Better late than never? Uganda convicts rebels in groundbreaking case
After 15 years in prison, the conviction of LRA commander Thomas Kwoyelo raises questions about Uganda’s willingness to prosecute international crimes.
Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) commander Thomas Kwoyelo was convicted in Uganda on August 13 for international crimes committed during a rebellion against the government between 1992 and 2005.
Kwoyelo’s trial was the first in Uganda to hear such crimes in court. He sat stone-faced as Judge Michael Elubu of the Supreme Court’s International Crimes Division (ICD) read out the long-awaited unanimous verdict.
Outside the courtroom in Gulu (the epicenter of the LRA insurgency from 1987 to 2008), as well as across Uganda and the world, the reaction was mixed. Many who have long campaigned for his trial and conviction, including victims of LRA violence, expressed relief.
Those who see Kwoyelo as a victim of circumstances that made him a perpetrator were angry. Many felt he should have been granted amnesty, like over 13,500 other members of the LRA. There was also some uncertainty among those wondering what would happen next, including Kwoyelo himself, who spent 15 years in prison. His sentence is still pending.
While Kwoyelo’s trial was the first in Uganda for crimes under international law, it was the second conviction of a Ugandan for LRA crimes. The first was Dominic Ongwen, who was convicted on similar charges by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2021. Both men were children when they were recruited by the LRA and spent much of their lives in the violent group. Both rose to become commanders, and after their arrests it took many years for them to be convicted.
Kwoyelo was arrested in 2009, but it was not until December 2023 that the ICD confirmed 78 of the 93 charges against him. His trial has been repeatedly interrupted and restarted as he applied for amnesty, challenged constitutional complaints, amended the charges, and filed appeals against the trial in the Supreme Court.
He was found guilty on 44 counts, including murder, rape, torture, looting, kidnapping and destruction of internally displaced persons settlements, crimes he committed while serving as operational commander, head of military intelligence and head of medical stations.
Kwoyelo was kidnapped by the LRA at the age of 12. He was one of around 97,000 children and young people and one of the few who became commanders. During the LRA uprising, over 100,000 people were killed and 1.9 million displaced. The terror spread from Uganda to the Central African Republic (CAR), Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
As he finished his testimony in May 2024, Kwoyelo pleaded with the court to see him as a victim. “Since my abduction, I have never had freedom, never had peace. It has been a hard life for me,” he said.
Sharon Nakandha, program manager at the Open Society Foundations, finds the verdict bittersweet. “Although the ICD has finally held Kwoyelo accountable for several international crimes and thereby achieved justice for the victims, one cannot help but reflect on the unreasonable length of this process,” she said.
Nakandha, then at Avocats Sans Frontières, was in the courtroom in 2011 when Kwoyelo’s trial was set to begin. Having followed the case closely, she believes it offers an opportunity for collective reflection on the need to build strong and responsive national and regional accountability mechanisms.
Building such mechanisms requires more than just passing good laws. It requires a real commitment to well-resourced justice systems based on fairness and equal treatment for all parties. The International Criminal Court was hastily set up and has a mandate to prosecute international crimes (war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide) as well as terrorism, human trafficking, piracy and other serious cases. There were initial difficulties, including securing permanent judges.
Oryem Nyeko of Human Rights Watch argues that Uganda should compensate Kwoyelo for the lengthy pretrial detention and trial. Since the victims are also demanding compensation, it will be interesting to see how the ICD handles this. Kwoyelo has no documented assets, so the victims are likely to receive compensation only if the court forces the Ugandan government to compensate them under UN guidelines.
Kwoyelo’s role in the LRA was significant, but he was not the main one responsible. The group’s notorious founder and leader, Joseph Kony, is still at large, rumored to be hiding in the Central African Republic or South Sudan after once being presumed dead. In 2017, African and American forces ended the “hunt” for Kony after they deemed the LRA no longer posed a threat to Uganda.
Kony is wanted by the International Criminal Court for rape, slavery, mutilation, murder and the forced recruitment of child soldiers. In March 2024, the International Criminal Court decided to begin the trial in absentia. Confirmation of the charges against Kony is scheduled for this October. However, in order for the trial to begin, Kony must be arrested and transferred to The Hague, as the International Criminal Court explicitly prohibits trials in absentia. This is unlikely.
Even if Kony is ultimately prosecuted internationally, domestic trials of other LRA perpetrators are essential. However, the length of the Kwoyelo trial suggests that Uganda’s justice system lacks the commitment and capacity to handle these cases.
Kwoyelo’s trial was undoubtedly a test for Uganda. It took almost 20 years to get to this point, which, for Irene Anying, the Uganda director of Avocats Sans Frontières, negates the impact of the verdict. “Justice delayed is justice denied. If you put someone on trial for over a decade, no matter what the outcome… it doesn’t matter.”
Justice (if only partial) has finally been achieved for the prosecution and the victims. Efforts to bring those responsible to justice without lengthy delays are now crucial. Future national prosecutions for serious human rights violations – in Uganda or elsewhere – should take the lessons of this case into account and remember that justice works best when it is delivered quickly.
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