On 8 July 2005, Uganda woke up to news that the International Criminal Court (ICC) had issued five arrest warrants against commanders of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). For many in northern Uganda, this brought hope that decades of bloodshed might end and years of abduction, killings, and displacement might give way to justice.
The indictment of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) followed an investigation by the ICC into the conflict in northern Uganda. On 16th December 2003, President Yoweri Museveni formally referred the LRA case to the ICC, asking them to come and investigate crimes committed by the rebel group.
“It wasn’t so much welcome,” recalls Gulu-based human rights advocate Tony Kitara. “It looked like the government was trying to clothe itself and throw the entire blame on the LRA. Yet there were clear cases where you see atrocities by the UPDF as well.”
As a result of the investigation, five commanders were indicted: Joseph Kony – LRA leader (still at large), Vincent Otti – LRA deputy leader (believed to have been killed in 2007), and Raska Lukwiya – LRA commander (confirmed dead in 2006). Okot Odhiambo – LRA commander (confirmed dead in 2013/2015), Dominic Ongwen – LRA commander (who surrendered in 2015 and was later convicted by the ICC in 2021). The five were being charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in northern Uganda.
For over two decades, the LRA waged brutal attacks that displaced nearly two million people into overcrowded Internally Displaced People’s camps, plagued by disease and hunger. The rebels abducted more than 100,000 children, conscripted boys into combat, and enslaved girls as wives to commanders, subjecting them to years of violence and abuse.
According to Sheikh Musa Khalil, the regional assistant to the Mufti of northern Uganda and the vice chairman of Acholi Religious Leaders Peace, when the ICC announced the indictment of the commanders, people thought it was the solution to peace.
“Thinking that would have been the only way now to resolve the Northern Uganda conflict “, says Sheikh Musa Khalil. “People’s hope and anxiety lowered, but people started getting worried when they heard that the ICC does not arrest, but the state parties are the ones supposed to carry out the arrest.”
Evelyn Amony, a former wife of LRA leader Joseph Kony and now chairperson of the Women’s Advocacy Network, says she initially believed the ICC indictments would deliver fair justice to war victims.
“When I first heard that the ICC had indicted the rebel commanders, I thought that the victims were going to get fair justice in two ways. I thought that when the ICC comes, issues regarding medical care for victims would be free, and the issue of reparation, especially rehabilitation, would happen to all the people.”
Grace Acan, a social worker and advocate for the rights of survivors of conflict-related sexual violence, is among the schoolgirls abducted by the LRA from St. Mary’s College Aboke. She spent eight years in captivity before returning home. Acan says that when she heard the ICC had indicted rebel commanders, she expected justice for everyone.
“My expectation was that it’s going to look at all victims, irrespective of when. But I started getting disappointed with the period, the period that ICC came into existence. It has cut us completely, completely, completely,” she says.
The ICC began operations on July 1, 2002, following the entry into force of the Rome Statute, which established its legal authority. Its jurisdiction is limited to crimes committed on or after 1 July, meaning it cannot prosecute offences that occurred earlier.
Among the attacks are the Atiak massacre of April 20, 1995, where about 300 men and boys were executed, the July 1996 attack on Acholi Pii refugee camp in Kitgum, killing 115 Sudanese refugees; the August 1996 killing of 20 civilians at a market in Cwero, Gulu; a five-day massacre in January 1997 in Lamwo County and Kitgum, leaving about 400 dead and thousands displaced; the March 2000 Padibe camp attack, killing 12. In March 2001, the LRA killed nine students and the director of Jimmy Sekazi Catering School, near Paraa Lodge.
On October 9, 1996, the rebels abducted 139 girls from St. Mary’s College Aboke. The school’s deputy headmistress, Sister Rachele Fassera, pursued the rebels into the bush, securing the release of 109 girls, while 30 remained captive.
For survivors, the ICC mandate limitation felt like a fresh wound.
“We fall behind the ICC mandate,” says Okot Fred, the chairman of Atiak Massacre Site, where hundreds were killed in 1995. “Anything concerning the Atiak massacre is outside the Rome Statute. It means we don’t exist in their justice.”
“Most people suffered really badly before that. And why is it that those who suffered very little are the ones being rewarded?” Grace Acan, one of the Aboke girls, echoes the frustration.
ICC trial of Dominic Ongwen
In January 2015, Dominic Ongwen, one of the indicted commanders of the Lord’s Resistance Army, surrendered to the Seleka rebels in the Central African Republic. He was later handed over to U.S. Special Forces, leading to his transfer to the ICC in The Hague.
Initially, Ongwen faced seven counts, three of crimes against humanity and four of war crimes, linked to the May 2004 attack on Lukodi IDP Camp in Gulu District. The charges were later expanded to 56 counts, including war crimes such as murder, torture, pillaging, and destruction of property; crimes against humanity such as enslavement, forced marriage, and persecution; and sexual and gender-based crimes, including rape and sexual slavery. The ICC also widened the case to include crimes in Pajule, Odek, and Abok IDP camps between 2003 and 2004.
Ongwen’s trial divided opinion in northern Uganda. While some saw it as long-awaited justice, others viewed it as unfair punishment for a man who was once a child abductee.
“Maybe that if it was Kony that went to ICC or was taken to ICC. But Dominic, a child of 10 years, was abducted at that time. And then you think that is the person who has really done everything,” says Rosalba Ato Oywa, a peace advocate who worked for reconciliation during the war. She adds, “And we did not protect those children. The government that should have provided support did not help them.”
Tony Kitara, an advocate, shares the sentiment. “Ongwen’s case again caused some bit of pain, even to me, because the story, as it’s told, is that he was an abductee; he was also abducted as a child. So by Ongwen being singled out, tried, convicted and sentenced, it disturbed me a bit.”
Bishop Macleord Baker Ochola calls Ongwen’s trial a “double punishment.”
“Why? Where? Where is justice? We see that the children, the formerly abducted children, are actually victims of circumstances. So, what ICC is doing is really to punish them twice.”
Thomas Kwoyelo Trial
In 2009, Thomas Kwoyelo was captured by the Uganda People’s Defence Forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo. His trial faced delays after a Constitutional Court ruling in 2011 granted him amnesty, which was later overturned by the Supreme Court in 2015.
After a lengthy trial, on August 13, 2024, Uganda’s International Crimes Division (ICD) of the High Court convicted him on 44 counts of crimes against humanity, war crimes, and other serious offences of murder, rape, torture, and enslavement, committed during the LRA’s conflict with the Ugandan government.
The court awarded reparations to war victims affected by atrocities committed by Thomas Kwoyelo as follows: 10 million shillings for each deceased victim, 4 million shillings for those who suffered bodily injury, and 3.5 million shillings per household for property loss. 5 million shillings for direct victims of sexual and gender-based violence, and 3 million shillings for the exhumation and decent reburial of victims buried in former IDP camps in Amuru District. Attorney General is appealing the reparations ruling.
Reparation for the victims
After the conviction of Dominic Ongwen, the ICC ordered reparations totalling over €52.4 million for victims of his crimes, including community-based programs and a symbolic individual award of €750 for eligible victims.
The ICC Appeals Chamber upheld this order on April 7, 2025, confirming that approximately 49,772 survivors would receive reparations. Since Ongwen is indigent, the reparations will be funded by the ICC’s Trust Fund for Victims, which relies on voluntary contributions.
Rosalba Ato Oywa describes the reparations money as a potential source of new tension in the community because many people who were affected by the war will miss out.
“And now the participants that were supposed to be considered are so few. That is setting another time bomb in this community. The moment that money comes, that will be another beginning of the war, another war. Because so many people suffered. What is the justification for considering a few people? All of us suffered.”
Counsel Tonny Kitara describes the ICC reparation process as painful, noting that the court’s focus was limited to specific cases and areas, leaving out many victims across different sub-regions affected by the LRA.
“They killed people there. They abducted children from Teso. So now if you say the ICC statute only deals with the reparations for all areas, like here we have about five areas, I think it doesn’t really… To me, in my very humble opinion, it leaves out the major part of the wound and care.”
According to the ICC order, reparations include a symbolic cash payment of €750 to all victims (about €37.3 million in total), collective community-based rehabilitation programs such as education, vocational training, and healthcare (worth €15 million), and community symbolic measures like apologies, memorials, reconciliation ceremonies, and human rights activities (€100,000).
Kitara says reparations should not be given as individual payments but as benefits that serve entire communities.
“So ICC reparations should have benefited the region where the insurgency took place, where the atrocities, where those crimes against humanity took place, where those war crimes took place, but not where the massacre took place. Because before they came to massacre, on their way, it’s possible they got some people and killed. On their way back, it’s also possible that they got people and killed or abducted and turned them into their wives.”
Kitara further adds that many victims feel excluded from the ICC’s justice process.
“They’re not happy. They feel left out. They have, I think, about three associations in the city here. The real victims, those who were abducted, made wives, abducted, made commanders, and those real victims, the various other cases that are not included in the cases before ICC, feel that ICC has not done them justice. And I think they’re right.”
From 1 July 2002, when the ICC was established, to 2005, when the ICC indicted the five rebel commanders, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) committed numerous atrocities across northern Uganda. These included the May 16, 2004, Pagak massacre, which left 46 people dead, mostly women and children; the March 8, 2005, attack on Dzaipi, where eight civilians were killed; and the October 23, 2002, Omot massacre, in which 28 people were brutally murdered. On February 21, 2004, the LRA attacked the Barlonyo IDP camp in Lira District, killing between 121 and 300 civilians.
Apart from the Pagak massacre, for which Thomas Kwoyelo was tried, no other rebel commander has been prosecuted for these attacks.
This story on the legacy of the ICC is a two-part series produced with support from the African Centre for Media Excellence (ACME).
Look out for part two
