Main content

Joseph Kony called me "Mummy Bigombe"

Betty Bigombe negotiated face to face with the notorious leader of the LRA

Betty Bigombe has come face to face with one of the most ruthless rebel leaders the world has known. For many years, Betty Bigombe played a key role in trying to end one of Africa's longest-running insurgencies: she was negotiating peace between Joseph Kony, the notorious commander of the Lord's Resistance Army, and the Ugandan government. Needless to say, her job was difficult and dangerous. Betty is from the Acholi region in northern Uganda - where the LRA and other rebel groups started a guerilla war in the mid to late 1980s. She studied social sciences at university and then became a Member of Parliament. Betty tells Matthew Bannister why she felt it was her duty to do something about the violence and trauma in her home region.

Photo courtesy of Betty Bigombe

Release date:

Available now

23 minutes

Podcast