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IRIN Web Special on the crisis in Northern Uganda
LRA Structure - Continued
Who is Kony?
But who exactly is this 'Kony', the man who has continued to terrorise the northern Ugandan region?
Walter Ochora, the chairman of Gulu local district council, who has met Kony once, argues that the rebel leader is not insane, as many have suggested. "Kony is not mad. He knows what he is doing, very well. For him this war has become a way of life and he is gaining a lot from it," Ochora says.
Kony's own children, fathered in the bush, are said to receive preferential treatment compared with the abductees. They are given better food to eat and even receive primary school education from abducted teachers.
Kony is thought to be the father of between 30 and 100 children, according to information from children returning from LRA captivity. "While we were in Sudan, Kony's children and his commanders were going to school. They ate food that they got from [the Sudanese government garrison town of] Juba. The rest of us only ate the beans and millet we cultivated," said Onencan, a former abductee.
"During the drought season, the rest of us had to attack Sudanese villages and forcefully take food from them in order to survive, while Kony's children continued to be well fed," the 15-year old added.
Onencan, currently under rehabilitation at the World Vision Centre in Gulu town, described Kony as a devoutly religious man who - like Alice Lakwena - sees himself as a prophet. "We prayed a lot. We used to say the Lord's Prayer. The objective of the prayers was to help us with the war so we could one day win and come out of our present difficult situation and live decently," Onencan told IRIN.
Before any combat, Kony would predict the likely outcome, Onencan added. "Most of us believed him because he would predict things which would actually happen the way he had predicted. When we were not in battle, Kony would sit down and discuss with his commanders," he said.
Other former captives also speak of intensely spiritual prayer sessions, which blended Catholic, Protestant and even Islamic worship.
On Sundays and Fridays, prayers were conducted three times a day, according to Consi Lalam, another former captive undergoing rehabilitation at the World Vision Centre. "Some days we would be told to pray against something bad that was about to happen,” she said. "When the government was about to attack us in Sudan, Kony said he had seen a vision from the Holy Spirit that UPDF was preparing to attack us.
Fr. Rodriguez, who has managed to make contact with the rebels argues that Kony has not a "single religious bone in his body". "Some of the most sublime beliefs have been used throughout history to commit atrocities," he notes.
For others, like Charles Okot, a trader in the Gulu market, speculating on whether anyone knows why Kony is fighting is not the issue. "What is important is that the people must not be allowed to suffer. It is the responsibility of the government to protect its people. This is what we need to realise. Let us not think of the reason. Let us think of the people," he says.
Why the LRA is difficult to contain
But why has the UPDF been unable to destroy the LRA, as was initially expected of its anti-LRA offensive, code-named 'Operation Iron Fist'?
The LRA has stepped up its attacks on northern Uganda in retaliation for the offensive against its bases in southern Sudan. In response to Operation Iron Fist, the LRA has divided into smaller units and spread across Acholi region's three districts of Gulu, Kitgum and Pader.
In addition, the group has begun to spread its activities to a wider geographical area beyond Acholiland. More recent attacks have been carried out westwards into Adjumani, southwards into Lira and Apac, and eastwards into the Karamoja district of Kotido.
Although Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni spent the second half of 2002 in the northern military headquarters in Gulu to personally oversee the war against the LRA, the attacks have escalated in recent months. Museveni returned to the north in July 2003.
Continued 
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