More than 100 million people watched the viral 30-minute “Kony 2012″ video, which detailed Kony’s brutality during the two-decade insurgency he and his Lord’s Resistance Army waged against the Ugandan government. …

In 2008, then-President George W. Bush directed the U.S. Africa Command to support and equip Ugandan government troops to home in on Kony’s encampments, but he ultimately evaded capture.

Kony was indicted in 2005 for war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, but he has evaded capture. By April 2017, Kony was still at large, but his force was reported to have shrunk to approximately 100 soldiers, down from an estimated high of 3,000.

However, Mr Kony has not been found and in 2017 the US and Ugandan armies ended their efforts to track him down. They argued that his ability to cause trouble had been degraded and he was no longer a threat.

59 years (September 18, 1961)

As of 2017, the UN listed that seven out of fourteen countries recruiting and using child soldiers in state forces or armed groups were in Africa: Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan.

An ethnic Acholi, he served as an altar boy during his youth and was fond of dancing. He left school to become a traditional healer. Kony joined another faction and in 1987 proclaimed himself a prophet for the Acholi people and took charge of the Holy Spirit Movement, which would eventually become the LRA.

September 18, 1961 (age 59 years)

Uganda Protectorate

The LRA was listed as a terrorist group by the United States, though it has since been removed from the list of designated active terrorist groups.

By 2004, the LRA had abducted more than 20,000 children, while 1.5 million civilians had been displaced and an estimated 100,000 civilians killed….

Rebellion to self-preservation The LRA began as an evolution of ‘the Holy Spirit Movement’ – a rebellion against President Yoweri’s oppression of the north of Uganda, led by Alice Lakwena. When Alice Lakwena was exiled, Joseph Kony took over, changing the name of the group to the Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA.

Throughout the LRA’s military campaign, Joseph Kony has remained the militia’s “absolute leader.” He controls all facets of life in the bush, and many within the group believe he possesses mystical powers.

The LRA have often used children to fight because they are easy to replace by raiding schools or villages. According to Livingstone Sewanyana, executive director of the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative, the government was the first to use child soldiers in this conflict.

More than 100 million views in just 6 days, and 3.7 million citizen pledges calling for the arrest of Joseph Kony gave us our answer. KONY 2012 yielded the fastest growing viral video of all time and resulted in unprecedented international action to end Africa’s longest running conflict.

In the meantime, Mr Ongwen will remain in the ICC detention centre. Furthermore, a phase dedicated to the reparations to victims will be opened. On 6 May 2021, the Chamber also issued an order for submissions on reparations.

Ongwen was found guilty of sexual slavery, forced marriage and the rape of seven women who were abducted and placed into his household. These charges were in addition to murder, attempted murder and torture.

The Hague

The government newspaper New Vision reported on 22 November, based on statements from LRA defectors, that Otti had been executed by firing squad, along with “many others”, on 2 October. Defectors said that he had asked Kony to allow him to speak to his son before his execution.

The once-fearsome Lord’s Resistance Army has been reduced to a dwindling rump of fighters hiding out in jungle camps across vast swathes of territory in Central Africa. And UN peacekeepers in Congo have packed up and left the area where LRA groups operate, citing budget cuts and bigger threats.