An ex-commander of Lord's Resistance Army rebels is convicted in Uganda of atrocities in rare trial

News

An ex-commander of Lord's Resistance Army rebels is convicted in Uganda of atrocities in rare trial

2024-08-14 01:28 Last Updated At：01:32

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — A former commander of the Lord’s Resistance Army rebel group has been convicted of dozens of crimes against humanity in a key moment of justice for many in Uganda who suffered decades of its brutal insurgency.

The long-awaited verdict in the trial of Thomas Kwoyelo was delivered Tuesday by a panel of the High Court that sat in Gulu, the northern city where the LRA once was active. It was the first atrocity case to be tried under a special division of the High Court that focuses on international crimes.

Kwoyelo faced charges including murder, pillaging, enslavement, imprisonment, rape and cruelty. He was convicted on 44 of the 78 counts he faced for crimes committed between 1992 and 2005.

It was not immediately clear when he would be sentenced.

Kwoyelo, whose trial began in 2019, had been in detention since 2009 as Ugandan authorities tried to figure out how to dispense justice in a way that was fair and credible. Human Rights Watch described his trial as “a rare opportunity for justice for victims of the two-decade war between” Ugandan troops and the LRA.

Prosecutors said Kwoyelo held the military rank of colonel within the LRA and that he ordered violent attacks on civilians, many of them displaced by the rebellion.

The LRA’s overall leader, Joseph Kony, is believed to be hiding in a vast area of ungoverned bush in central Africa. The U.S. has offered $5 million as a reward for information leading to the capture of Kony, who also is wanted by the International Criminal Court.

One of Kony’s lieutenants, Dominic Ongwen, was sentenced in 2021 by the ICC to 25 years of imprisonment for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Thousands of other rebel combatants have received Ugandan government amnesty over the years, but Kwoyelo, who was captured in neighboring Congo, was denied such reprieve. Ugandan officials have never explained why. There were concerns by rights activists that the long delay in trying him violated his right to justice.

His trial was controversial, underscoring complex challenges in delivering justice in a society still healing from the consequences of war. As in Ongwen’s trial at the ICC, Kwoyelo asserted that he was abducted as a young boy to join the ranks of the LRA and that he could not be held responsible for the group’s crimes.

Kwoyelo, who denied the charges against him, testified that only Kony could answer for LRA crimes, and said everyone in the LRA faced death for disobeying the warlord.

The LRA, which began in Uganda as an anti-government rebellion, was accused of recruiting boys to fight and keeping girls as sex slaves. At the peak of its power, the group was a notoriously brutal outfit whose members for years eluded Ugandan forces in northern Uganda.

Some observers have pointed out that Ugandan military commanders cited in civilian abuses during the LRA insurgency have not faced justice.

The LRA was accused of committing multiple massacres targeting mostly members of the Acholi ethnic group. Kony, himself an Acholi, is a self-proclaimed messiah who said early in his rebellion that he wanted to rule Uganda according to the biblical Ten Commandments.

When military pressure forced the LRA out of Uganda in 2005, the rebels scattered across parts of central Africa. The group has faded in recent years, and reports of LRA attacks are rare.

Follow AP’s Africa coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/africa

Tourists can finally visit the Oval Office. A replica is opening near the White House on Monday

2024-09-20 20:45 Last Updated At：20:50

WASHINGTON (AP) — Washington is getting a new tourist stop that offers visitors the next best thing to being in the Oval Office: an identical replica of President Joe Biden 's office, right down to his desk, the armchairs in front of the fireplace and the weathered family Bible resting on a side table.

And when Biden's successor takes office next year, the full-scale replica Oval Office at “ The People's House: A White House Experience " will be redecorated to look exactly like the new president's office, said Stewart McLaurin, president of the White House Historical Association, which is opening the doors of its technology-driven education center to the public on Monday.

A separate space in the center called the “Immersive Theater” uses technology to transform into some of the more notable rooms in the White House every five minutes.

“A terrific thing about this Oval Office, unlike the current Oval Office, is if you’re visiting us you can come and you can sit in this chair and be the president of the United States," McLaurin said, talking about the desk chair as he led The Associated Press on a tour of the center before Monday's opening.

Few people ever set foot in the Oval Office. It is not on the White House public tour route. But at “The People’s House,” not only will visitors get to see what one of the most famous offices in the world looks like, they can experience it, too.

“You can take a call from Mr. Putin or anybody you’d like to receive a call from, have your photo taken there,” McLaurin said. "You can sit on the sofas or in the president's chair as you’ve visualized him sitting there and you see him on the news talking with a visitor or a head of state. You can do the same thing right there in front of the fireplace.”

The wallpaper, draperies, rug, furniture, paintings and other artwork are exact replicas of the furnishings as they are currently in the Oval Office. The plan is to change the decor with each future president.

“It is exactly like President Biden's, exactly,” McLaurin said. “Even the family Bible with the weathered elements are duplicated.”

Except for the “digital column” in the center of the room that shows visitors how the physical office has evolved throughout the presidency. It also turns into a mirror so visitors can see themselves standing in the Oval Office.

Technology is also used to transform the “Immersive Theater” every five minutes into each of the five rooms on the White House State Floor: the East Room, the Red, Blue and Green Rooms, and the State Dining Room. Images on the walls in each room were chosen by the association's historians. Visitors can touch the walls to unlock information about the art, furniture or other history that happened there.

"We want people to feel they are in that room of the White House,” McLaurin said.

Leaving the theater, visitors will walk to the replica Oval Office along a stone path resembling the White House colonnade with a view of art made to represent the Rose Garden.

Another exhibit shows how presidents use the White House for work, family and social functions. Visitors can attend Cabinet meetings and vote on a course of action for the president, sit at a table set as it would be for a state dinner to learn how presidents use these glitzy events to conduct diplomacy, or settle into a seat in the family movie theater.

In a separate gallery, the head groundskeeper, florist, lead military aide and chief usher are among White House staff members featured on video explaining what they do.

After entering the education center, visitors will come upon a large model of the south side of the White House, listen to an audio greeting from first lady Jill Biden and watch an orientation film narrated by Martin Sheen, who played a president on television's “The West Wing.”

The back side of the model looks like a dollhouse, exposing cutaways of the ground, state and residence floor rooms. Visitors can tap electronic kiosks to learn more about the rooms.

The education center covers three floors of an office building at 1700 Pennsylvania Ave., one block from the White House. Technology is used throughout to help teach the history of the executive mansion, the presidents and the families who have lived there, and the staff whose work keeps it functioning in its multiples roles as a workplace, a residence and a museum.

McLaurin said the center was designed to be an enhancement to the White House public tour, not a replacement. But with White House tour tickets hard to get, he expects “the vast majority of the people who have the opportunity to visit here will not have the privilege to visit the White House itself.”

Jill Biden visited twice during construction and has planned an event on the White House lawn on Saturday to celebrate next week's opening.

“This new immersive education center will take visitors on an incredible journey using technology and innovation to bring White House history to life,” said the first lady, a community college professor. “Especially as an educator, I'm so excited to see it opening to the public.”

Admission is free, but visitors must request timed tickets. The association is planning for 800 visitors every day, with most staying a little over an hour.

The association raised $60 million for construction and initial operating costs, and is working to build a $50 million endowment to sustain operations, McLaurin said.

The White House Historical Association was created in 1961 by first lady Jacqueline Kennedy to help preserve the museum quality of the interior of the White House and educate the public. It is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that receives no government funding. It raises money mostly through private donations and merchandise sales, including an annual Christmas ornament.