Ex-LRA commander Thomas Kwoyelo (L) interacts with his defence lawyers on April 30 2024 at Gulu High Court Circuit in Gulu City. Photo By Brian Komakech
By Brian Komakech
Gulu: Former Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) Commander Thomas Kwoyelo alias Latoni has expressed interest in meeting with President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni to discuss ‘military’ affairs.
Kwoyelo, who rose to the rank of colonel in the LRA ranks before his capture in March 2009 by the Ugandan army in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), said he intended to hold a face-to-face talk with the head of state after his trial.
Although he didn’t reveal full details of why he wants to meet with President Museveni, Kwoyelo hinted that there are areas of the military he intends to advise the head of state about if granted the opportunity.
“My request to the court is that if this ends, and an opportunity is availed, they should inform the President that I would like to meet him and talk face-to-face with him because there are other issues that we need to talk about. He has been a soldier, and there are things I would like to advise him about in the military,” Kwoyelo told the court Monday.
Kwoyelo was concluding his defence presentation before the four-member panel of judges at the International Crimes Division of the High Court sitting at Gulu High Court against ten counts of charges of crimes against humanity.
The charges relate to rape, torture, outrage upon personal dignity, and violence to life allegedly committed between 1997 and 2004 in Kilak Hills, Olinga Village, Labala Parish, Pabbo Sub-county in present-day Amuru district.
Kwoyelo admits marrying teenagers
Kwoyelo’s submission came shortly after he admitted to the court that he married young girls as his wives while serving in the LRA.
“I don’t deny that I stayed with these girls because these girls were already women and had become my wives. I want to request this court that if it finds that I committed crimes against them, the court should forgive me,” Kwoyelo submitted to the court Monday.
The former rebel commander particularly admitted to marrying two former LRA abductees who had turned up as state witnesses and testified against him on the charges of committing crimes against humanity.
According to court records, the witnesses who were protected and codenamed LW and NS were abducted at the age of 11 in 1996 and 1997 respectively but later got married at 13 years by Kwoyelo.
Kwoyelo however told the court that he did not know who among the LRA leaders in the convoy abducted the girls although he acknowledged that after their abduction, they were distributed and stayed in the homes of senior LRA commanders.
“On these particular witnesses, I want to tell this court that when they were abducted, I didn’t know who abducted them from the convoy. If I check the record here, one was abducted in 1997, and another was abducted in 1996. Honestly, these witnesses were abducted, distributed, and stayed in the homes of commanders,” he told the court.
According to Kwoyelo, the girls had been assisting ‘wives’ of LRA commanders until 1999 when LRA rebel leader Joseph Kony ordered him to move to Sudan with women and young girls who lost their ‘husbands’ during battles. He told the court that after reaching Sudan, he handed all the widows to Joseph Kony who later initiated an anointing by dipping them in the river and shaving off all their hairs.
Kwoyelo said Kony gave out an order that the women shouldn’t be wooed into a relationship until nine months had elapsed when they were ready for marriage.
“As Kwoyelo, after the women were anointed, I also got mine. I wooed them and got married to them in 2000. Among those I got married to, God blessed me and they produced children with me,” he said.
He however, asked the parents of the girls to forgive him in any case, he committed the crime of marrying the young girls arguing that they were abducted and taken into LRA captivity as young girls from where he married them.
Defense witnesses fail to respond
Kwoyelo, whose trial commenced in 2018 started presenting an unsworn defence against the 78 counts of charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity on April 15 this year, nearly five months after the court ruled last year that he had a case to answer.
His defence lawyers had earlier told the court at the beginning of the defence trial they would be presenting 13 defence witnesses in court immediately after Kwoyelo concludes putting up his defence.
However, Caleb Alaka, Kwoyelo’s Defence lawyer told the court Monday that some of the witnesses they had lined up didn’t respond to their calls.
“My lords, we had other witnesses whom we had lined up, my lord on April 13 2024, we collected all our witnesses and kept them to come to testify. However, when we got this adjournment which was slightly longer on Thursday, they sought permission to go home because it was a longer adjournment. Since most of them are farmers, they felt they had been kept here for a long time.”
Adding, “So when the programme of the court changed to resume today (Monday) we sent out our contacts to collect them, my lord as of now, we haven’t got any positive response,” said Caleb.
He also noted that one of the testimonies of their witnesses won’t be adduced in court anymore after he was reassessed and found not to be essential.
Caleb, however, told the court the defence has now lined up two witnesses, an expert and a cultural leader who are ready to testify but prayed for a short adjournment for the defence to look for other witnesses who are long distances.
Charles Richard Kamuli, the Assistant Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), however, noted that the two defence witnesses are not ordinary witnesses arguing that the state needs time to read through their statement.
Robert Mackay, the victim’s counsel equally observed that the two witnesses are not ordinary arguing they can change the bearing of the case and thus there is a need for disclosure of their statements by the defence.
In a ruling of the trial panel of Justices of the ICD read by Justice Michael Elubu, the court declined to grant defence for adjournment arguing that it’s a tradition of the court for disclosure to be made timely. He consequently adjourned the trial hearing till Tuesday morning.
Kwoyelo is the first LRA commander facing trial in the domestic court over charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity following years of bloody LRA campaigns in Northern Uganda that left thousands, 1.5 million displaced and thousands more abducted. He has however denied all the charges in his defence arguing they were fabricated against him.
United Nations reports indicate that an estimated 60,000 children and youth were abducted by the LRA and turned into fighters, while others were forced to become wives to commanders.
