Govt probes ICC prosecutor’s advisor over Kony slave links

__________________

The Government is probing allegations that the former special advisor to the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor provided the Lord’s Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony funds and sex slaves.

The Government was compelled to institute investigations after several victims came out and pinned Inder Brigid, the former executive director of Women’s Initiative for Gender Justice (WIGJ), on allegations of facilitating and funding Kony between 2006 and 2017.

The victims also allege that Brigid was aiding and abetting crimes against humanity, sexual slavery and human trafficking. Brigid is the former advisor to prosecutor Fatou Bensoud, who is now the Gambian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom (UK).

In a statement dated September 21, 2023, the legal representative of the former child soldiers (victims), Joanna Frivet, stated that WIGJ is yet to appoint an external independent investigator to look into the matter.

“Uganda has agreed to investigate these allegations as well,” Frivet disclosed.     

Speaking to New Vision on the phone, Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka confirmed that the Government received the complaint.

“We received a complaint from the lawyer representing LRA war child soldier victims in respect to funding of the LRA by Brigid and we have set up a team to investigate the matter,” he said.

Kiwanuka stated that if found that the offences were committed on Ugandan soil, Brigid will be prosecuted in accordance with the laws of Uganda.

Trips

According to Frivet, Brigid reportedly made numerous trips to meet Kony and gave him money.

“Some of those trips were with former LRA sex slaves which Brigid took back to the bush for her meetings with Kony,” reads the statement in parts.

It is alleged that Brigid recruited the former sex slaves with the help of an American company, 31 Bits, which was operating in Northern Uganda at the time.

It is also purported that Brigid used intermediaries in the UK as well as WIGJ former staff members in the Hague, Netherlands, to send money to the LRA through Western Union transfer, which was used by the rebel group to buy weapons.

Killings

The LRA has terrorised the Great Lakes Region for 36 years killing more than 100,000 civilians, displacing millions, abducting thousands of children and mutilating many more.

Kony remains a fugitive, wanted by the ICC for crimes against humanity. However, the warlord continues to kill, mutilate, kidnap, use children as soldiers and women as sex slaves in the Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Sudan.

It is purported that Brigid first contacted Kony in June 2006 in the DRC through the intermediaries of a known LRA supporter based in the UK.

Kony remains a fugitive, wanted by the ICC for crimes against humanity. However, the warlord continues to kill, mutilate, kidnap, use children as soldiers and women as sex slaves in the Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Sudan.

Funds  

According to a witness (name not disclosed), when Brigid first met Kony in 2006, she gave him $25,000 (sh93.5m).

The witness claims that between $40,000 (sh149.6m) and $60,000 (sh224.5m) was transferred through Western Union and picked by the LRA commanders in Juba. The funds were allegedly sent by Brigid from the UK between December 2006 and October 2007.

According to a former staff member of WIGJ (name not disclosed), Brigid between 2014 to 2015 used junior staff of the organisation in the Netherlands to transfer funds in their names through Western Union to LRA members under pretense that the funds were aimed at local partners for WIGJ projects.   

The witness alleges that the funds were used to buy bullets, hand grenades, bombs, landmines, and various type of weapons including AK-47s.

Defence

In rebuttal, Brigid denied meeting and funding Kony, saying the allegations are baseless.

“I refute all of the claims and allegations asserted in a media statement issued by the Peace, Justice and security foundation. The allegations are untrue and sensational,” Brigid stated in a statement.

She added, “I have never handed Kony envelopes full of money. I have never trafficked sex slaves or engaged in any form of trafficking. I have also never recruited former wives of LRA commanders to take them to Kony in the bush.

Bensouda said she does not know about the allegations levelled against Brigid.

“There is absolutely no truth whatsoever to any assertion or insinuation that I or the Office I led had anything to do with these newly surfaced allegations involving Brigid,” she said.

About

Brigid is a peacebuilder, advocate and mediator who provides advice and training to organisations in armed conflict and post-conflict situations.

Brigid has had a long career as a leading activist working on gender equality issues. She was awarded an Order of the British Empire for services to women’s rights and international justice in 2014 by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of England.

Elizabeth died in 2022.

Between 2004-2017, Brigid was the co-founder and executive director of WIGJ, that worked closely with the ICC.

Brigid joined MBBI in 2021 after being inspired, like many others, by Ken Cloke and by wanting to be a part of a conscious, caring and creative community of peacebuilders and mediators.