Yesterday, pop singer Rihanna was among several celebrities who used social networking to bring awareness to a viral video that was created by a charity group calling themselves Invisible Children. The charity’s goal is to bring notoriety to the brutal Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and its leader Joseph Kony, who allegedly abducts children from their villages and forces them to become soldiers for the LRA.

The charity calls upon celebrities and politicians to help publicize the plight of the child soldiers so that President Obama will continue to fund U.S. troops who are “advising” Ugandan troops on how to capture Kony.

But timing is everything, and the timing of this KONY “movement” has skeptics speaking out about the group’s tactics. In November, Foreignaffairs.com published an article criticizing the Invisible Children charity for manipulating the facts and for “exaggerating the scale of LRA abductions and murders” of children.

Another theory floating around is that the KONY movement is just a smokescreen for a grassroots effort to register young voters for the upcoming elections. They say Joseph Kony is already in U.S. custody, and that the Obama administration is waiting for the opportune moment to parade him in front of the cameras.

A loyal reader, who asked not to be identified, thinks this movement is really about the U.S. gaining control of Uganda’s rich oil resources.

Click the link to read her email:

Dear Sandra:

Thank you SO much for downplaying the #KONY2012 “movement”. What people do not understand is that this is a ploy to start a US-backed war on the continent of Africa. In 2010, OIL was found in the Uganda. Less than 12 months later, the US government sent in 100 military “advisors” to help the Ugandan government find Joseph Kony. I think that people need to research the causes that they back because this is going to be BAD for the continent of Africa. As of today, March 7th, 2012, Kony is NOT in Uganda. He has been reported to be in the Congolese jungle. The American people are weary of war so the celebrities and social media are being used to draw public support. America has seen how the continent of Africa proved to be a resourceful asset to the Chinese. The #Kony2012 movement is a way for America to engage in a turf war with the Chinese in order to secure Ugandan resources for themselves. I believe this is why the powers that be allowed President Obama to become president. If a white president started a war in Africa, he would be a “racist”. A Black man would just “defend democracy” and save “little African children”. Thank you Sandra for being an independent thinker.

~A Pan-African

This is the timeline:

Uganda discovers oil

US Sends troops to Uganda to help fiight terrorism

An international campaign is mounted to find the #1 terrorist in Uganda. Celebrities are used to sway public opinion of Western funded war in Uganda. #Kony2012