In July 2006, at the peak of the Lord’s Resistance Army-led insurgency in northern Uganda, Archbishop John Baptist Odama of the Gulu Catholic Archdiocese visited Joseph Kony’s hideout in DR Congo’s Garamba National Park alongside other religious and government leaders.
Archbishop Odama, who retired in 2023 after 25 years of service, has been pivotal in the restoration of peace and the preaching of peace between the government of Uganda and the LRA, which had greatly terrorised the region.
Travelling to the bush was risky but with a purpose: to restore peace in the war-torn area through advocacy for cessation of fire and eventual peace deal.
While in the bush, he, who was then the leader of the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative (ARLPI), had physical discussions with Kony and his top commanders.
He believes that a lot of progress has been made since the interface, with many abductees and rebel leaders safely returned home and reintegrated into the community, coupled with the relative peace.
Archbishop Odama rejoices but says the one thing that still bothers him is the fact that Kony has not yet returned home.
During the conversation with Kony, the Archbishop said he spoke to his face, questioning when he will return home, if he cares about the suffering people, and whether he cherishes peace.
”When it came my turn to talk, I challenged him and his commanders against destroying human lives, and demanded to know when he was coming back home, and whether he cherishes the suffering of the people. I questioned why he doesn’t want to abandon the war and come back home.” The clergyman told this publication during an interview.
He recalled saying that he was determined for the worst that will come, because his main interest was to get an answer for people back home.
”I ask you, when will you return home?” But to his dismay, Archbishop Odama received no responses, as Kony timidly looked at him.
We set off from the bush the next day, with no answer to my question, and to date, I am waiting for that response. The best response would be seeing him return home. Archbishop Odama explained.
Even in retirement, the Archbishop Emeritus says his heart still yearns to see Kony out of the bush or wherever he is. ”When will you come home? Answer my question by coming home!”
Archbishop Odama and some clerics did not just risk going to the bush, but also slept in Gulu Main Bus park for several nights with children who were night commuters.
”The children were sleeping in the bus park, in the cold, on the floor. Every evening you see them carrying these boxes on their heads. So we decided to join them, feel what they go through and advance the call for peace,” he said.
”All these efforts were to see an end to the war that had ravaged northern Uganda. My heart pains for the suffering children born in the war situation.” He added.
To Archbishop Odama, the guns have gone silent, but the effects of the war continue to bother the communities of northern Uganda, with children being the most affected.
He says the effects of the war continue to manifest through mental health problems, street children, poverty, and high crime rates.
Look at these children, we call Aguu (relating to street children); where did they come from? These are our children; some returned from the bush, others lost their parents to the LRA war. Why can’t we take them as our own? Archbishop Odama wondered.
He added that: ”What if we all become parents to these children, shall we have them in the street? We should all play our roles and support them.”
The Archbishop Emeritus ‘ love for children is embedded in a slogan, ”nginingini”, to mean little black ants. Until his retirement in 2023, he remains renowned among the children and praised for peace advocacy.
Since that time, the LRA has witnessed massive defections from fighters and abductees.
However, Kony remains tight-lipped on intentions of coming back home. At a recent interview, one of the LRA commanders in the rank of a major said he had been weakened, but was uncertain about returning home.
On June 5, 2026, the government repatriated a group of LRA rebel abductees and combatants from Juba, South Sudan, through the Juba-Nimule Highway, into Uganda, bringing the total number of defectors in the last three weeks to 19.
The LRA launched a brutal insurgency in Northern Uganda in 1987, from Odek Sub-County in the current Omoro District in the Acholi Sub-region.
It is believed that the group abducted more than 30,000 children and young adults; some were recruited into the LRA rebels as ranks while others were turned into sex slaves and porters.
Kony, a former altar boy at a local Catholic Church, has since avoided capture. He is facing war crimes and crimes against humanity charges at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, the Netherlands, for his role in the deaths of thousands and displacement of nearly two million people from their homes during the violence that engulfed northern Uganda for over two decades.