When the walking defeats you one man's journey as Joseph Kony's bodyguard

432 Pages·2016·5.506 MB·English

by  Cakaj, Ledio;Dallaire, Roméo;Kony, Joseph;Omona, George

When The
Walking
Defeats You

PRAISE FOR
WHEN THE WALKING DEFEATS YOU
“Gripping and gleaming with insight. Ledio Cakaj leads
the reader into the very heart of one of Africa’s least-
understood but most enduring rebel movements.”
Matthew Green, author of The Wizard of the Nile
“A heartbreaking story, unmasking the everyday
complexities of a most gruesome and sorrowful
war. Absolutely remarkable!”
Sverker Finnström, author of Living with
Bad Surroundings: War, History, and Everyday
Moments in Northern Uganda
“A remarkable first-hand account of life in the LRA,
providing a compelling and convincing perspective
on what it was like to be a combatant.”
Tim Allen, co-editor of The Lord’s Resistance Army:
Myth and Reality
“A gripping portrayal of a rebel fighter’s harrowing
journey in central Africa. Without pulling punches,
Cakaj provides a human face to the notorious but often
caricatured Lord’s Resistance Army. An insightful tour-
de-force by an author whose deep knowledge about this
group shines through on almost every page.”
Ronald R. Atkinson, author of The Roots of Ethnicity
and editor of The Raging Storm: A Reporter’s Inside
Account of the Northern Uganda War
“Cakaj skilfully takes the reader inside the harrowing
world of the LRA. Interspersed with stunning
photography, and reflections of persons who survived
LRA attacks, a multi-layered story comes to life, further
unfolding the complexities of such a devastating war.”
Erin Baines, author of Buried in the Heart: Women,
Complex Victimhood and the War in Northern Uganda
“Brilliantly weaves the dramatic and often horrifying
experience of one man into a gripping story of two
decades of the LRA war. A product of vast knowledge
of the conflict, When The Walking Defeats You is sure to
become a classic in the literature on conflict in Africa.”
Adam Branch, author of Displacing Human Rights:
War and Intervention in Northern Uganda
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ledio Cakaj is a researcher and writer focused on armed
groups, demobilization and reintegration of former
combatants, both adults and children. He has worked for
close to two decades in the Balkans and Central Africa.
Cakaj spent eight years studying the Lord’s Resistance
Army, initially during a master’s degree at Princeton
University, and later working as a consultant for the
World Bank, the Enough Project, Small Arms Survey and
Resolve, among others.
Cakaj is a native Albanian, born in 1978. He left home
at 16 years old, as Albania was plagued by violence and
struggling to shed its communist past. He walked along
with other unaccompanied minors to Greece where he
worked odd jobs to survive. After four years without
a legal status in Greece, Cakaj managed to migrate to
England where he was able to return to school. Several
years later, he completed high school and graduated with
a degree in ancient and modern history from St. John’s
College, Oxford University, in 2005.
He now he lives in Washington DC with his wife and
three young children.

When The
Walking
Defeats You
One Man’s Journey as
Joseph Kony’s Bodyguard
Ledio Cakaj
Foreword by Roméo Dallaire
Zed Books
LONDON
When the Walking Defeats You was first published in 2016
by Zed Books Ltd, The Foundry, 17 Oval Way, London SE11 5RR, UK.
www.zedbooks.net
Copyright © Ledio Cakaj 2016
The right of Ledio Cakaj to be identified as the author of this
work has been asserted by him in accordance with the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988
Typeset in Book Antiqua by seagulls.net
Index by Ledio Cakaj
Cover design by David A. Gee
Cover photo © Hossein Fatemi/Panos
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise,
without the prior permission of Zed Books Ltd.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-78360-812-6 pb
ISBN 978-1-78360-813-3 hb
ISBN 978-1-78360-816-4 mobi
ISBN 978-1-78360-815-7 epub
ISBN 978-1-78360-814-0 pdf
For Alexander, Olivia and Sebastian
Ju dua shumë!