Survivors of the Lord’s Resistance Army’s (LRA) reign of terror in Uganda have told the BBC they welcome the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) confirmation of charges against the group’s leader, Joseph Kony.
An arrest warrant was issued in 2005, yet he remains at large, believed to be in hiding in the Central African Republic (CAR).
On Thursday, the ICC announced he faces 39 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, rape, the use of child soldiers, sexual slavery, and forced pregnancy.
A woman abducted by the LRA as a child, and later forced into marriage with Kony, expressed hope that the ICC’s action will invigorate efforts to apprehend him.
“I cannot be happy like other women who went to school. I need justice for women who went through abduction like me,” Evelyn Amon, 42, told the BBC.
After being abducted from her home at age 11, she spent 11 years with the LRA in the bush, even forgetting her own name as the rebels called her Betty Achol.
Ms. Amon stated that victims like herself desire a trial to facilitate compensation from the court.
Kony’s ICC trial is contingent upon his arrest and presence in court in The Hague.
Kony founded the LRA in the late 1980s in northern Uganda, claiming its objective was to establish a government based on the biblical Ten Commandments.
The group, notorious for mutilating victims and engaging in sexual slavery, was driven out of Uganda in 2005.
It relocated to the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo and operated in South Sudan and the CAR, where remnants are believed to be involved in poaching and illegal mining.
Kony’s notoriety increased in 2012 due to a social media campaign highlighting the LRA’s alleged atrocities. The US offered a $5m (£3.8m) reward for information leading to his arrest the following year.
Despite these efforts and extensive manhunts, he remains a fugitive. The US and Ugandan armies officially concluded their joint operations to track him in 2017.
Patrick Ochieng, 28, born in LRA captivity after his mother’s abduction and assault, also hopes the confirmed charges will result in Kony’s capture.
“He should first be arrested. The victims who suffered can’t wait – some of these victims are already dying,” Mr. Ochieng told the BBC.
“We grew up in the rebel barracks, deep in the forest,” he said.
He is among thousands forced to become child soldiers. His mother was killed by the rebels when he was five.
“She tried to escape with us – me and my twin sister – but the policy was clear: if you try to escape and you’re caught, they [must] finish you. They’ll kill you,” the visibly emotional young man recounted.
Over nearly two decades during the LRA insurgency in northern Uganda, over 100,000 people were killed, 60,000 to 100,000 children were abducted, and 2.5 million people fled their homes, many seeking refuge in camps.
These camps were also targeted, such as one in Lukodi village, near Gulu. In 2004, over 70 people, including women and children, were killed there.
Muhammad Olanya, 17 at the time, vividly recalls that night.
“We heard strange sounds like drumbeats followed by whistles – those were bullets,” he told the BBC.
“I ran, but by the time I reached the market, I was exhausted. I sat down by the roadside.”
He was fortunate to be rescued by a Ugandan army officer and avoid abduction.
However, he contends that the conflict devastated his life, resulting in the loss of relatives and the deprivation of formal education.
The Ugandan government attempted to negotiate a peace agreement with Kony, but talks collapsed in 2008 due to Kony’s demand for assurances against prosecution for himself and his allies.
Victims hope the ICC’s decision to proceed with confirming charges, even in his absence, signifies that the LRA leader will eventually be held responsible.
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