Meeting the monster: My 14 days with Joseph Kony

Lives Less Ordinary

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.6 • 814 Ratings

🗓️ 22 June 2025

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In Judith Obina Okumu's imagination, Joseph Kony was a monster. As leader of the Lord's Resistance Army he'd fought a decades-long war against the government of Yoweri Museveni – displacing and destroying hundreds of thousands of lives across Northern Uganda in the process. But one day, a visit from a stranger would challenge Judith to face her fears. In her role as assistant private secretary to President Museveni, Judith was introduced to Joseph Kony's mother, Nora Anek. After three years of gaining her trust, Judith asked Nora if she would go to meet her son at his forest hideout and persuade him to engage with peace talks. What Judith didn't know was that the President wanted her to go too. She was convinced it was the last journey she'd ever make. But after 14 days of talks, Judith and Nora helped broker peace in Northern Uganda.

Lives Less Ordinary is a weekly podcast from the BBC World Service that seeks out the most incredible true stories from around the world. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. Each episode, a guest shares their most intimate and defining personal story. Listen for real-life accounts, unbelievable twists, and inspiring journeys, which prove just how extraordinary the human experience can be.

Lives Less Ordinary is brought to you by the team behind Outlook, the home of human storytelling on the BBC World Service for nearly 60 years.

Got a story to tell? Send an email to [email protected] or message us via WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: Anna Lacey

Transcript

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0:00.0	What is love?
0:03.0	Is it chemistry, fate or a disaster waiting to happen?
0:07.0	Sometimes you mistake other things for love.
0:09.9	Join me, Ryland, on my new podcast,
0:12.2	as I ask experts and a few familiar faces what love really means.
0:16.3	Because it turns out it's a bit more complicated than happily ever after.
0:20.6	You should think of it as the daily commitment you make to someone that you care about.
0:25.2	Ryland, how to be in love. Listen on BBC Sounds.
0:33.7	I didn't even think he existed.
0:38.3	There's so many atrocities that I was wondering,
0:41.9	does such a human being really live on Earth?
0:45.0	In 2006, Judith Abinaakou made a terrifying journey
0:50.4	to find a man who'd done such terrible things,
0:54.0	a man so hard to find that he had an
0:56.8	almost mythical status.
0:59.6	So on that day, I looked at him.
1:03.8	Actually, he has a human face.
1:06.9	And when I saw the tear, I was thinking, is this really the man?
1:13.8	Is he the coin, man?
1:47.5	Joseph Kynne rebel leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, wanted by the International Criminal Court for 36 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity in northern Uganda, where Judith is from, a man in hiding. This is the story of how Judith came to meet him with the secret weapon that she hoped would persuade him to give up his
1:53.2	terror campaign and talk peace, his mother. I'm Joe Fidgin, and this is Lives Less Ordinary
2:00.1	from the BBC World Service.
	...

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