ICC convicts Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army Commander

The International Criminal Court in the Hague on Thursday convicted the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) commander Dominic Ongwen.

He was charged with 70 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, for atrocities committed in Uganda’s northern region.

The rebel group he and others commanded terrorised the country’s entire northern region for nearly two decades, murdering and abducting people.

It was a brutal conflict in which the LRA, led by Joseph Kony, forced children to commit atrocities against their own families.

Dominic Ongwen himself was abducted as a schoolboy and was later trained and turned into one of the rebel outfit’s fiercest fighters.

One of the issues in the trial had been the victim versus perpetrator debate.

His legal team argued that he could not be held responsible for atrocities he was trained and brainwashed to commit and had asked for him to be acquitted.

The prosecution said he could have left the rebel movement when he became an adult at the age of 18.

The Acholi community which the 45-year-old hail from has its own traditional justice system, which focuses on forgiveness and reconciliation.

Many felt that the former rebel commander should have been given the chance to be judged by his people.

In the years since the LRA left northern Uganda, the community has tried to pick up the pieces and rebuild.

But the effects of the conflict will be felt for generations.

The ruling by the ICC was the first to deal with crimes by the LRA.

BBC/Olawunmi Sadiq