The International Criminal Court sitting in Hague, Netherlands, has today commenced the trial of Dominic Ongwen, a former child soldier and a senior commander of Uganda’s rebel group, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Ongwen, who was abducted as a boy becomes the first ever commander of the world-reviled LRA to appear before the ICC. He is also the first former child soldier to be charged by the Hague court. Ongwen is facing a 70-count charge on war crimes and crimes against humanity. He is accused, among other things, of leading an attack on four internally displaced persons’ (IDP) camps─ Pajule, Odek, Abok, and Lukodi−in Rwanda between 2003 and 2004. The charges include murder, torture, enslavement, persecution, and pillage. Charges also include sexual and gender-based crimes and the conscription and use of child soldiers in northern Uganda from 2002 to 2005.
In the trial that opened earlier today, the judge rejected an appeal for psychiatric check on Mr Ongwen to ascertain his mental state of health. Ongwen, who has pleaded not guilty to the 70-count charge, stated that he was himself a victim of LRA’s brutality as he was abducted as a child. He added that the charges should not be directed at him but at LRA leader and founder, Joseph Kony, whose whereabouts remains unknown.
What is LRA?
The Lord Resistance Army is a revolutionary cult founded in 1985 by rebel leader Joseph Kony. The group was established as an armed resistance against the extermination of the Acholi ethnic group in Uganda. After the National Resistance Army overthrew dictator Tito Ochello, the men of the NRA started a revengeful killing of members of the Acholi ethnic group of which the dictator former leader, Tito Ochello, was a member. A number of rebel or resistant groups of which the LRA was one sprang up to defend the territory. The group however left its protectionist agenda to turn against the people after Joseph Kony allegedly perceived a lack of support from his own people. The group, though based in Uganda, spread its operations to South Sudan, Central African Republic and the Democractic Republic of Congo. The LRA, in the years that followed its establishment, engaged in massive abduction of children who were made to undergo military training, then used to unleash mayhem on the civilians in Uganda, CAR, South Sudan and DR Congo. The abducted female children were allegedly used as sex slaves by Joseph Kony and his men.
The LRA committed numerous acts of abuse and atrocities including the abduction, rape, maiming, and killing of civilians, including children, in addition to destabilising northern Uganda from bases in Sudan. Reports have it that LRA fighters were known for routine cutting off of lips, ears and limbs of victims. In 2005, the US State Department indicated that as many as 12,000 people lost their lives as a result of the conflict, with over 1.9 million people reported to have fled the affected areas. According to Human Rights Watch, about 80 percent have now returned.
In 2010, President Barrack Obama signed a law allowing the US military to join a coalition of African forces in finishing off the group’s remnants. The coalition has seen a good number of the LRA forces killed and captured. In 2015, Dominic Ongwen, a commander in the army surrendered to Séléka rebels in the Central African Republic. However, Joseph Kony, the leader of the group is still at large.
Dominic Ongwen was reportedly abducted at age 10 while on his way to school in northern Uganda. He rose to become a senior commander in the army. As he grew in ranks he became known for his atrocities. And as a result he was accused of crimes against humanity. In 2005, ICC issued a warrant of arrest for Ongwen, and later that year, he was rumoured to have been killed. In 2013, the US offered a $5 million reward for information leading up to his arrest. He was transferred to the ICC in 2015 after his arrest in Central African Republic.
According to reports from the Human Rights Watch, Ongwen’s status as a former child soldier could help in mitigating his sentencing if convicted. Over 4000 “victim participants” represented by two sets of lawyers are involved in the Ongwen trial. Another LRA fighter, Thomas Kwoyelo, is also facing charges before Uganda’s International Crimes Division of the High Court. His trial is expected to open in the coming months.
