Film puts spotlight on Lord's Resistance Army

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: