The International Criminal Court (ICC) has opened hearings against Joseph Kony, the fugitive Ugandan warlord who led the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Kony faces 39 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The charges include murder, rape, sexual slavery, torture, and pillaging.
This is the ICC’s first-ever in absentia hearing, held without the accused present. Judges in The Hague will review evidence for three days to decide if the case should move to trial once Kony is arrested.
Kony founded the LRA in the 1980s. His rebellion against President Yoweri Museveni’s government left a devastating impact. According to the United Nations, at least 100,000 people were killed and 60,000 children abducted. Survivors describe being forced to kill family members, burned alive in homes, and subjected to brutal sexual violence.
Prosecutors cite shocking accounts of abuse. In one case, fighters threw a baby into a river before attacking the child’s mother with machetes. Girls were abducted and forced into sexual slavery, while boys were turned into child soldiers.
The LRA once had thousands of fighters across Uganda, Sudan, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic. Today, it is reduced to a few scattered groups. Kony himself has not been seen in nearly 20 years. He is believed to be hiding in Central Africa’s remote jungles.
Kony gained worldwide attention in 2012 with the viral “Kony 2012” campaign. The U.S. even deployed special forces to help capture him, but the mission ended in 2017 without success.
While Kony’s defense counsel says the ICC hearing is a waste of resources, prosecutors argue it matters for victims. They believe it will prepare the way for a quick trial if Kony is caught and show survivors that justice is being pursued.
The ICC issued its first arrest warrant against Kony in 2005. Almost two decades later, the world still waits for him to face justice.
