The International Criminal Court awarded victims of Ugandan child soldier-turned-commander Dominic Ongwen more than €52 million in reparations. Women and children suffered "serious and long-lasting harm," the court said.
Louis Lakor was seven years old when Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army killed his family and kidnapped him to use as a child soldier. On Thursday the International Criminal Court found the commander responsible, Dominic Ongwen, guilty of war crimes.
Lakor says Ongwen should be forgiven.
The verdict thrusts an uncomfortable spotlight on questions of culpability in a society still deeply traumatised by the militia, which rampaged through northern Uganda from 1987 to 2006. Families still grapple with the question: when does a terrified and traumatised child become responsible for the atrocities he commits to survive?
Lakor, forced to murder his three-year-old sister, is inclined to forgiveness, even though Ongwen was a grown man when he destroyed Lakor’s life.
By Elias Biryabarema
KAMPALA (Reuters) - Louis Lakor was seven years old when Uganda s Lord s Resistance Army killed his family and kidnapped him to use as a child soldier. On Thursday the International Criminal Court found the commander responsible, Dominic Ongwen, guilty of war crimes.
Lakor says Ongwen should be forgiven.
The verdict thrusts an uncomfortable spotlight on questions of culpability in a society still deeply traumatised by the militia, which rampaged through northern Uganda from 1987 to 2006. Families still grapple with the question: when does a terrified and traumatised child become responsible for the atrocities he commits to survive?
Lakor, forced to murder his three-year-old sister, is inclined to forgiveness, even though Ongwen was a grown man when he destroyed Lakor s life.