Every day at sunset in northern Uganda, a unique phenomenon is seen: Up to 40,000 children leave their rural homes for the towns, spending the night under streetlights or in empty buildings. Known as 'the Night Commuters,' they are afraid of monsters coming to carry them off in the night. Their fear is justified.
Indeed, the 'monsters' used to be children just like themselves. Now they obey Joseph Kony, a self-styled mystic claiming to embody the Holy Spirit, wield magical powers, and wage a righteous war against the government of Uganda. During two decades of warfare, his shadowy slave militia - the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) - has abducted up to 30,000 children down to 7 years of age, forcing them to maim and kill other children or their own families, or to join the harems of its officers. Such is the nature of the world's arguably most bizarre and destructive war, and according to the UN, one of its ten most under-reported stories.
Cross-posted from Booman Tribune, where you really should sign up if you haven't yet.