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I will not forgive Thomas Kwoyelo, says rape survivor Aciro

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Consy Aciro (right) and her aunt, Margaret Amiyo at their home at Ocuku village, Pagoro Parish, Lamogi sub-county in Amuru district. PHOTO/TOBBIAS JOLLY OWINY

In August 2024, the Transitional Justice Bill was introduced before Parliament seeking to establish a national transitional justice system and mechanisms to address past conflicts and human rights violations, promote accountability, facilitate reconciliation, and provide reparations and rehabilitation for victims of past injustices.

The passing of such a bill will not come fast enough for Consy Aciro, who suffered at the hands of the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels. She spoke to Tobbias Jolly Owiny about her plight.

On October 25, 2024, the International Crimes Division (ICD) of the High Court handed Thomas Kwoyelo, a former commander of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a 40-year sentence after it had earlier, in August, convicted him of commanding an attack on the Pagak Internally Displaced People’s (IDP) camp in Lamogi sub-county, Amuru district.

The attack on the camp, which was situated 18 kilometres north of Gulu town, occurred on the night of Sunday, May 16, 2004. Kwoyelo was captured by the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) in Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in March 2009.

Whereas the ICD has slapped up to 78 charges against Kwoyelo, it convicted him of only 44 charges including murder as a crime against humanity, murder as a violation of Article 3(1) (a) common to the Geneva Conventions, pillaging as a violation of Article 3 (1) (b) common to the Geneva Conventions, and outrage upon personal dignity as a violation of Article 3 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

Other charges included sexual gender-based crimes, inhumane acts as a crime against humanity, sexual violence crimes, and enslavement as a crime against humanity, among others. 

Consy Aciro, a resident of Ocuku village, Pagoro parish, Lamogi sub-county in Amuru district, is a survivor of the Pagak attack. The 32-year-old was a victim of sexual violence during the attack. She believes that the jail term handed to the rebel commander was insignificant and not commensurate with the atrocities he committed.

“The government should have jailed him for life so that he only returns in a coffin because he also issued death sentences to hundreds of his victims including children and women, when he was a commander. Kwoyelo ruined the lives of thousands of young women. We did not go to school and now we cannot live a good life,” she says.

On December 16, 2024, nearly two months after his sentence, the same court ordered the government to pay Sh10 million in compensation to each of the documented survivors of Kwoyelo’s atrocities. The judges also awarded Shs10 million to each of his deceased victims, and an additional Shs 1 million for those who suffered injuries. A separate Shs3.5 million was awarded for properties lost per household of victims. However, the victims of sexual and gender-based violence crimes were awarded Shs5 million each.

Thomas Kwoyelo, a former commander of the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) is seen during the ICD sitting at Gulu High Court Circuit on October 25, 2024. PHOTO/TOBBIAS JOLY OWINY 

According to the court ruling, Kwoyelo was unable to pay compensation to the victims due to his indigent or extremely poor status. As a result, the court ordered the government to bear the cost of reparations.

No justice as yet

Aciro says the government should emphasise collective psychosocial and economic reconstruction of Kwoyelo's victims since the monetary offer to individuals is short-lived.

“The reparations are just symbolic. That money cannot redeem my shattered life. There must be deliberate initiatives to reconstruct our lives, including psychosocial support because the stigma we undergo to date has kept us in the same mental state we were in during our captivity,” she stresses.

She adds that if the government has the will to support the victims, it should start with the children born in captivity because many of them never got the chance to have an education.

“Men subject us to extreme sexual abuse and harassment. A man will engage you for a relationship but throw you out once you produce a child. They do not want to take responsibility because they believe the children will have the traits of our ‘madness’ as former abductees,” Aciro adds.

When Monitor asked whether she was willing to forgive the former commander and coexist with him should he return after serving his sentence, Aciro says there is no need to forgive an offender who denies his guilt.

“I do not believe in forgiving Kwoyelo? How can I forgive him when he could not forgive anyone at the time he was a commander? The Bible encourages us to forgive but the scale of Kwoyelo’s atrocities warrants him no forgiveness,” she says.

LRA warlord Joseph Kony. PHOTO/FILE

As a result of Kwoyelo’s crimes, many children became orphans while others were sired in captivity. Several of the female captives who returned home from the bush are still living in a desperate situation, even today.

During his sentencing, Kwoyelo rejected a suggestion by the judges to undertake Mato Oput, the traditional Acholi reconciliation and forgiveness ritual. The ritual is intended to restore social harmony between the victims’ and perpetrators’ clans.

He informed the judges that Mato Oput was not important to him because his activities as a rebel commander were not intentional since he acted on the orders of his superiors.

Roots of bitterness

Although Aciro was not among the victims and survivors who testified against Kwoyelo, she was among the children who were abducted after the Pagak attack. She says the rebels argued among themselves whether to take her or kill her because she appeared to be from a well-to-do family.

“The attack began at about 6 pm when I was preparing a meal for my mother, who was sick at the time. I was in the outdoor kitchen with my sister. People began running in disarray from camp, which was in a school,” she reminisces.

Aciro’s brother, who had been in the trading centre with friends, came running into the kitchen, shouting at his sisters to run because suspicious gunmen had surrounded the camp.

“The moment he said that, gunfire began raining on the camp. My sister and I dropped everything and took off. We did not even have the time to return to the main house to wake our mother,” she laments.

After running a distance of about 200 meters, the thought of her mother being set ablaze in their home or being hacked by the rebels stopped the 14-year-old girl in her tracks. She abandoned her sister and returned to the camp to collect her mother. However, when she arrived at their hut, she found that her mother had already fled.

“I could not catch up with my sister, so I hid in a hut with five other people as the gunfire exchange between the rebels and soldiers intensified. However, we decided to get out of the hut and ran but the artillery fire forced us into another hut,” she says.

At 7:30 pm, the rebels stormed the hut and ordered its occupants to match out.  Outside, the girl spotted her aunt, Jennifer Akwongo, among a group of more than 100 abductees.

Seated L-R: LRA leaders Caesar Acellam, Opok, Ocan Bunia, Okot Odhiambo and Joseph Kony in Garamba Forest during the peace talks in 2006. PHOTO/HENRY MUKASA

The rebels tied the captives together and matched them out of the school playground. Aciro was forced to carry a gallon of cooking oil while her aunt carried half a bag of groundnuts as they walked past the Ayugi River, towards the Lamogi hills.

Five kilometres past the river, the rebels stopped in a millet garden and separated the adults from the children. Aciro was handed over to two female rebels leading a group of children, while the adults marched away. The following morning, the children who could not keep up with the rebel’s pace were tortured or killed along the way.

“I was under the command of a woman who beat me until we reached our next destination. I had a bacterial infection that caused swelling in my left cheek and because of this, some rebels kept pleading with their bosses to allow them to kill me. Because of my swollen cheeks, they thought I was from a rich family,” she says.

When they arrived at their destination at 1 pm, they found a group of rebel commanders sitting in an open space. According to Aciro, the top commander in that group was Kwoyelo.

“He commanded that I be brought to him. He told me that the adults had been returned to the village and asked if I wanted to follow them. I declined. I later learned that they had all been killed, including my aunt. Kwoyelo then assigned me to his wife saying that she would take care of me,” she recalls.

Aciro admits that at the time, she did not know the name of her abductor. He was always referred to as lapony (teacher) or ladit (elder). It was only when she attended the court proceedings two years ago, and saw his face, that she knew him by his name. 

“When he spoke to me for nearly 15 minutes on the second day of my captivity, Kwoyelo’s face was imprinted in my memory. I was young and confident, and I gave straight answers to his face. He thought I would make a fine rebel. A month later, I was taken to live with another rebel, who sexually abused me and turned me into his wife,” she says.

Aciro adds that she was defiled and physically tortured by several rebels causing her to suffer injuries.

“Kwoyelo’s defense in court that there is courtship and love between the captives and the rebels is not true. When I was assigned to that man, I thought he would protect me as a father protects a girl. But, he turned me into a wife and that was it. You did not have any excuse to decline his sexual advances because you would be punished severely,” she says.

Her only prayer was to survive the killings they were meting out to other captives who failed to perform their chores or submit to their ‘husbands.’

Life now

Margaret Amiyo, Aciro’s aunt, says the family’s biggest hurdle is caring for her niece’s four children who were sired by different men. The men come to her with marriage proposals but later kick her out of their homes once they learn about her past.

“All the men chase her away, claiming she will kill them. At one point, Aciro contemplated committing suicide to escape the emotional pain. The toughest task is taking care of the children and ensuring they have an education,” Amiyo says.

Henry Kilama Komakech, a lawyer representing victims in the recently concluded trial of former LRA commander, Thomas Kwoyelo, has spoken out for the first time, revealing that the court dropped testimonies of hundreds of victims. According to Kilama, these victims will miss out on reparations.

“This has caused them physical and mental stress. Some of them were shot at and injured in Kwoyelo’s ambushes and they are bitter because the court could not indict him over that. I call upon the dropped victims to form a forum and have their stories documented for possible future consideration by the government,” he says.

Kilama gives an example of a family whose members and other relatives were allegedly killed outside the trial's geographical scope, which has been left in the latch because the judges cite a lack of proof.

During the trial, it was established that while 103 people were victims and witnesses (dual status), another 3,400 were only witnesses.

“The court was kind enough to say that the victims' counsel gets 355 days to enable the victims' community to apply to be added to this case as long as they fall within the geographical and the trial jurisdiction limited to the areas of Lamogi sub-county (Pagak) and Pabbo sub-county (Obiangec, Perecu, and Abera). It is estimated that the number of victims could rise from 5,500 to at least 10,000,” he says.

Henry Kilama Komakech, a lawyer who represented victims in the recently concluded trial of former LRA commander Thomas Kwoyelo. PHOTO/TOBBIAS JOLLY OWINY 2

When Monitorasked whether the Shs10 million reparation order for each victim was justifiable, Kilama said that the award is exactly what they asked the court for.

“That is over and above what the International Criminal Court (ICC) is giving the victims of Dominic Ongwen, another jailed former LRA commander. Shs10 million is fair enough to pay since it is symbolic. No amount of money can pay for anybody's life,” he explains.

In the absence of a clear law or policy that warrants the government to pay such reparations, Kilama says under an international treaty it previously subscribed to, the government will have to create a trust fund to pay the victims before a proper law is drafted.

“Uganda is a member of the United Nations whose basic principles guarantee payments to war victims by the government once the culprits are indigent. Kwoyelo’s sentence was more enhanced than that of Ongwen. Of course, the court looked at the fact that he was also a victim, having been abducted in childhood,” Kilama adds.

The successful trial and disposal of Kwoyelo’s case more than 15 years after his arrest proves the capacity of the country’s judiciary to handle more complex issues of an international nature.

Kwoyelo is the first member of the LRA command to be convicted by a Ugandan court over war crimes.