The Story Joseph Kony's son escaped his father's militia - now he tells his story
Dec 1, 2025
Richard Assheton, a freelance foreign correspondent for The Sunday Times, interviews Ali Kony, son of infamous Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony. Ali shares his chilling upbringing in the Lord's Resistance Army and the complexities of life with his father. He reveals his surprising ignorance of the viral Kony 2012 campaign and reflects on his difficult escape in 2021. The podcast explores themes of victimhood and perpetration, the rehabilitation of former child soldiers, and Ali’s conflicting emotions about his father.
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Secret Lunch In Gulu
- Richard Assheton met Ali Kony in a missionary café in Gulu with a translator present.
- Ali sat between Assheton and the exit and projected an imposing presence that made the reporter uneasy.
Raised In Abduction Camps
- Ali described his mother Medina being abducted multiple times and forcefully impregnated by Joseph Kony.
- He said he grew up partly raised by abducted girls who acted as 'stepmothers' in the camps.
Rapid Rise To Command
- Ali rose through the Lord's Resistance Army ranks, training in Congo and commanding a battalion at 18.
- He acknowledged fighting his first battle at about 15 and participating in over 100 engagements.