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Former Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) commander Thomas Kwoyelo started his unsworn testimony on Tuesday 16, 2024, with an account of his abduction and initiation into the rebel group.

Kwoyelo, 49, is the son of Jokodino Omona Opoto-tap (now deceased) and Joselina Oyella. He had 11 siblings (5 boys and 6 girls). Three of his brothers and two sisters have since passed on.

Abduction by LRA rebels

It was in 1987 when Kwoyelo, who was at the time aged 13 and in primary three, was abducted by the rebels as he was running back home at about 4:00pm from Pabbo Girls Primary School, Pabbo sub-county in Amuru district.

"Pogo village, which is my birth place had no primary school and the distance from there to Pabbo Centre where there were schools is between 30 and 40 miles and this is the reason my parents took me to study at Pabbo Girls Primary while I lived with my maternal grandmother,” Kwoyelo told court amidst periodic pauses to allow the interpreter to interpret to the panel of the four presiding judges, prosecution team, victims’ lawyers and his defense team.

On that fateful day, according to Kwoyelo, he was running home after school (as it was his nature) since he was hungry, when he bumped into a group of rebels roughly between 10 and 15.

“They emerged into the road from a nearby bush and asked me why I was running and I told them that I was rushing home from school and I was hungry,” he narrated, adding the armed man who asked him why he was running, pulled a packet of biscuit from his backpack and handed it to him to eat.

Thereafter, the rebels could not allow him to proceed home but instead he was instructed to join the team as they proceeded to a nearby home.

“In that home, we found about 80 people consisting of the rebels and some abductees,” he recalled, adding: “It was from there he learnt that the person who gave him biscuit was platoon commander Okwera Dulmony.

Dulmony was ordered to get up and move with his team including the abductees (Kwoyelo inclusive). The rebels and the abductees under the command of Dulmony walked until they reached a wide stream where everyone was ordered to cross it.

“While the rebels were pouring water out of their gumboots after crossing the stream, one of the rebels told another that at last, we have crossed Unyama,” Kwoyelo said, adding: “It was already getting dark".

The team continued walking up to a certain home where it was said they would spend a night.

According to Kwoyelo, it was from there when they (abductees) were divided in groups with his, having 10 people who were taken and locked up in a hut.

“There, they tied our waists with a rope before locking us inside with personnel put to guard the door from outside,” he revealed and that “after a little while, raw cassava and groundnuts were brought in for us to eat".

“After a little while again, they brought three bowls of beef stew and boiled cassava and we ate since I was very hungry,” he went ahead as the judges — Michael Elubu, Duncan Gaswaga, Stephen Mubiru and Andrew Bashaija — took note in the silent courtroom.

Initiation ritual into the LRA

Kwoyelo told court that the following morning, they left the home where they spent the night and were led to another, where they pitched camp.

It was there where some personnel (rebels) were ordered to prepare a yard.

“What they called the yard was a large area in the shape of a heart, marked with ash and carefully arranged stones,” said Kwoyelo.

At the yard, there was shea butter, white sand, and a 20-litre jerrycan of water.

The few rebels in the yard ordered all the abductees (men and women, boys and girls) to remove their shirts and blouses, and enter the yard, according to Kwoyelo.

“They then began putting the marks of a cross in our foreheads, middle of the chests, lower abdomens, palms and feet,” he narrated adding: “They mixed the white sand with water before making marks of a cross all over our bodies".

“I did not know why they put the marks of a cross on our bodies but I later learnt that the mixture of the white sand and water was called a camouflage,” he continued.

Later, according to Kwoyelo, the male abductees were told not to bath for three days while the female counterparts for four days.

“After the three and four days, respectively those with faint marks were said to be sick and would be prayed for by LRA commander Joseph Kony,” he said.

The hearing was adjourned to Wednesday, April 17, 2024, when Kwoyelo proceeds with the unsworn testimony.

Kwoyelo’s offences

Kwoyelo is defending himself before the International Crimes Division of the High Court sitting at Gulu High Court Circuit.

He has been charged with 78 counts of offences, including murder, rape, kidnap, torture, inhumane acts, cruel treatment, aggravated robbery and pillaging.

These offences that the accused allegedly committed between 1994 and 2005 in areas in Pabbo sub-county in Amuru district, violate some sections of the Penal Code Act, and Article 3 common to the Geneva Convention.