Ugandan rebel commander faces war crimes judges
by Agency Staff,
2015-01-27 20:11:47.0
THE HAGUE — Former Lord’s Resistance Army commander Dominic Ongwen made his first appearance before the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday, accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The initial hearing for the Ugandan former child soldier follows days after he was transferred to The Hague-based court. He had surrendered to US forces in the region earlier this month.
Maj-Gen Ongwen wore a blue suit, white shirt and blue-and-grey plaid tie as he identified himself as born in Gulu in northern Uganda in 1975.
"I’d like to thank God for creating Heaven and Earth, together with everyone that’s on Earth," Maj-Gen Ongwen said in Acholi, the language spoken in northern Uganda. "I was abducted in 1988 and I was taken to the bush when I was 14 years old.
"Prior to my arrival at court I was a soldier in the LRA," said Maj Gen Ongwen, with short hair rather than the trademark dreadlocks of his time as an LRA commander.
Defence counsel Helene Cisse noted that since his abduction, he had been "denied any access to education".
During his captivity he was subjected to harsh treatment and military training.
He is the first leader of the brutal Ugandan rebel army led by the fugitive Joseph Kony to appear before the ICC, created to try the world’s worst crimes.
Known as the "White Ant", Maj-Gen Ongwen was a senior commanders of the LRA, which is accused of killing more than 23,000 people since 2004 and abducting about 60,000 children in a bloody rebellion that started in 1987.
He and Mr Kony have been wanted for war crimes for almost a decade by the ICC, in its oldest-running case to date. The US had offered a $5m reward for his capture.
Judge Ekaterina Trendafilova read Maj-Gen Ongwen his rights and the charges were put to him, which included a deadly attack on a refugee camp in 2004. He was not required to respond to the charges at this stage in the proceedings.
His next appearance was set for August 24.
He was a senior aide to Mr Kony, who is still at large and being pursued by African Union troops and US special forces.
Reports said last week Maj-Gen Ongwen's supervisor, Vincent Otti, was the first LRA commander to push for negotiations with the Ugandan government. The talks were unsuccessful and in 2007 Mr Kony ordered Otti killed for encouraging the talks. Maj-Gen Ongwen had pleaded for Otti's life, according to the LRA Crisis Tracker, a database and reporting system run by nongovernmental groups Invisible Children. Otti was shot in the head in a hut by LRA members. Maj-Gen Ongwen's loyalty to Otti weakened his influence but Mr Kony spared him from the purge of Otti loyalists because he was good fighter.
Maj-Gen Ongwen’s surrender dealt a major blow to the LRA’s three-decade campaign across several central African nations. He was wanted by the ICC on charges that include murder, enslavement, inhumane acts and directing attacks against civilians.
His capture has been widely hailed by rights groups and ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, who said it took the world "one step closer to ending the LRA’s reign of terror" in the restive African Great Lakes region.
Maj-Gen Ongwen was abducted by the LRA as a child while on his way to school. Rights groups have pointed out that this may be a mitigating factor in his trail.
Over the years the LRA has moved across the porous borders of the region, shifting from Uganda to sow terror in southern Sudan before moving to the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and finally crossing into the southeast of the Central African Republic in March 2008.
Combining religious mysticism with astute guerrilla tactics and ruthlessness, Mr Kony has turned scores of young girls into his sex slaves while claiming to be fighting to impose the Bible’s ten commandments. Maj-Gen Ongwen’s troops were notorious for punishment raids, slicing off the lips and ears of victims as grim calling cards.
AFP
Dominic Ongwen, a commander of the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army, waits for the start of court procedures as he makes his first appearance at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands on Monday. Picture: REUTERS
THE HAGUE — Former Lord’s Resistance Army commander Dominic Ongwen made his first appearance before the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday, accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The initial hearing for the Ugandan former child soldier follows days after he was transferred to The Hague-based court. He had surrendered to US forces in the region earlier this month.
Maj-Gen Ongwen wore a blue suit, white shirt and blue-and-grey plaid tie as he identified himself as born in Gulu in northern Uganda in 1975.
"I’d like to thank God for creating Heaven and Earth, together with everyone that’s on Earth," Maj-Gen Ongwen said in Acholi, the language spoken in northern Uganda. "I was abducted in 1988 and I was taken to the bush when I was 14 years old.
"Prior to my arrival at court I was a soldier in the LRA," said Maj Gen Ongwen, with short hair rather than the trademark dreadlocks of his time as an LRA commander.
Defence counsel Helene Cisse noted that since his abduction, he had been "denied any access to education".
During his captivity he was subjected to harsh treatment and military training.
He is the first leader of the brutal Ugandan rebel army led by the fugitive Joseph Kony to appear before the ICC, created to try the world’s worst crimes.
Known as the "White Ant", Maj-Gen Ongwen was a senior commanders of the LRA, which is accused of killing more than 23,000 people since 2004 and abducting about 60,000 children in a bloody rebellion that started in 1987.
He and Mr Kony have been wanted for war crimes for almost a decade by the ICC, in its oldest-running case to date. The US had offered a $5m reward for his capture.
Judge Ekaterina Trendafilova read Maj-Gen Ongwen his rights and the charges were put to him, which included a deadly attack on a refugee camp in 2004. He was not required to respond to the charges at this stage in the proceedings.
His next appearance was set for August 24.
He was a senior aide to Mr Kony, who is still at large and being pursued by African Union troops and US special forces.
Reports said last week Maj-Gen Ongwen's supervisor, Vincent Otti, was the first LRA commander to push for negotiations with the Ugandan government. The talks were unsuccessful and in 2007 Mr Kony ordered Otti killed for encouraging the talks. Maj-Gen Ongwen had pleaded for Otti's life, according to the LRA Crisis Tracker, a database and reporting system run by nongovernmental groups Invisible Children. Otti was shot in the head in a hut by LRA members. Maj-Gen Ongwen's loyalty to Otti weakened his influence but Mr Kony spared him from the purge of Otti loyalists because he was good fighter.
Maj-Gen Ongwen’s surrender dealt a major blow to the LRA’s three-decade campaign across several central African nations. He was wanted by the ICC on charges that include murder, enslavement, inhumane acts and directing attacks against civilians.
His capture has been widely hailed by rights groups and ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, who said it took the world "one step closer to ending the LRA’s reign of terror" in the restive African Great Lakes region.
Maj-Gen Ongwen was abducted by the LRA as a child while on his way to school. Rights groups have pointed out that this may be a mitigating factor in his trail.
Over the years the LRA has moved across the porous borders of the region, shifting from Uganda to sow terror in southern Sudan before moving to the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and finally crossing into the southeast of the Central African Republic in March 2008.
Combining religious mysticism with astute guerrilla tactics and ruthlessness, Mr Kony has turned scores of young girls into his sex slaves while claiming to be fighting to impose the Bible’s ten commandments. Maj-Gen Ongwen’s troops were notorious for punishment raids, slicing off the lips and ears of victims as grim calling cards.
AFP
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