Should child soldiers be held accountable for their actions after they have been brutally conscripted? Should they be prosecuted if their rehabilitation is not successful?

A new classified diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks, a notorious whistleblowing and secret-divulging service, indicates that a former child soldier conscripted by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda was given up by those who supported his rehabilitation.

Patrick Komakech was abducted by Joseph Kony’s LRA when he was just 9 years old. He was given an AK-47 assault rifle and received guerrilla training. As a teenager, he was a commander, leading an LRA battalion of guerrilla fighters and child soldiers just like him.

Komakech was eventually removed from the LRA and began rehabilitation. His reintegration back into society was supported by Invisible Children, the organization behind the Kony 2012 viral video campaign that has brought worldwide awareness of the LRA. Invisible Children has released two videos, one featuring Komakech’s testimony of his life as a child soldier in the LRA.

Invisible Children sponsored a visit by Komakech to the United States in 2007, where he raised awareness about the LRA’s horrific abductions of young conscripts into their ranks. Joseph Kony and the remaining LRA members are now the subject of an intensive manhunt conducted by thousands of soldiers from different African nations.

Operation Lighting Thunder, Invisible Children and the U.S. Embassy

In 2009, Patrick Komakech was at a camp in northern Uganda when he was arrested by security forces. The charges against Komakech indicated his involvement in a rebel group (not the LRA) that sought to overthrow the incumbent government of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveny.

The U.S. Embassy sought the assistance of Invisible Children in locating Komakech, according to the cable exposed by WikiLeaks. The allegations against Komakech included his affiliation with the People’s Patriotic Front (PPF), one of the various rebel groups operating in Uganda, and that he had information valuable to the Ugandan security forces.

Invisible Children revealed the location of Komakech’s whereabouts and stopped supporting him at that point. He was arrested, questioned and released by Ugandan soldiers after they determined that he was very low on the PPF totem pole. Invisible Children acted solely on the information provided by the American Embassy, which claimed that Komakech was a risk to civilians and to those involved in his rehabilitation.

The arrest and questioning of Komakech took place in the midst of Operation Lightning Thunder, an effort by the Ugandan government to eradicate all opposition forces. Human rights organizations have criticized President Museveny’s heavy hand in this armed offensive; reports of torture and abuse have clouded Lighting Thunder, which has now shifted its focus in finding and killing Joseph Kony.

Kony’s Destiny

Operation Lighting Thunder has been bolstered by Invisible Children’s viral video campaign. Five thousand African troops are now combing through the jungle, searching for Joseph Kony and his supporters. The Ugandan security forces and their commanders are aware that the world is watching, therefore the likelihood of excesses and human rights violations has been diminished.

Should Kony be captured alive, he will be brought to trial before the International Criminal Court at The Hague, where he will face the wisdom of Judge Elizabeth Odio Benito, a former Vice President of Costa Rica.