• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Africa Horn Now

"We don't take sides; we help you see more sides."

Africa Horn Now

ካብ ውሽጢ ቤት ማእሰርታት ኤርትራ

Published: May 6, 2021

PBS: Escaping Eritrea … [Read More...] about ካብ ውሽጢ ቤት ማእሰርታት ኤርትራ

My husband the warlord: an extract from the memoir of Joseph Kony’s wife

December 23, 2015 By Africa Horn Now

Evelyn Amony | Tuesday 22 December 2015 | The Guardian

Abducted when she was 11 years old, Evelyn Amony spent more than a decade at the brutal LRA leader’s side. In her new book, she recounts her past

00123kony
Evelyn Amony in the bush with the Lord’s Resistance Army. Photograph: Erin Baines

Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army abducted Evelyn Amony a few months before she turned 12 years old, in August 1994. Trained as a child soldier by the rebel leader and now indicted war criminal, Amony was raped by Kony at 14, and told that she had become his wife.

Amony spent 11 years with Kony in Uganda as one of his more than 60 wives. She gave birth to three of his daughters while he waged a campaign of destruction against local populations in the country’s north-west.

In the following excerpt from her new book, she recalls how a bushfire took the lives of Kony’s favourite wife, Fatima, and her son, also called Kony. Amony describes how she had to coax the guerrilla leader from the brink of suicide, knowing the remaining wives and children would have little chance of surviving without him.

The fire

In 2002, Ladit [a term of respect for Kony] separated his wives and children into different groups. He left our children and me in the Isore Mountains to do farm work.

In December, Kony returned and told us to stop what we were doing because he had learned that the government of Uganda had a new plan to attack us. Kony told us to prepare to return to Rubangatek in Sudan, but as I rushed to do so I fell down, and my knee was dislocated. I could not walk, so Kony decided we would spend one more night where we were.

The following day, it was Dominic Ongwen [one of the commanders presently in the Hague charged with war crimes] who carried me. I begged Kony to leave me behind, but he would not accept my request. We crossed Pajong Road, and we slept again for three nights, hoping that my knee would be OK to walk on.

0012Kony
Joseph Kony (left) in Garamaba, Democratic Republic of Congo, in 2006. Photograph: Erin Baines for the Guardian

Strange things started to happen. By Christmas Day we had become lost in the forests. We crossed a river, but before long we had turned around and found ourselves once more at Pajong Road. Suddenly there was fire everywhere, blocking us from moving ahead or tracing our movements behind. Kony radio-called to Fatima [another of his wives] to tell her that we would join them later on as it had become too difficult to pass.

After the call, Kony started speaking strangely. He insisted that I cook for him. As we began to move, he insisted he be the one to carry [our daughter] Bakita. He had never carried Bakita before, yet he put her on his shoulders. He said, “[Evelyn], I have named Bakita after Fatima. Our daughter is the one that will remain, while Fatima will not. Bakita will replace Fatima.”

Kony disappeared with Bakita, insisting we remain behind to cook. After cooking, we began following him slowly. The boys told me stories to distract me, because I was still in a great deal of pain.

As we drew closer to Rubangatek, we heard someone sounding an alarm. At first we thought it was to welcome Kony, but then [we] could smell the smoke. As we moved closer, we saw Kony sitting alone. We did not ask him or any of his escorts what had happened but could see their mood had changed.

One of Kony and Fatima’s eldest sons ran up to me and said, “Mummy, everyone has burned to death!” I asked the child what had happened, and he said that a wildfire had spread so fast it had burned everyone in its path.

A commander came and ordered everyone to sit down in a line. They started counting people, and when they reached me, they told me to pack my bag and go to Kony. When I reached Kony, he told me that his wives and children were badly [burned] and that I should go and see what I could do to save them. He told me to take toothpaste and smear it on their wounds.

When I reached them, the site was shocking. One of Kony’s younger sons was severely burned. He could no longer see, but he could talk. We carried him to a mattress as he cried. As we began to wash his body with water, he died. The sight of his burned body will remain in my mind forever.

Fatima was dead. The boy kept asking, “Who will be my mother? My mother is dead!” He kept crying and shouting. I tried to soothe him, and at the same time I asked him to show me where his mother lay; I thought perhaps she was still alive and he was just in shock.

The boy took me to the body of Fatima. The only part of her body that was recognizable was her fingernails on one hand. She was holding her ear on the side of her head. Her face was not recognisable.

In the morning, we began to bury the dead. In total, three wives, nine children, and an escort had died.

0000eve
Evelyn shortly after she won the Women for Peace prize in 2013, photographed in Gulu, Uganda Photograph: Erin Baines for the Guardian

Everyone feared staying near Kony during this time. They thought he would do something bad. Some thought that he would shoot people. Others thought that he would shoot himself. This was the time I was closest to him. Kony did not want me to leave his side. Some people said that Kony might kill me and then commit suicide. I was not afraid of him. I thought that if he wants to kill me, let him kill me.

Even the rebel commanders were scared to go near Kony. His officers removed all the guns from his compound. He would ask for his pistol endlessly. He asked me to search for another pistol. I tried, but not seriously. I told him I could not find one.

One day Kony called me to him and started to talk to me. He told me how he was so sad that his wife Fatima was dead. He said his youngest son named Kony – who was also Fatima’s youngest son – should have been the one to succeed him when he dies. He said he loved his son very much. He said that his son Kony was his most beloved son and he trusted him very much, but God had separated them, so he just wanted to end his life.

Kony said that the only thing that prevented him from doing so was that he knew he had many children he would leave behind and that if he died, there would be no one to take care of them.

He asked how he would care for his children now that Fatima was gone. I told him, “Kony, if you leave us, the future for all these people will be lost. If you are not around, you will never have another child, but if you choose to live, you can have a new child whom you can name Kony.” Ladit said that even if he were to have another son named Kony, he would not love him in the same way he loved his first son.

I then told him, “If you die because of your wife and son, then you may as well kill everyone in the bush. They are here because of you. If you kill yourself, it is as good as killing all of them. No one here is capable of leading us home.”

That day Kony told me to make him tea and juice. Kony said that everything in this world happens for a reason. He told me that he was not going to shoot me; he believed that I loved him and that I was strong. He said it is hard to be a prophet. He said that God had tempted him. We talked a lot. He said that one day we would overthrow the government and live a good life and that I would be the first wife in his home because I did not leave him when he was going through such a difficult time. He said he would try his best to take care of me so that my future would be bright. He said to have hope.

This was the time that I was close to Kony. I told him of my hope to return home to Uganda with the children. The rebels were releasing their wives at this time because the war had become so intense. Kony said that he was going to release all of his wives to return home. He said that he was going to remain in the bush with only men.

I became happy.

I thought he would release us and allow us to return home.

Excerpted from I Am Evelyn Amony: Reclaiming My Life from the Lord’s Resistance Army, edited with an introduction by Erin Baines (University of Wisconsin Press). © 2015 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. Available now

Filed Under: LIFE iN BAW

Primary Sidebar

A New Administration Won’t Heal American Democracy

Published: November 6, 2020

The Rot in U.S. Political Institutions Runs Deeper Than Donald Trump Larry Diamond | November 5, 2020 | Foreign … [Read More...] about A New Administration Won’t Heal American Democracy

Archives

  • May 2021
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • June 2019
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • November 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • May 2014
  • March 2014

Log In

Copyright © 2025 Africa Horn Now · WordPress · Log in