A Ugandan court has handed down a 40-year prison sentence to Thomas Kwoyelo, a former commander of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels, for his involvement in grave crimes committed by the group during its protracted insurgency that began in the 1980s.
The sentence pertains to serious offenses including multiple instances of murder, rape, looting, and enslavement. Kwoyelo, who transitioned from a child soldier to a rebel commander, was convicted in August for 44 out of 78 charges related to actions taken during the conflict that spanned from 1992 to 2005.
The ruling was announced by a High Court panel in Gulu, a city that was a stronghold of LRA activity. Kwoyelo has the option to appeal the ruling.
His trial, which commenced in 2019, saw him held in custody since 2009 as Ugandan authorities deliberated on a just and effective way to administer justice. Human Rights Watch remarked that this trial represented a rare chance for victims of the extensive war between Ugandan forces and the LRA to seek justice.
Prosecutors indicated that Kwoyelo held a colonel’s rank within the LRA, directing violent attacks against civilians, many of whom were displaced due to the ongoing conflict. The notorious leader of the LRA, Joseph Kony, is rumored to be hiding in a remote area of central Africa. The United States has offered a reward of $5 million for information that could lead to Kony’s capture, as he is also sought by the International Criminal Court.
In 2021, one of Kony’s top aides, Dominic Ongwen, was sentenced by the ICC to 25 years for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Over the years, thousands of other rebel fighters have benefited from amnesty from the Ugandan government, but Kwoyelo, captured in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo, was denied similar treatment, with no explicit explanation given by Ugandan officials.
During his testimony, Kwoyelo denied the allegations against him, asserting that only Kony could be held accountable for the LRA’s atrocities, which he claimed were subjected to severe consequences for disobedience.
Initially, the LRA emerged in Uganda as an anti-government movement but later expanded its operations into the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic. Throughout its operations, the group was notorious for forcibly recruiting boys into combat while holding girls captive for sexual exploitation. At the height of its influence, the LRA gained infamy for a trail of brutal violence, evading Ugandan military efforts for years.
The group has been implicated in numerous massacres, particularly targeting the Acholi ethnic group. Kony, himself an Acholi, has claimed a messianic identity, declaring his intention to govern Uganda according to the Ten Commandments at the outset of the rebellion.
After intensive military pressure led to the LRA’s retreat from Uganda in 2005, the rebel factions dispersed throughout central Africa. In recent years, the LRA’s presence has diminished significantly, with reports of their attacks becoming increasingly uncommon.