A Ugandan court has found Thomas Kwoyelo, a former commander of the notorious Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), guilty of war crimes. This conviction marks the first time a senior member of the LRA has been tried and convicted by Uganda’s judiciary, signaling a significant moment in the country’s legal and human rights history.
The LRA, led by Joseph Kony, emerged in the late 1980s with the stated goal of overthrowing the Ugandan government. However, the group quickly became infamous for its reign of terror across northern Uganda. For nearly two decades, the LRA waged a brutal campaign against civilians, engaging in widespread atrocities including murder, rape, and abduction. The group’s signature brutality involved hacking off victims’ limbs, lips, and ears, as well as using crude weapons to bludgeon people to death. The group’s actions devastated countless lives, leaving a lasting scar on the region.
By the mid-2000s, the Ugandan military’s persistent efforts forced the LRA to flee from Uganda. The group then spread its terror into neighboring countries, including South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and the Central African Republic (CAR). These countries also witnessed the group’s vicious attacks on civilians, with entire communities being wiped out or displaced in the process.
Thomas Kwoyelo, a commander within the LRA, was accused of being deeply involved in the group’s violent operations. The charges against him included over 70 counts, ranging from murder, rape, enslavement, torture, and kidnapping. Despite these accusations, Kwoyelo consistently denied any wrongdoing.
In 2009, Ugandan military forces captured Kwoyelo in the dense jungles of northeastern Congo. Since then, he has been held in pre-trial detention, his case inching slowly through the Ugandan court system. The delay in his trial has been a source of frustration for many, especially survivors and families of victims who have been waiting for justice for years.
The trial took place in the northern Ugandan city of Gulu, a region that bore the brunt of the LRA’s atrocities. During the court proceedings, Kwoyelo remained defiant. As the verdict was read out, he shook his head in apparent disagreement, his arms crossed and resting on a desk. His demeanor throughout the trial suggested he did not expect the court to convict him.
“The verdict of this court is that the accused was found guilty,” declared Justice Michael Elubu, one of the four high court judges presiding over the case. The court found Kwoyelo guilty on 44 of the 70 charges. The remaining 31 charges were dismissed as duplications of others, and he was acquitted on three counts.
The court announced that pre-sentencing hearings would begin the following week, with a sentencing date to be set thereafter. The outcome of these hearings will be closely watched, as it will determine the extent of the punishment Kwoyelo will face for his crimes.
The LRA’s leader, Joseph Kony, remains at large despite being one of the world’s most wanted men. The International Criminal Court (ICC), based in The Hague, issued an arrest warrant for Kony in 2005, charging him with 33 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Despite several attempts by both Ugandan forces and international troops to capture him, Kony has managed to evade arrest. His whereabouts remain unknown, although it is believed that he is hiding somewhere in the vast and remote regions of central Africa.
In 2021, the ICC convicted another senior LRA commander, Dominic Ongwen, on similar charges. Ongwen, who was abducted by the LRA as a child and later rose through the ranks to become one of its top commanders, was found guilty of war crimes including rape, sexual enslavement, child abduction, torture, and murder. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison, a sentence that many felt was too lenient given the scale of his crimes.
