Children’s Army Atrocity In Sights of Local Lawmaker

A Ugandan girl fortunately stayed home one day when one of many terrorist attacks flooding her home country finally hit her all-girls school. The terrorist army abducted several of her classmates to serve as sex slaves. This girl shared her story on Friday in Orange with the nonprofit Invisible Children and Los Alamitos area Representative Ed Royce (R) to shed light on the rampage and pillage committed by Joseph Kony, a Ugandan terrorist.

Invisible Children, a non-profit organization with the agenda to use the power of media to put a stop to conflict in Africa, joined forces with Royce to speak about new legislation establishing a bounty on Kony. With the help of Invisible Children’s viral campaign entitled Kony 2012, awareness of Kony’s atrocities has spread across the social media world. An Invisible Children video following the plight of the Ugandan children has attracted more than 81 million Youtube viewers since March 5.

“We have legislation now that he has been designated as a terrorist,” explained Royce, who introduced the legislation. “The legislation directs U.S. special forces to assist the Ugandan military with intelligent services.”

Kony and his army, Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), abduct children from Uganda and surrounding areas such as the Central African Republic, Congo, and South Sudan. Currently suspected to be right outside Uganda, Kony and the LRA use their army of children against other children. Abducted and brainwashed, these children follow Kony as their leader. The result is that these young boys become fighters for Kony in a brutal war against their own people while the young girls are often sex slaves for the army.

Royce, who represents Los Alamitos and Rossmoor, chaired the Congressional Africa Subcommittee from 1997 to 2005 and has an interest in terrorism and peacekeeping in Africa. With years of involvement with Rwandan genocide survivors under his belt, Royce seemed a natural legislative partner to team up with Invisible Children to aid in the capture of Kony. Royce was approached by the founders of Invisible Children two years ago to do just that.

The bill introduced by Royce adds Kony to the bounty list for information leading to the capture of Kony and his military commanders. Kony will now have a price on his head.

“We heard testimony that when this has been done in the past, a drug king said he felt like a wanted man and could not trust anyone,” Royce said. “We also hear that U.S. troops believe that the rewards program would bolster their efforts.”

But according to the congressman, the work does not stop with the troops. Students need to take the lead and put pressure on the international community to resolve this issue, he explains.

Royce said he realizes that the brutality and mutilation inflicted by Kony and the LRA is difficult for people to comprehend. He is convinced, however, that once everyone sees the Invisible Children film and listens to the testimony, they will realize the enormity of these crimes against humanity as a whole.

"This is a mission led by Africans for Africans. But some small, targeted U.S. assistance can go a long way," Royce added.

Editor's note: The accompanying video is the Invisible Children video that has gone viral to more than 81 million people in less than two weeks.

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