Dominic Ongwen, Brigade Commander in the Lord’s Resistance
Army under the leadership of Joseph Kony, stands
on trial at the International
Criminal Court on 70 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes. His charge
list makes for grim reading: murder, enslavement, inhumane acts of
inflicting serious bodily injury and suffering, cruel treatment of civilians,
intentionally directing an attack against a civilian population, torture, rape,
and pillaging.
But Ongwen’s trial is not unique in the nature of the brutality
it will examine; these stories are unfortunately all too familiar in the region
of central Africa that the LRA has terrorised
for over three decades. Rather, it is unique in that it marks a first for
the International Criminal Court. This is the first time that an inductee is being charged with
the same crimes that have been done to him. Thomas Obhof, a defence lawyer
on the case, has emphasised
this point in discussing the charges against Ongwen: ““He was tortured …
forced to watch people being killed, was used for fighting as a child soldier.
Even the prosecution have said that what he went through is a serious mitigating
factor.”
Ongwen was abducted
by LRA soldiers when he was around ten years old (he claims in his own
testimony that he
was 14, but this is disputed by other LRA captives who think he was younger).
Once captured, he was tortured
and forced to watch videos of people being killed. As he became indoctrinated,
he was taken under the wing of Kony’s deputy commander, Vincent Otti, who acted
as a father figure to the young boy (and would later be indicted alongside Ongwen
by the ICC, though he would be executed
by Kony before facing justice). He was told he was fighting for the future
of his people, the Acholi of northern Uganda, and that his missions had come
from God. He was told he would grow up to be a leader of a feared and elite
military unit. And he
did, impressing Kony and Otti with his military tactics, and striking fear
into the heart of any civilians who knew his name.
Now in the dock, this former child soldier stands before the
world as a perpetrator of the very acts he witnessed and suffered through as a
boy. Almost 2,000 people will be represented by the prosecution in his case,
which is currently
ongoing. As far as many are concerned, life imprisonment will not be
justice enough for Dominic Ongwen. Joseph Akweyu Manoba, appointed by the ICC
to represent the victims, told the
Guardian “They tell me that if the ICC doesn’t punish him and he returns to
Uganda then they will kill him themselves”.
And who can blame them? Ongwen’s Sinia Brigade ravaged
northern Uganda between May 2004 and October 2005, attacking IDP camps, and
killing, raping, and plundering their way across the land they were supposedly liberating.
Ongwen’s childhood abduction by Kony’s men does not excuse
his own abhorrent acts. He remains responsible for his own crimes, and if he is
found guilty he should be held accountable for every single life he ended or
ruined. But his story should remain a warning for those seeking revenge for
horrors inflicted upon themselves.
Perpetrators are rarely simply perpetrators. Many were
victims first. This does not absolve them of their moral duties, and nor should
it change our opinion of them or their actions. But the contexts in which a
monster is made should be examined, because only then can we work towards
ending the cycle of violence that only breeds more violence.
Dominic Ongwen, child soldier turned war criminal, now faces
some form of justice at the ICC. His captor, torturer, commanding officer, and spiritual
leader, Joseph Kony, remains at large. The LRA has abducted 3,400
more children since 2008. Child
Soldiers International reports that active recruitment of child soldiers
occurs in at least 46 countries globally, and that children have served in at
least 18 conflicts since 2016. All will live with the consequences of violence
for the rest of their lives.
As the ICC tries to find a semblance of justice in the case
of Dominic Ongwen, it falls to all of us to work towards ensuring that we do
not have to do this again. As Ongwen’s story demonstrates, it is far easier to harm
than to heal. Violence can undo in seconds what peace takes years to achieve.
We must strive for peace, however hard that may be.
You can find out more
about child soldiers here.
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