Some of the victims of former LRA commander Thomas Kwoyelo attend an outreach engagement convened by ICD officials at Perecu village, Pabbo Subcounty in Amuru district on February 10.
The International Crimes Division
of the High Court (ICD) has registered a total of 5,400 victims of convicted
former Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel commander in Amuru district eligible
for reparation. This comes nearly two
months after the court in December last year ordered the government to compensate the victims of
Kwoyelo for the harm they suffered during attacks carried out between 1993 and 2005.
The court at the time of the
ruling added 365 days for the registration of new eligible victims from the villages
of Abera and Bira Obaa in Parubanga Parish, Pabbo Sub-county, and Pagak Parish in Lamogi Sub-county. Juliet Harty Hatanga, the Deputy Registrar
of the ICD said Monday that the registration of new victims commenced in
January following the court order.
She noted that the victim’s data
were collected and verified based on the different forms of harms suffered directly
or indirectly that relates to the crimes of which Kwoyelo was convicted by
the court. According to Hatanga, the
registration only focuses on the case locations in which Kwoyelo was convicted
for his crimes against the civilian population.
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Initially, only 103 victims of
Kwoyelo applied to participate in the court trial proceeding that kicked off in
September 2018. Justice Suzan Okalany, the Deputy
Head of the ICD implored the community in the case locations of Pabbo and
Lamogi to identify victims who suffered harms committed by Kwoyelo to register
and benefit from the court’s order on reparation.
Justice Okalany highlighted that
the eligible victims must have indirectly or directly suffered physical or psychological
harm, economic loss or are victims of sexual gender-based violence committed by
Kwoyelo and no other LRA commanders.
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In the landmark order delivered by
the four-member panel of judges of the ICD in December, the court made an award
in damages of 10 million shillings for each of the deceased victims of Kwoyelo while
for those who suffered bodily injury the court awarded each 4 million
shillings.
The court also made reparation
award of 3.5 million shillings for property loss per household for the victims
and 5 million shillings each to direct victims of sexual and gender-based
violence crimes. Meanwhile an award of 3 million shillings was made for
exhumation and decent reburial of victims whose remains were buried in the
former Internally Displaced people’s camps in Amuru district.
The attorney general represented
by Johnson Natuhwera, a senior state attorney however sought leave for appeal against
the court order.
Justice Okalany however told the
victims during an outreach conducted by ICD at Perecu village in Parubanga
Parish, Pabbo County in Amuru district Monday that the appeal doesn’t bar the
attorney general from implementing orders of the court since its lawful.
She noted that while the court
has already conducted its mandate that led to the conviction of Kwoyelo and
award of reparation, the bigger role now lies with the Parliament in fast
tracking the enactment of the National Transitional Justice bill. Justice Okalany implored the community to now
task their legislators to push forward the law on Transitional Justice that
will encompass the full realization of the court order.
The National Transitional Justice
bill was approved by the cabinet in 2019 but awaits enactment into law by
Parliament. “The ball is in your court
because the people that you send to parliament are representing you and me and
they have the power to make laws that govern everything under the sun,” said Justice
Okalany.
Rose Angom, one of the victims of
Kwoyelo and resident of Perecu village in Parubanga Parish, Pabbo Subcounty
told Uganda Radio Network in an interview that while the court order is a
relief to victims like her, she is uncertain when the compensate will reach
them. Angom said she lost her husband
and a child during a raid carried by Kwoyelo in 1994 which left her fingers
injured adding that she also suffers from trauma.
Luo bite
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Kwoyelo, a former child soldier
who rose to the mid-level ranks of the notorious LRA was sentenced to 40 years
in Jail in October last year for committing war crimes and crimes against
Humanity between 1993 and 2005 in Kilak County in Present Day Amuru District. Kwoyelo
was captured by the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF) in the Garamba
National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo on March 3, 2009.
