Joseph Kony (born ca. 1962) is the head of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a guerrilla group that is engaged in a violent campaign to establish theocratic government in Uganda, which claims to be based on the Christian Bible and the Ten Commandments. The LRA, which earned a reputation for its actions against the people of northern Uganda, has abducted an estimated 30,000 children since its rebellion began in 1987.

While investigating the Lords resistance Army, Jimmie Briggs attempted to sort through several versions of Joseph Kony's life and come up with the most credible one. Norah Anek Oting gave birth to Kony in Odek, a village east of Gulu in northern Uganda around 1964 or 1965. Kony was the eldest son of farmers. It is uncertain how many siblings he had. He was friendly to his siblings, but if they crossed him he came down hard on them. During his teenage years, Joseph Kony apprenticed as the village witch doctor under his older brother, Benon Okello, and when his older brother died, he took over full responsibility. When confronted he often resorted to his fists rather than parrying verbally. He was teased in school about his size and the teachers gave him a hard time because he didn't seem too bright. His father was a lay apostle of the Catholic Church and his mother was an Anglican, Kony was an altar boy for several years. He stopped attending church at about the age of 15. A high-school dropout, Kony first came to prominence in January 1987, at age 26. His group was one of many premillennialist groups that sprang up in Acholiland in the wake of the wildly popular Holy Spirit Movement of Alice Auma (aka Lakwena). However, the conflict in the north began in the resentment among the Acholi at their relative loss of influence after the overthrow of Acholi President Tito Okello by Yoweri Museveni and his National Resistance Army (NRA) during "the war in the bush", ending in 1986.

Originally Kony's group was named the United Holy Salvation Army (UHSA) and was not perceived as a threat by the NRA. By 1988, with the accord between NRA and the Uganda People's Democratic Army and addition of its remnant troops as well as forced recruitment of children the United Holy Salvation Army was becoming a formidable resistance army. The bulk of his foot soldiers were children. He is estimated to have taken 10,000 or more boys and girls since the LRA started fighting in 1986. He often killed their family and neighbors when abducting these children, forcing them to fight for him. With these remnants of UPDA was commander Odong Latek, who convinced Kony to use standard military tactics as opposed to its previous attempts which involved attacking in cross-shaped formations and the use of holy water. The new tactics proved successful and the UHSA delivered several small but stinging defeats against the NRA. After these victories the NRA responded by significantly weakening the Kony's group with political actions and a military campaign named Operation North.