Joseph Kony, the Lord’s Resistance Army leader and most wanted man in Africa these days says the crimes he is accused of committing are nothing more than Uganda government propaganda. In a recent interview with the BBC from his base camp in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the rebel leader said Uganda President Yaweri Museveni sent troops “into villages in northern Uganda to cut off the ears of the people, telling the people it was the work of the LRA.”

I discovered otherwise during my trip last year to Gulu, Uganda and Nimule, Sudan.
I met children who had their arms severed by LRA troops, young girls who had been brutally beaten and raped by the rebel soldiers and adults who had lips and ears severed from their faces. Some of the victims said they knew the individuals who had committed these atrocities--known members of the LRA.

Last summer, The International Criminal Court issued a warrant for Kony on charges of committing nearly 33 war crimes and crimes against humanity. Now, days before peace talks between Uganda and the LRA begin in Juba, South Sudan, President
Museveni is offering Kony amnesty if he ends his war on terror. It appears Museveni has grown weary of failed efforts over the past twenty years to capture or kill Kony. During my interview with him last year, the Uganda president told me “we will get him” soon.
But that was nearly one year ago and Kony is still elusive, always slipping away at the last minute as Ugandan government troops close in.

What will happen if Kony shows up at the peace talks? Will Kony be arrested and turned over to the ICC or, will Museveni shake Kony’s hand and let bygones be bygones?

Christians know before there can be true forgiveness, there must be repentance.
Kony refuses to admit his crimes. His victims demand justice and after suffering two decades of terror, the people of northern Uganda deserve peace. Unfortunately, neither is likely to come to the African nation anytime soon.