Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army Commander Convicted Of Crimes Against Humanity

GULU, UGANDA - FEBRUARY 04: A member of the community holds bullets found inside the IDP camp after it was attacked by the LRA in 2004, on February 04, 2021 in Lukodi, Uganda. On May 19 2004, more than sixty people lost their lives as the Lord's Resistance Army, led by Dominic Ongwen, attacked an IDP camp in the village of Lukodi. Dominic Ongwen, the ex-LRA commander, was convicted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague on 61 of 70 counts of war crimes that he faced. Ongwen, the first member of the LRA to appear before the court, was abducted by rebel group in 1988, aged 11, becoming a child soldier. Joseph Kony, a self-declared prophet, began the group in the early 1980's aligning the LRA to the cause of the Acholi people of northern Uganda with the loose aim of unseating President Museveni and bringing about a multi-party democratic rule to Uganda based on the Christian ten commandments. Support from the Acholi fell away as did the Christian characteristics of the group and the LRA became little more than a violent personality cult centred round Kony with him earning the nickname "Africa's David Koresh". The group were forced out of Uganda and moved to Sudan and other central African countries committing atrocious acts against civilians including rape , murder and mutilation. Ongwen rose through the ranks to eventually become its senior commander continuing their reign of terror. (Photo by Luke Dray/Getty Images)