Top ADF commander jailed 14 years after pleading guilty to being part of rebel group

Two people including a top ADF commander have been sentenced to 14 years imprisonment each by the International Crimes Division of the High Court in Kampala after willingly admitting to being part of the rebel and terrorist group.

Ibrahim Ssemwanga and Aisha Nalweyiso   were on Tuesday sentenced to 14 years each after pleading guilty to charges of aiding and abetting terrorism and belonging to ADF, a terrorist organization.

Joining ADF

Ssemwanga joined ADF as early as 1999 and was trained in warfare but later participated in carrying out ambushes inside the Democratic Republic of Congo.

He later rose through the ranks to become one of the top commanders in the ADF as the deputy commander for one of the battalions in the rebel cum terrorist group by the time he was arrested in 2017.

In the military settings, a battalion consisting of 300 to 1,000 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel.

In some armies, battalions are exclusively infantry, while in others battalions are unit-level organizations.

This therefore makes Ssemwanga a top commander and senior person in the ADF ranks and always reported to Musa Baluku who is currently believed to be the top leader of the ADF.

According to court documents, Ssemwanga was also charged with carrying out recruitments for the rebel outfit from Uganda but also delivering several ammunition to respective ADF operatives in Uganda.

Consequently in 2009, Ssemwanga recruited her young relative Aisha Nalweyiso into the rebel activities and she was later taken to DRC where she was taught how to assemble and disassemble several types of guns on top of firing them.

She later returned to Uganda and settled in Lwengo district where she would be given several assignments by Musa Baluku.

Between 2016 and 2017 when she was arrested, Nalweyiso had received several rounds of ammunition from Musa Baluku including a hand grenade as well as receiving and withdrawing money from Western Union that she would later pass on to Ssemwanga for the group activities.

Arrest

In 2017, Ssemwanga took with him nine people including five children, three women and one man to DRC as new recruits and used a bus from Kampala through Mpondwe border to DRC where he delivered them.

Ssemwanga was later arrested on return to Uganda and during interrogation, he admitted that he was working with Nalweyiso who was also later arrested but also led police to a garden in her home in Kyazanga where she had hidden the hand grenade.

Trial

The office of the Director of Public Prosecutions preferred charges related to terrorism, aiding and abetting terrorism as well as belonging and professing to belong to a terrorist organization in accordance with the Anti-Terrorism Act.

When trial started at the International Crimes Division of the High Court in Kampala, prosecution led by Chief State Attorney Lillian Omara and Senior State Attorney Jacquelyn Okui lined up seven witnesses to pin the duo.

However, Ssemwanga and Nalweyiso opted to plead guilty to the charges preferred against them.

In plea, Ssemwanga admitted to having joined ADF ranks but said he was sorry and was a first time offender, whereas his acts occasioned no death or physical harm to any person.

On the other side, Nalweyiso pleaded that she was sorry for having joined rebel activities but said she was misled at a tender age by her relative Ssemwanga.

Sentence

Having listened to the pleas of guilty by the duo, Justice Elizabeth Kabanda reasoned with the duo that they had willingly pleaded guilty, are first time offenders but above al remorseful.

The judge consequently sentenced each of them to 14 years imprisonment for aiding and abetting terrorism as well as four years imprisonment for belonging to a terrorist organization.

Justice Kabanda however said the sentences would run concurrently.