Kony’s Daughters Held Hostage by Russian Mercenaries For Four Months

By Spurb Ernest

Reliable information obtained by Uganda Radio Network indicates that Maisa Amu and Betty Akidi Lagum were captured in March 2024 from Sam Ouandja, a town in northeastern CAR near the Sudan border. They were reportedly held hostage in the capital, Bangui, from March to July.

New details have emerged showing how two daughters of the elusive rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) leader, Joseph Kony, were held captive for four months by Wagner Group mercenaries in the Central African Republic (CAR).

Reliable information obtained by Uganda Radio Network indicates that Maisa Amu and Betty Akidi Lagum were captured in March 2024 from Sam Ouandja, a town in northeastern CAR near the Sudan border. They were reportedly held hostage in the capital, Bangui, from March to July.

The duo, by the time of their capture, had reportedly defected from their father’s base and were seeking to surrender to the Central African Republic Government. This was shortly after Kony’s wife Judith Acan and son Pope Kony also defected on March 19 2024, according to a Ugandan security official familiar with their defection.

The officer, who spoke anonymously because of the sensitivity of the matter, told Uganda Radio Network that the Russian mercenaries held onto the two children for months, hoping to lure out Kony. He suspected the mercenaries were after the US$5 million bounty, knowing that the children were linked to Kony. 

“The reason, I think, the Russians wanted to keep the family was because they learnt that this was the immediate family of Kony. And, you know, the Russian mercenaries are very transactional. So, they thought that by keeping the family, Kony can come out and then they can cash in on the US$5 million, which is on Kony’s head,” he said. 

Since 2013, the US Department of State has been offering a US$ 5-million bounty for any information leading to the arrest of Kony. According to him, the mercenaries released the captives after realizing they weren’t going to gain anything.

“…they held them from March last year up to almost four months before they found that it was a useless venture, they handed them over to the Central African Government and the Central African Government handed them over to Invisible Children,” he said.

He noted that while there were already plans to transport the defected family members of Kony, who comprised his wife and son, back to Uganda, the process couldn’t go on for months while the other two were still being held by the Russian mercenaries.

Eventually, after their release to the Central African Republic government and Invisible Children, the children reunited with their other family members who were under the care of Invisible Children in Bangui.

Hurdles in repatriating defectors 

Uganda Radio Network understands that the Ugandan government last year faced hurdles in its attempts to repatriate the four newly defected Kony family members from the Central African Republic after a government official denied the presence of the defectors.

A delegation from the office of the President accompanied by Joseph Kony’s son, Ali Saloongo, who also defected in July 2021, were last year sent with four air tickets to pick the defectors but returned empty-handed. However, through the back-and-forth discussions between the government of Uganda and their counterparts in the CAR, the defectors touched down in the country on February 28 through Entebbe Airport.  

They were accompanied by Fulbert Gbangona Dabira, the Chief of the Cabinet of the Central African Republic Ministry in charge of Disarmament, Demobilization, Reintegration, and Repatriation (DDRR). The defectors’ Air tickets were paid for by Pax Christi, an international Non-Governmental Organization.

The four family members of Kony are currently in Gulu city undergoing vocational training and rehabilitation along with 129 former LRA returnees. The 129 returnees are set to graduate in various disciplines of vocational skills that were sponsored by Pax and Christi since December 2023 before being reintegrated into the community.

Last week, the Acholi Cultural Institution, during an engagement with officials from the President’s office and office of the Prime Minister, stressed a call to the government not to ignore ritual cleansing for former LRA fighters. The Deputy Paramount Chief Martin Otinga Yai Atuka II noted that it’s important for the government to support the traditional cleansing rites to help in cleansing bad omens that would in future cause psychological problems, stigma and even death for the former returnees.

Kony’s manpower is dwindling 

According to the latest report from security personnel, Kony had by last month approximately 60 fighters. Five of the fighters from the Central African Republic were, however, reported to have defected by last week, further leaving the LRA outfit weaker.

Although his exact location remains unknown, Kony is believed to be operating a smaller group of loyal fighters between the border of Sudan and Central African Republic, according to security sources. In August last year, the Ugandan army struck LRA bases in the Eastern Town of Sam Oundja, resulting in the capture of vital military equipment and destruction of accommodation facilities.

Kony launched his bloody rebellion against the government of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni in 1986 , resulting in the death of more than 100,000 people, the displacement of 1.5 million people into IDPs, and the abduction of up to 100,000 children, according to the United Nations (UN).

He is currently on the top most wanted list by the International Criminal Court (ICC) and is suspected of committing 36 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, allegedly between July 1 2002 and December 31 2005, in Northern Uganda.