A 30-minute video about Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony has gone viral on the internet,
putting the actions of his Lord’s Resistance Army into the spotlight.
The rebel
movement had been active in Uganda for years, and recruited children soldiers. It
was forced out of the country by the Ugandan army in 2006.
Although the people
of Uganda itself are no longer threatened by Kony, the country does have to deal with
the child soldiers who return home, and have to be integrated into society.
“People
were able to come back, were welcomed, helped to go back to school,” said Bishop
Giuseppe Franzelli of the northern Ugandan Diocese of Lira.
“Because these
are children who have been robbed of their childhood and their education, and had
to spent years in the bush. They are also being counselled and to be helped to overcome
and come to grips with their trauma … particularly this violence they participated
in, which they were victims of, and also were the creators of, since they had been
brainwashed.”
Listen to the full interview by Davide Maggiore with Bishop
Franzelli: