ten Commandments. In pursuit of this goal, the LRA has abducted over 20,000 children to serve as soldiers and sex slaves, often forcing them to kill their own parents. Although Kony frequently uses biblical passages to justify his actions and has his child soldiers make the sign of the cross before battle, he mixes Christianity with mysticism and claims to be advised by a “spirit council” from beyond the grave. The LRA is currently in the process of negotiating a peace deal with the Ugandan government, but Kony is reluctant to leave his hide-out while under International Criminal Court indictment.”
Hat Tip – Foreign Policy – check it out for their list of other top ten crazies
He’s been going for well over 22 years. If the West actually cared about instability in Africa they would have gotten rid of him years ago. Screw the ICC, send in a covert ops team to eliminate him.
This issue is emblematic of the political isolation and marginalization that Africa experiences at the expense of the West. Africa’s issues have a relevance around the world. It’s a little known fact that Al-Qaeda’s earliest actions were in Nigeria, furthermore Osama Bin Laden was heavily involved in the Sudan — building roads and political connections. That area has had a long and turbulent history of Islamic radicalism — in the 1890’s there was a large radical movement led by an emergent Mahdi, they completely overran Sudan, and threatened Egypt. It took the British years to quell the rebellion. Africa is not a place to fuck with.
If we do not provide more support for Africa statehood, then we are never going to achieve global stability. It appears that western policy makers do not understand the relationships between Afghanistan and Sub-Saharan Africa. It would do them well to realise the historical influence of China in the region, one that stretches all the way back to the 1400’s.
But back to crazy Kony — check out this short doco on that mad man.
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