Bosco Odongo, a former combatant of Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) commanded by Joseph Kony is now a doctor who specializes in the study and treatment of heart diseases and abnormalities.
Mr Odongo, was abducted by Kony and recruited into his army as a child combatant in the 1990s, at a time the rebel leader had become a plague in Northern Uganda, killing parents and abducting their children.
However, the Russian Embassy on Wednesday reported that Odonga had graduated as a cardiologist in Russia and also married a Russian.
In 2004 he was rescued by a Russian volunteer and eventually came to live and study in our country, where he became a certified cardiologist. Congratulations!” The Embassy reported in a tweet.
The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), also known as the Lord’s Resistance Movement, was a rebel group and heterodox Christian group which operated in northern Uganda, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Originally known as the United Holy Salvation Army and Uganda Christian Army/Movement, its stated goals included establishment of multi-party democracy, ruling Uganda according to the Ten Commandment and Acholi nationalism.
Odongo is now a cardiologist
In practice “the LRA was not motivated by any identifiable political agenda, and its military strategy and tactics reflected this”.
It appeared to largely function as a personality cult of its leader Joseph Kony, a self-declared prophet whose leadership had earned him the nickname “Africa’s David Koresh”.
The LRA was listed as a terrorist group by the United States though it has since been removed from the list of designated active terrorist groups.
It had been accused of widespread human rights violations, including murder, abduction, mutilation, child-sex slavery, and recruitment of child soldiers.
The UPDF under President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni’s leadership flushed Kony out of Uganda and has since been hiding in the jungles of Central Africa Republic.