The International Criminal Court (ICC) is set to hear prosecutors present evidence against fugitive Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony on Tuesday in a historic in absentia proceeding. This will be the first time the court has moved forward without the accused present.
Kony faces dozens of charges, including war crimes and crimes against humanity, such as murder, rape, and sexual enslavement, for allegedly leading the brutal Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) that terrorized northern Uganda for decades.
Although Kony will not stand trial in person, the hearing allows prosecutors to formally lay out their case. He will be represented by a defense lawyer, and judges will later decide whether to confirm the charges, though a trial cannot occur in his absence, AP reported. The case is being closely watched as a potential model for other high-profile situations where suspects, such as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or Russian President Vladimir Putin, are not in custody.
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By 2005, Uganda’s military had weakened the LRA, forcing its members to splinter and flee into ungoverned regions of neighboring Sudan and Congo. Despite this, Kony remains elusive, leaving many Ugandans frustrated yet hopeful for justice. “He did many things bad,” said Odong Kajumba, an LRA survivor who was forced to carry a sack of sugar to Uganda’s border with Sudan in 1996. “If they can arrest Kony, I am very happy.”
READ ALSO: This brave Ugandan woman faced brutal rebel leader Joseph Kony in the 1990s to talk peace
Who is Joseph Kony?
Raised in a Catholic Acholi family in northern Uganda, Kony served as an altar boy and was believed to possess mystical abilities. Villagers consulted him for advice on issues ranging from infertility to curses. “Some said he would sit in his hut with a hand placed on a Bible, or peer into a cracked shard of mirror to foretell the future,” wrote LRA biographer Matthew Green in The Wizard of the Nile.
Kony emerged as a local leader following President Yoweri Museveni’s rise to power in 1986. Claiming a spirit commanded him to overthrow Museveni, he left his village in April 1987 with 11 followers to form the LRA, which aimed to rule Uganda according to the Ten Commandments.
The LRA’s campaign relied on ambushes and terrorized local communities. Many civilians fled their homes to escape attacks, while the mid-1990s strategy of relocating hundreds of thousands of people into camps for the internally displaced drew criticism for worsening suffering without ending Kony’s reign of terror. The rebels abducted children, committed acts of extreme cruelty, including chopping off limbs, and enhanced Kony’s reputation as a fearsome warlord. Ugandan authorities claim Kony ordered the killing of his deputy, Vincent Otti, after Otti showed interest in a peace deal.
In 2011, the U.S. deployed roughly 100 troops to support African Union forces in hunting Kony, a number later increasing to 250. While the LRA was weakened, Kony remained at large. His international notoriety surged in 2012 after the advocacy group Invisible Children released a viral video highlighting his crimes against children.
The U.S. currently offers a $5 million reward for information leading to Kony’s capture. Ugandan officials believe he is hiding in the lawless border region between the Central African Republic and South Darfur in Sudan. Most LRA leaders have been killed or captured, yet Kony continues to evade authorities, reinforcing the perception among locals that he may never be caught.
READ ALSO: Obama: U.S. Will Aid Efforts to Capture Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army
