Episode details
World Service,5 mins
Former Ugandan LRA child soldier: 'Sometimes I feel guilty I survived because so many children died in the struggle'
NewshourAvailable for over a year
A court in Uganda has sentenced a former rebel commander to forty years in prison for a catalogue of crimes including murder, torture and rape. Thomas Kwoyelo is the first Lord's Resistance Army leader to be convicted in Uganda. He was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity in a landmark decision in August. One notorious incident was an attack on a camp for displaced civilians in Pagak in northern Uganda two decades ago. Dozens of women and children were beaten to death. Kwoyelo had himself been abducted by LRA rebels at the age of twelve. The LRA is accused of abducting thousands of children and turning them into soldiers or sex slaves. Julian Marshall spoke to Peter Oloya, who was abducted by the LRA aged 11 with his mother and cousins. Peter is now a celebrated artist in Uganda. (Photo: Peter Oloya and his mother, Oballim Rose Aketo. Credit: Peter Oyola)
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