On August 25, 2023, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni held a meeting with close relatives of Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), at State House Entebbe.
The group was led by Ali Ssalongo Kony, Joseph Kony’s son, who holds the rank of Brigadier in the LRA’s military structure. During the meeting, President Museveni assured them of his support.
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Ali Kony, accompanied by his mother, children, and his father’s uncle, Kony Otim Thomas, expressed gratitude to President Museveni for welcoming them back to their community.
He conveyed their readiness to become productive citizens. Many of Kony’s family members had fled Uganda following the defeat of the LRA rebels by the Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF).
Rwot Yusuf Okwonga Adek III, Chief of Pageya Chiefdom, who was present at the State House meeting, thanked President Museveni for the prevailing peace in Northern Uganda.
He stated that this peace had allowed people to return home. Rwot Okwonga conveyed to Museveni that Joseph Kony, who is now around 62 years old, is in a weakened state and incapable of fighting.
He appealed to the President to aid the Kony family’s rehabilitation and support them in productive endeavors like farming.
In response, President Museveni pledged assistance to the family in obtaining land for commercial agriculture.
He emphasized the importance of a united family, suggesting they collaborate as a company and share the outcomes collectively. The President also assured his commitment to aiding Kony’s war victims across the country.
Dignitaries present at the meeting included Odoch Bosco Olak, the Presidential Coordinator for Northern Uganda.
Joseph Kony led an insurgency in Uganda’s northern region for over twenty years before being defeated by the UPDF.
He later moved to the Garamba Forest in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and, at one point, crossed into the Central African Republic (CAR), where he is currently believed to be hiding. Kony, along with other top LRA commanders, has been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity.
Recently, the US Department of State offered a cash reward of $5 million (approximately sh17 billion) through their war crimes rewards program for any information leading to Kony’s whereabouts. US officials emphasized the importance of confidentiality in providing such information.
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