KAMPALA, Uganda - If Joseph Kony lived in relative anonymity before this week, he is a Web star now.
A video about the atrocities carried out by Kony's Lord's Resistance Army has gone viral, racking up millions more views seemingly by the hour.
The marketing campaign is an effort by the California-based advocacy group Invisible Children to vastly increase awareness about a jungle militia leader who is wanted on charges of atrocities by the International Criminal Court and is being hunted by 100 US Special Forces advisers and local troops in four Central African countries.
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The 30-minute video, released Monday, had more than 32 million views on YouTube by Thursday. The movie is part of an effort called KONY 2012 targeting Kony and his militia.
"Kony is a monster. He deserves to be prosecuted and hanged,'' said Colonel Felix Kulayigye, the spokesman for Uganda's military.
Kulayigye said Kony's forces - once thousands strong - have been so degraded that he no longer considers Kony a threat to the region. Because of the intensified hunt for Kony, his forces split into smaller groups that can travel the jungle more easily.
Analysts estimate that the Lord's Resistance Army now has only about 250 fighters. Still, the militia abducts children, forcing them to serve as soldiers or sex slaves, and even to kill their parents or each other to survive. The militia now operates in Congo, the Central African Republic, and South Sudan.
Jolly Okot was abducted in 1986 by the militia group that later became the militia. Okot, 18 at the time, could speak English so was valuable to the militants. She was also forced to have sex.
Today, Okot is the Uganda country director for Invisible Children, in charge of 105 employees. She said the group is helping 800 people affected by Lord's Resistance Army violence to attend high school and university. She said the program has given hope to children who previously dropped out of the education system.
"I'm so grateful that the world has been able to pay attention to an issue that has long been neglected,'' Okot said. "I think it is an eye-opener and I think this will push for Joseph Kony to be apprehended, and I think justice will get to him.''
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said it has been hard to raise public awareness about Kony since issuing his warrant in 2005.
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