Kony’s wives, children repatriated from CAR

Two women formerly held in captivity by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), together with several children linked to rebel leader Joseph Kony, have been repatriated to Uganda from the Central African Republic (CAR), the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) has said.

The returnees were received on Thursday at the UPDF Airbase in Entebbe after being flown in from Bangui under the supervision of the Chief of Defence Intelligence and Security, Maj. Gen. Richard Otto.

The women are identified as Ugandan national Ikol Grace, 33, and South Sudanese national Aniyessi Teregina, also 33.

Grace returned with her two children, Ayuma Maria, 8, and Oryema Bosco, 2, while Teregina arrived holding one of Kony’s orphaned children aged two years.

According to the UPDF, Grace was abducted in 2003 at the age of 10 from Amuria District, while Teregina was kidnapped in 2006 at the age of 13 from Yambio in South Sudan’s Western Equatoria State.

Military authorities said Teregina will later be facilitated to return to her home country.

The repatriation follows the escape of eight women described as Kony’s wives and 13 children from an LRA camp earlier this year.

The group reportedly fled captivity in January after their camp was attacked by an armed group operating south of Darfur near the tri-border area of CAR, Sudan and South Sudan.

UPDF said the other women, who are citizens of the Democratic Republic of Congo and CAR, together with their children, were reunited with their families in their respective countries.

The latest repatriation adds to a growing number of former LRA captives returning home in recent years as the rebel group continues to weaken after decades of insurgency across Uganda and parts of Central Africa.

In 2023 and 2024 alone, more than 150 LRA returnees, including some of Kony’s wives and children, were repatriated to Uganda from CAR after escaping captivity.

The UPDF said the exercise forms part of ongoing regional efforts to support former abductees and dismantle remnants of the rebel network.

The Lord’s Resistance Army, once notorious for brutal attacks, mass abductions and the use of child soldiers, was driven out of northern Uganda more than a decade ago but remnants of the group have continued operating in remote parts of Central Africa.