light show is capped off with a simple. and a reminder for everyone in paris and everywhere around the world that lockdown is really important and that they should stay at home. he watching news don't forget you can get all the latest news and information around the clock on our website at the different dot com i'm michael okun in berlin i have more news for you as always at the top of the hour see them. were all set. to go beyond theologists that. were all about the stories that matter to you. after this. whatever it takes. not running not. getting rid of nothing d.w.

made for mines. social networks never forget. so i searched in my personal archives. 2012. march. had i liked or shared the most viral video in history 100000000 views in just 6 days. a. name is jason russell and this is my son. it was the story of a young american director jason russell who hoped his 30 minute video would facilitate the capture of a new torrijos war criminal in central africa. joseph coney.

gav. this is a guy just cody. the battle. for 26 years tony has been kidnapping children into is rubble. turning the girls into sex slaves. the video was meant to shock to outrage people's faces. to bring joseph kony to justice russell even set up a private n.g.o.s called invisible children. it's internet campaign kone 2012 was

a runaway success. among those who circulated the video for a few of my friends. until recently i had forgotten all about the video and about joseph coney himself. then 2 journalists from our team entrusted me with this hard drive with footage shot in africa in 2014 for. the starting point for my investigation. i set out in pursuit of the most infamous more criminal on social networks and of

invisible children the ngo that won. to stop them my 1st port of call was good in northern uganda joseph coney his native region. i took the same roads that the directors of county 2012 took and met the same people. former child soldiers of the n.r.a. the brutal rebel group headed by joseph kony. from the late 1980 s. the warlord raided villages here to replenish his ranks with new recruits. it was on friday. in the morning when they came to our village. i was definitely in the rain. and the 2nd night i was given some simple training using guns and i think that.

whether i like it or not i don't like it i don't know life know so i have to tough and i say partial. the 3 filmmakers from invisible children turned up here in gulu in 2003. i was able to track down the woman who served as their guide at the time. and then i walked a lot of charity organizations and i went to the u.s. to talk about the war in northern uganda and i started telling how i was a for much i was told and then how many kids are being abducted here and that is where i received a lot of people who are very ignorant about the war and when the boys saw i always called them the boys i'm sorry but when the filmmaker has sold this story.

they contacted me and said definitely i would see that there. story of how they wanted to talk aboard the car and they said wait a minute you want to talk a book war is a war now than uganda. because that one i used to. i drove with them to the. lot and. they're sort of russian we've been. with children. and that's how everything started. what they did they made a lot of small videos. and some of the victims of the war. and of course the final the 12 documented was going to 12. bringing it out in the minutes. a war that had lasted for more than create the as. many

people even look like a joke. since then the 9 kids have grown up and they're in geo is now based in washington like all successful mafias. like because it's just we could just but he just a year before i could talk to the president of invisible children he can let me know if my hair will be a problem at any point i mean. there was an endless back and forth of negotiations in 24 teams my colleagues request for an interview was declined it took dozens of e-mails and months of waiting before i got the green light. to new remember what was the objective of the currency as well as the deal. part 6100000000 people have

now was the main objective of the campaign was to push the us. government to remain committed to implementing its counter eller a strategy and then the deployment of the advisors was an outcome of that strategy ready for the videos explicit aim was to provoke the u.s. into sending troops after coni. train track him in the fast jungle in order to find him the us government has to deploy them that's where the american advisors come in not for self defense but because it was right. politically speaking it was hugely successful. hugely successful not really 2 years before coney 2012 became a global internet sensation invisible children was already lobbying the oval office as this photo from 2010 clearly shows.

authorized a small number of u.s. forces i ordered the small number of american advisors to help uganda and its neighbors pursue the l.r. the removal of joseph kony from the battlefield sincerely. it's just a small step from garnering likes to dispatching troops. in the 21st century the video can start a war. but that's the american helicopter there's a villager says the videos on my hard drive document at the u.s. operation it featured some members of the 100 strong special forces team deployed by obama. may we have just a question with you is it because i would just want to understand. from the photos you know one camera i don't know. somewhat surprisingly and invisible

children can can be seen. the footage. surprising because my colleagues shot the material in 2014 in the eastern central african republic by then it had been almost a decade since joseph coney's militia had abandoned their base in uganda. the remnants were holed up somewhere in a vast neighboring area between the democratic republic of congo south sudan and the central african republic. here in obo hundreds of kilometers east of the war torn capital bangui is where the americans claimed that coney and his troops were hiding. on the ground my colleagues realized that not only was invisible children behind the deployment of u.s. army advisers the american n.-g. o.

was also hosting military meetings. specifically for the u.s. special forces directing operations in the hunt for kone and their allies the ugandans who are carrying out their orders now we can go to. a more. general care in the way colonel that lenny only commander of the u.s. forces that were. in regional 10 years in the el rey bringing the ellery. they will hear our message today and they know there's time to follow. the script sure a few weeks for us. thanks to the bush he's still in the bush right but his organization is coming out of the bush it's as you know this is a gigantic area here and to find one person that does not want to be found is very

difficult. fast forward 4 years by now the u.s. operation was over the army advisers had returned home having failed to capture kone. but why end a manhunt when the target is still at large. had the most powerful army in the world been looking in the wrong place. or did the mission have other objectives. my family remained mostly in regard to. the father was prime minister. until that government it so it was overthrown by the. ecu. up to 6 years of intervention right they didn't get it right where they

even looking for him of course not they were not looking for corn and in fact it's hard to say it's even a success or failure since i believe 100 percent that was never the objective anyway. this operation was cost more than $700000000.00 is that possible it only makes sense if that money was going to finance another i genda. who are the soldiers we filmed in 2014. what was the true nature of their mission. they were there under the banner of the pentagon's africa command africa. but it's not only a military command. according to this recently declassified internal document afrikan comprises both military personnel and civilians protecting u.s.

interests in africa is one of its goals. which interests. magic and military but also economic financial as well as intelligence above all africa operates in the gray zone between traditional war and peace. africa is meant to intervene in a humanitarian role so that is the official narrative. but the more geo political narrative is that the u.s. would be able to start sneaking in u.s. force says through uganda and then spread it into the region to counter other interest in africa. in 2014 the people of rarely saw u.s. army rangers on patrol. what they did see though was their aircraft their

helicopters and their drones. back to break up and you. will get. really an inkling of. going up there. without the excuse of hunting down a war criminal the u.s. military would never have been allowed to conduct an airborne operation over such an unstable strategic area. thanks to operation kone it was able to map the area and install g.p.s. beacons. or in military terms gather intelligence.

but central africa is not just a region of new. terry interest. it's also rich in gold in diamond reserves along with businessmen ready to exploit them. this man for example on the left. he appears in footage shot in 2014 at a security meeting in obo. that day he was handed what was clearly a confidential map. he refused our requests to film it and with good reason. don't we have to refer to the map was addressed to the colonel of the american armed forces. but it was a. monster of muck feels some this is mark pearson. apparently he's a cultural adviser. but what would a cultural advisor be doing in. going to and why entrust

a cultural advisor with an american military map. 4 years later i looked into who mark pearson really was. before following the american military into the area he was employed by jim diamond's a multinational diamond operation. it boasts turnover of some 300000000 euros with mines and prospecting projects all over africa including one in the central african republic. but the only area of diamond exploration officially declared by the company is in the west of the central african republic one and a half 1000 kilometers away from mobile on the other side of the country. so what was one of gem diamonds former employees doing here in a region that harbors a wealth of gold and diamond deposits. in kampala the ugandan capital i needed to find out more about who was really

running the country. you know where we must have any power in a coup in 1906 to consolidate his grip on power he purge the country of many rebel groups. joseph coney's however was spared. on was a creation of this day. only a member of the opposition. what talk to me about this angle of the story. when i was basically cut it open my dense of calling i come from to do so many to do that on was a creation of the government and to fly that will. areas that i had to stayed with those for the well when i was there were trained police they respected you want waisted never killed anybody to create we're going to see if you

don't you would have been bad if they like and it it didn't have the powers even without the stick it out for them someone. without those of course. the ugandan administration would not be able to make the justification but it needs more build trust systems from the united states it means needs more weapons and it needs more financial resources and diplomatic partnership with the united states how would he be able to make their mark there without the presence of course of course. that brings us to the least known and least documented part of the story. on the pretext of driving out just of kone the ugandan army committed horrific atrocities inside its own country. between 19062004 most of any is army engaged in a bloody crackdown in northern uganda. officially it

was hunting down the l. or a. un officially it was crushing resistance to this move from the actually people the ethnic group to which joseph coney belonged and which had dominated the previous government. to my village a young man called the church was complaining a lot i'm talking about i'm the one i'm in uniform and they came back and said this one of the rebel. want to show you today at this hour we deal with a war so they take in ladies others they don't because on battery and the shut in with a kit for the zealotry mothers it toward late and it told the parents say shut up really think well do this and do. this very incident was detailed in 1991 m.s.d. international report.

we haven't a single incident where the u.p.d. it was accused of intention of going through image and i'm asking people are you familiar with the 2005 human rights watch report about this conflict. human has no human rights watch. no you know. because in their report which is the most exhaustive they refer to torture. rape. full killings. on both sides on the r. aside and also on your video sites so it's not in that case it impossible to have our own human rights commission. but you do agree that for instance some 2005 report the world's a pretty strong feeling full getting raped. this is not lights where.

some of them. some of them just one look at these are not verified yet would have cases over mother. medical people. and intuitional. why was the united states desperate to support the ugandan regime. despite its abuses despite the authoritarian rule of most of any president for more than 3 decades or was it because the agent ugandan autocrat was providing a few services to his american godfather. exists to let them edit one on president knew where they said that for too long today as this big you learn not to say and so much. 212 for being sent to my that american officials can progress in parliament to support deployed with

a broad. if you need somebody to be involved to help in fighting. terrorism and a place like somalia which is celtic and it was so many as willing to do that sending ugandan soldiers to. i think that's a very easy decision for us to make regardless of anything else that was somebody does you know we've been the guy on dates. and can weigh in on me when i quoted a couple of. the show where they stayed. up till broad daylight that made it gums get the blood and i didn't know maybe it's the been about the how but it could double that and what the bleep troops into the instrument so you and i because. america made it so when we stood it. as we're coming along so.

none of this was mentioned in the kone 2012 video. not a word about the ugandan regime about president museveni 4 about the war crimes committed by his army. why not. and what exactly was invisible children's role. when they say they're helping the widows or the war orphans or so on what are these really do and. those are the sorts of questions that always occur in my mind. when across them probably about 2 years before their big viral video and. i found

their website and look at them and read what they said they were doing. so something about it felt very off to me. in their level of access to the region of northern uganda around 2005 northern uganda was completely sealed off by the ugandan army the only people who got in especially people with camera gear sophisticated camera gear such people did not get into northern uganda without the express permission of the ugandan government jason russell and his team they were in there because the ugandan government want them to be in there so why. the small in geo was purportedly working to save orphans when in fact it was promoting one of the most corrupt regimes in africa.

and they want to this is a radio h.q. where we coordinate all the security information for the southeast of the central african republic. newsroom. every day we have a security around in the morning and another in the office in a dark room. in concrete terms it was nothing more than a network of informants scattered through dozens of villages and they were responsible for reporting the movements of active armed rebels without really knowing whether there were any small isolated l r a groups among them or not. and they did that was more information. because the radios were all over the community. and then that information. this is so it was full on top of it. in the.

most of the information would come to the invisible radio network. that's yet. mr i knew about it was how forceful the into. but i don't know how it would have been between the nonprofit. information to the military so we were kind of. at the end of it's the loop thus if we were the voice of. the n.r.a. why children if you're feeding the military for them. get them to go to. bed to do your good she told me she felt uncomfortable with sharing information with military. that's very interesting i was not in a position of leadership that i have now at the time when jolie was working with invisible hand in that role but my understanding was that that was not her

sentiment previously so i. only recently i owe. my understanding is that that was not a sentiment that she held. at the time that these programs are being developed the concept of neutrality with the l r a is very different than in the context of a civil conflict or intercommunal conflict and so in that context supporting essentially law enforcement in the protection of civilians we felt it was very important. except that in the code of ethics for n.g.o.s recognized by the un neutrality is non-negotiable in fact a non-governmental organization should always be independent of governments enormous. invisible children however has always collaborated with the ugandan army and regime. so just like in february 2009 at the time the most of any government claimed there was

a conspiracy afoot to overthrow it. patrick koma cash who had worked for invisible children in its early days was accused of being part of a plot. to do i was a place too. the need for me. i was some. i've never seen in my life before. and i remember one day i was. down there. and was like this guy from. patrick was eventually cleared of all charges but who denounced him the answer was hidden in a secret diplomatic note written by the us ambassador himself in 2009 later published on the wiki leaks website. number 4 they say they foiled a plot against the ugandan government and were looking for someone. coming

. they say he was then arrested thanks to a tip off from invisible children. even the american ambassador implies that the organization does the leg work for ugandan forces. by then not only that i was not working with him. and i didn't know what are but this is a confession from that i quote somebody. who was so much. investigation. meeting. people from. you know him. know who i am i do know who he is but i don't i can't recall. if i heard his name that might have been back in 2000. do you know what evidence or

. no i don't he says that it is been arrested. because invisible children the gave it's you both to the uganda security forces i have no information about that. how do you feel about doubts about so that's was it was for them but it would be able to to do so well i have i have no way of knowing if that's true at all i sorry it is i'm in love met the guy there is substantial evidence that's actually invisible children have that's i'm david supposed to be you're in the military and the arrested him and the guy was tortured for 3 months and then he was cleared because he didn't do anything how would you feel about that is that you see. i i have

no information about that situation at all i obviously anyone who acts who would experience something horrible like that is it is unacceptable i have no information on that situation. another thing that bothered me about the kone 2012 video was the evangelical rather messianic tone adopted by jason russell. the founder of invisible children seems to regard himself as something of a pastor. his speeches are sermons. who are you know and no one i mean here to tell you who are not. here's the copy that was put out by truth wins out of the words organization i was working. on for this audio i found a piercing russell at the gathering in 2000. the guy there and he was the biggest

community of christian fundamentalists philanthropists in the united states. doesn't own when it and so with this movie we are able to be the trojan horse in a sense going into it about say guess what life's about our sins and stuff. by. and. it's his story and that's really that what this has been all. well i was surprised that he would use the word chosen horse even at. a conference such as that of a joker christian donors i was surprised that he went that far to see it minute that is is that they visible children was. perpetrating some some deceit.

as it's. true. so i. can't comment on what jason might have not said but i can say very calm down we are in no way a religiously affiliated organisation. all of this was funded by an army of young people who put their money toward their belief in the value of all human life they gave a few dollars a month of what little they have. their funding comes from young people who give a few dollars a month. as invisible children became better and better known they were able to get small donations by by presenting themselves as more or less a secular. non-profit which was doing great things in africa but that's not where they started they they started with money from the. giant fundamentalist heaven

chuckled philanthropies that gave them seed money. this is the 1st year they're filing. is the list of those that's really. a lot of churches and yellow churches a lot of ministers so here's the big one the prohibition foundation which is a subsidiary of the national christian foundation and so this form lists. $350000.00 and i think they're one of the biggest grants they got in 2007 and the national christian foundation it's a fundamentalist christian philanthropy they say in their statement of belief that the bible is the infallible inerrant word of god and that we're about essentially extending the kingdom promoting the kingdom our kind of the christian kingdom throughout the world and. we are. non-profit organization that's completely secular and that folks know that the trustees prevention and community resilience

programming so that's not that's not the. part of our innovation is having. it we go to invisible children websites you know to see what they're publishing you know in terms of the let's look at risk you know they'll be interesting because i haven't looked at it. i think it's probably still with this. you're getting half a $1000000.00 from someone named. yeah. when you when you go to do some daughters in your tax form. we can say that we can see that there was amounts of money for instance house a $1000000.00 from someone but we don't know we don't know who it is or from the we came up with one you know but. i could send you because yeah because it's so interesting. and good luck getting done with the few days after the interview that this is the invisible children press officer who cut in during the interview sent me this clarification. it guarantees that donations are from private foundations

with no religious affiliation or use. it is going to reply that i would like to believe there is no religious connection for me but need to check for myself. could i have the names since then i've had no word from invisible children. but it doesn't end there the involvement of another more powerful entity in uganda raises the question who was really behind kone 2012. i'm the author of 2 books about an american fundamentalist organization with deep involvement in uganda. the family or the fellowship as it's known is the oldest and arguably the most

influential christian conservative political organization in the united states. the organization the furze and terry very low profile the more invisible you can make your organization the longtime leader on the saying the more influence it will have he liked to refer to it as the christian mafia. located close to congress this unremarkable red brick building belongs to the fellowship. its members meet here in private to talk about jesus and business. but it won't open its doors to outsiders. its membership was not for the masses they weren't doing any big revivals it was for congressmen business leaders government leaders and they play

a major part and facilitating u.s. relationships with authoritarian figures around the world that's what they admired this they when they look at christ they don't see a model of love or compassion primarily they see strengths. could there then be a more i do. he'll recruit for the fellowship in the autocrats where he must have any . call for a terry and vehemently homophobic and evangelical. the family looks at the 70 as their key man as they put it in uganda but also as their one of the key men in africa and one of the key men globally saying come to us pray with us. do business with us and they really take credit for forging that relationship at the beginning and turning the 70 into the american sphere of influence where he has remained as powerful regional proxy ever since. in

washington i was particularly interested in one member of the fellowship. a senator named jim inhofe known for his interest in african affairs. on my father was on and you know paul what if what if michael thank you for writing. in hoff was one of the stars of the coney 2012 video. with all the problems that are out there no one is more severe than one in the middle ages and takes the lives a little bit. assistant on to this senator jim inhofe from oklahoma must be pretty close to the ngo because in one of the other videos we have we see him taking part in one of the n.g.o.s protests. there he is going to his interest in uganda goes back many years. in this press release from 2006 he was already raising the alarm about what he called northern uganda as terrorist group the l r

a. when i go he says i'm doing my jesus thing when he goes and meets with foreign leaders he says i'm a u.s. senator i'm the conduit to u.s. power and money and if you want to get there you go through me and you go to jesus . the senator will not answer our questions what's clear is that for decades a radical fellowship has been pulling strings behind the scenes to get uganda to advance u.s. interests. tony 2012 was just part of a much more complex story. incidentally what happened right after the video's viral success. once its makers collected $70000000.00 in donations.

after calling friends of 12 when i was c.e.o. decided that there was no from me i mean i made the decision to close the invisible children in uganda. the moral of this story. is that there isn't one. in 2017 the u.s. government's development agency usaid awarded $24000000.00 in grants to invisible children to fund a 5 year mission in the democratic republic of congo. today invisible children gets most of its funding from the us government. to me a founder member of the invisible today and i'm the one who led to them to get this story i felt. that this is our story that went out

there and it was being managed by someone else that is why i chose to continue with it yeah. grappling with subjects. expressing feelings i am not very creative yet but i would like to be considered an artist mandate looking for new perspectives. to help not to be replaced make libya. doing things differently. come to the place where we reflect our society our 20.

years spawn d.w. . force. but you don't need to keep a date on the bones both for over a mention home the 4th time for the most recent i think number rather. than either an awesome dragons this one or. those who used to agree books on ringback.

this is g.w. news live from berlin and covered 19 is now threatening densely populated areas under equipped and under blockade in gaza access to health care is minimal the territory is fighting against time to get ahead of the provirus. and the virus is also hitting south africa hard the military is out to enforce a lockdown.