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Kony speaks

After years of silence, the rebel leader of Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has finally emerged from wherever he was hiding. Joseph Kony spoke to the BBC yesterday, claiming that the LRA has committed no crimes. That’s near-impossible, given the stories coming out of Uganda about how the LRA kidnaps children and forces the boys ...

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608116_nightflight5.jpg
608116_nightflight5.jpg

After years of silence, the rebel leader of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has finally emerged from wherever he was hiding. Joseph Kony spoke to the BBC yesterday, claiming that the LRA has committed no crimes. That's near-impossible, given the stories coming out of Uganda about how the LRA kidnaps children and forces the boys to become soldiers and the girls to become sex slaves. Check out the photo essay FP published this past spring showing these "night commuters," children numbering in the tens of thousands who must hike miles each night to town shelters in order to hide from Kony's LRA. Predictably, and rightfully, the Ugandan government has denounced Kony's comments as outrageous. But, as former UN official Olara Otunnu points out in the current issue of FP (and mentioned in today's Morning Brief), the Ugandan government isn't blameless either, and might be, in fact, complicit in the genocide.

After years of silence, the rebel leader of Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has finally emerged from wherever he was hiding. Joseph Kony spoke to the BBC yesterday, claiming that the LRA has committed no crimes. That’s near-impossible, given the stories coming out of Uganda about how the LRA kidnaps children and forces the boys to become soldiers and the girls to become sex slaves. Check out the photo essay FP published this past spring showing these “night commuters,” children numbering in the tens of thousands who must hike miles each night to town shelters in order to hide from Kony’s LRA. Predictably, and rightfully, the Ugandan government has denounced Kony’s comments as outrageous. But, as former UN official Olara Otunnu points out in the current issue of FP (and mentioned in today’s Morning Brief), the Ugandan government isn’t blameless either, and might be, in fact, complicit in the genocide.

Christine Y. Chen is a senior editor at Foreign Policy.
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