Kony attempted to kill me twice - Kwoyelo

Former Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel commander Thomas Kwoyelo on April 22 told court that his former boss Joseph Kony attempted to kill him on two occasions.

Appearing before the International Crimes Division of the High Court sitting in Gulu City, Kwoyelo recounted how Kony attempted to get rid of him over an alleged plot he was making with other senior commanders aimed at defecting in 1999. 

He said the other failed attempt was nine years later in 2008 when Kony was reportedly blocked by his spirits.

Yesterday’s defence was a continuation of the Friday session. Kwoyelo told the court that together with Otti Lagony and Okello Canodonga, they were accused of planning to mobilise a faction of the rebels to defect to the Ugandan government forces that were in Sudan.

“Following an internal conflict at Jebelen, Canodonga, Otti Lagony, and other officers were consequently arrested and imprisoned. I and some of my friends were all disarmed; our guns and any other weapons were removed from us; that was in 1999,” he said.

“I was arrested along with Onen Kamdulu, Jimmy Ociti, and Bosco Bogi; all of us were disarmed and were put under arrest, and they claimed Otti and Canodonga wanted to surrender or defect with us,” he told court on Friday.

Kwoyelo added that a few days later, Lagony and Canodonga were killed since they were named to be the ringleaders.

He explained  that following the execution of the duo, a standby order to retreat to Uganda was issued in which several senior commanders were to lead the rebel forces back for operations in Uganda.

“In that unit, I was picked, and Onen Kamdulu and Bogi Bosco were also selected. We came back to Uganda. At that time, it was when our weapons were returned; Kony reasoned, If we indeed intended to escape, let us now come and escape from Uganda and return home,” Kwoyelo said.

He explained that he was again accused in 2009 of being involved in a plot to defect to the government forces while in the Garamba jungles in DRC.

Kwoyelo said a rift started developing between Kony and  Vincent Otti, who was his deputy, in 2007.

In what seemingly was a planned move, Kony delegated Otti, Otim Records, and Ondo Brigade Commander Ben Achellam to represent the LRA in the peace talks in Rikwangba in 2008. Kwoyelo told the court that after Otti went to represent LRA at the peace talks in 2008 , Kony ordered a special group of soldiers to disarm all those in the former’s unit before his return.

According to him, Otti and his group were arrested on return and were killed two days later. While Kwoyelo had been arrested alongside Otti and group, he explained how he survived death.

Kony narrated to him how his spirits blocked him from killing him.

“He said; ‘the night you were arrested, the holy spirit came and reported to me that you are innocent and that if I went ahead to kill you, I would face the same fate and get killed the same way.’”

Kwoyelo also said he was never deployed by Kony as the army’s director for operations and that he did not serve as the army director for intelligence. He said commanders in charge of operations were part of the mobile (combat) units where he was allowed to live since his job was in the sick bay.

Kwoyelo continues his defence today.

Background
Kwoyelo faces a total of 78 charges ranging from murder to pillaging, violence to life, outrage against personal dignity, and cruel treatment.

He was one of the commanders of the LRA and was captured by the army in Garamba National Park inside the Democratic Republic of the Congo in March 2009.

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