ICC to hear war crimes charges against fugitive warlord Kony

THE International Criminal Court will from Tuesday hear war crimes charges against fugitive Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony, accused of spearheading a brutal reign of terror that killed tens of thousands.

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Judges will hear 39 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity against Kony, including murder, torture, rape, sexual slavery and pillaging at the ICC’s first-ever in absentia hearing.

A former Catholic altar boy and self-styled prophet, Kony founded and led Uganda's most vicious rebel group, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), in the 1980s.

The LRA rebellion against President Yoweri Museveni saw at least 100 000 killed, according to UN estimates, and 60 000 children abducted in a campaign that spread to several neighbouring countries.

Kony’s stated aim was to establish a nation based on the Bible’s 10 commandments but those who escaped told harrowing tales of the group’s brutality.

Children were forced to hack family members to death or bite other children until they died. Abducted girls became sex slaves, including for Kony himself.