The truth about Kony

KONY 2012 from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

Joseph Kony's victims aghast at 'white' campaign

Rosebell Kagumire, Lira and David Smith, Johannesburg

It had been viewed more than 77million times around the world, but not by those who know Joseph Kony best: his victims in northern Uganda.

That changed when thousands flocked to watch Kony 2012, the video made by a US charity urging a grassroots campaign against the fugitive warlord that has gone viral.

Before sunset on Tuesday two metal rods were hammered into dry dirt and grass and a white sheet hoisted to create an open-air cinema in the mayor's gardens in the centre of Lira, 350kms north of the capital, Kampala. Word about the "premiere" spread on local radio, drawing a a very large crowd, including victims of Kony's atrocities, that grew over several hours. But some of the spectators did not like what they saw and the screening ended amid jeers and scuffles, with some angry viewers throwing stones.

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Locals watch Invisible Children's Kony 2012 in Lira, a district in northern Uganda ravaged for 20 years by Joseph Kony's Lords Resistance Army rebels. Photo: Reuters

"People were very angry about the film," said Victor Ochieng, director of a local charity, the African Youth Initiative Network (Ayinet), which arranged the show.

And yesterday Ochieng, whose own father and brother were abducted by Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), said: "Reacting to the film, there was a strong sense that the video was definitely not produced for an African audience, and that it was not sensitive enough to the victims.

"It was very hurtful for them and their families to see posters, bracelets and buttons, all looking like slick campaign ads of the person most responsible for their shattered lives. One young man who lost four brothers and one of his arms said afterwards: 'How can anybody expect me to wear a T-shirt with Kony's name on it?'."

Khony's victims in Lira are offended at merchandise bearing the warlord's name and image. Photo: The New York Times

He added: "For all the victims, the attempt to make Kony famous so as to prop up public support for his apprehension is laudable but the way this goal is pursued in the video is inappropriate and ignores their feelings.

"That fame is not what Kony deserves for causing so much suffering was one overwhelming reaction. People were asking: 'Why give such criminals celebrity status? Why not prioritise addressing the plight of the victims whose sufferings are visible?'."

The film, posted on YouTube on March 5 and narrated by one of Invisible Children's founders, Jason Russell, has drawn the support of celebrities including George Clooney and Angelina Jolie, but has also provoked criticism for oversimplifying the conflict and not making clear that Kony was driven out of Uganda several years ago.

Ayinet has since decided to suspend indefinitely planned screenings the film in other parts of northern Uganda due to the hostile reaction.

Emmy Okello, a radio journalist in Lira, said: "I cannot understand the intention of this video. It is difficult to account to us if you are not including local people. What has angered people is that the video is about a white person, not about the victims. All of them came here hoping to see video that tells their story."

Okello Jifony, who was forced to fight under Kony for 18 months, told Reuters: "We expected serious action, Americans fighting Kony like in a real movie."

He added: "Why didn't they use the real victims in this film?"

And yesterday there were calls in Uganda to prevent the campaign's "Stop Kony" T-shirts from entering the country. One caller to a radio phone-in said: "The government must protect us victims not only from Kony but also from things that hurt us like these T-shirts.

"And as people of northern Uganda we will not accept anyone to cross Karuma (a bridge across the Nile that connects north to central Uganda) with that T-shirt."

Al-Jazeera reporter Malcolm Webb blogged: "One woman I spoke to made the comparison of selling Osama Bin Laden paraphernalia post 9/11 - likely to be highly offensive to many Americans, however well-intentioned the campaign behind it."

Kony, a self-proclaimed mystic, is wanted by the international criminal court for crimes against humanity.

On Tuesday a Congolese general said Kony and other LRA leaders have been chased out of the Democratic Republic of Congo to the neighbouring Central African Republic and no longer pose a threat in his country.

General Jean Claude Kifwa, in charge of fighting the LRA in Congo, told journalists: "We have reduced the capacity of the LRA. For us it's no longer an issue of defence. It's a public order issue."

The comment follows a complaint by nearby Uganda that Congo was obstructing its US-backed hunt for Kony.

- The Guardian

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