Ongwen trial: witness deplorable conditions in the LRA and IDP camps

Dominic Ongwen. Photo/AFP

A prosecution witness has a tear-jerking narration of the deplorable condition he lived in while serving under the Lord's Resistance army (LRA), before the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Appearing as witness P-379 on Tuesday, he said that many times they slept in the open on the ground due to limited number of tents and beds, which were used by the commanders, adding that most of those who slept on the ground were abductees and that whenever it rained, they got soaked.

 "Commanders had portable beds with small one-inch thick mattresses that were easy to fold and carry while some foot soldiers had polythene bags to use as bed," he said.

The witness said that LRA commanders were also given priority when it came to food and that if food was scarce then the choice bits, such as beans, chicken or goat meat, were served to the commanders.

"If you eat twice in a day, it means you are not being pursued [by government soldiers] or you are not being followed by helicopter gunships, and it means there is enough food," he said.

P-379 said that during times when there was no food, they resorted to eating whatever is on their way and is edible.

Guided by Francisco Cox, a lawyer representing one group of victims in the trial, P-379 said that when he left the LRA and moved to an IDP camp, he always got attacks from spirits until when his mother advised to pray. He said that World Vision helped him to cope.

The witness said that the life in the IDP camp was not any better, they received food rations once a month, but the rations did not last the whole month.

He said that in the camp, there was no place to farm and going outside the camp to search for food was dangerous at that time.

"You could not move more than a kilometer because the soldiers would look at you as a rebel collaborator. If they shoot you, they would say they thought you were a rebel," he said.

The witness also testified about his experience in the Oka battalion of the LRA, which he said was led by Dominic Ongwen at the time he was a member. Ongwen is on trial at the ICC on 70 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The trial takes a break until next Monday when the witness will continue testifying.