A Ugandan court has directed the government to pay compensation to victims of war crimes committed by Thomas Kwoyelo, a former commander in the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the first senior member of the group to be convicted in Uganda.
Each victim is entitled to 10 million Ugandan shillings ($2,740) after the court ruled that Kwoyelo, sentenced in October to 40 years in prison, was unable to provide reparations due to his impoverished status. His crimes include murder, rape, enslavement, torture, and kidnapping.
The court highlighted the government’s failure to protect citizens during Kwoyelo’s atrocities, emphasizing that this negligence necessitates state responsibility for reparations. Additional compensation was also awarded for property destruction and other harm inflicted by Kwoyelo.
The LRA, founded in the 1980s by Joseph Kony, waged a brutal insurgency against Uganda’s government for nearly two decades, committing widespread atrocities such as abductions, mutilations, and killings. By 2005, military pressure forced the group to retreat to remote areas of South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Central African Republic, where violence against civilians continued.
Kwoyelo, captured in northeastern Congo in 2009, faced a protracted legal process before his conviction earlier this year. Despite the LRA’s diminished presence, some remnants, including Kony, are believed to remain active in isolated regions.
