Rwanda History: HRW: Send Bosco Ntaganda to the ICC

Monday 18 March 2013

HRW: Send Bosco Ntaganda to the ICC

http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/03/18/send-bosco-ntaganda-icc

MARCH 18, 2013

(New York) - The Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs today announced that Bosco Ntaganda, a Congolese rebel leader wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity, surrendered himself to the United States embassy in Kigali, Rwanda. The U.S. government has publicly confirmed this information.

Human Rights Watch calls on the United States to immediately surrender Ntaganda to the International Criminal Court, which has two pending arrest warrants against him for recruitment and use of child soldiers, murder, attacks on the civilian population, rape, sexual slavery, and pillaging during the conflict in Ituri, Democratic Republic of Congo, in 2002-2003. Ntaganda is implicated in other abuses in North and South Kivu, as well, most recently as one of the leaders of the M23 rebel group.

"For over 10 years now, Ntaganda has left a trail of atrocities across eastern Congo, leading his troops to murder, rape, and pillage," said Ida Sawyer, researcher on the DRC. "The US now needs to make sure he faces justice for these alleged crimes by immediately sending him to the ICC in The Hague."

Bosco Ntaganda: A History of Human Rights Abuses

Bosco Ntaganda is a notorious general in the army of the Democratic Republic of Congo. He is wanted on an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes. Ntaganda, known as "the Terminator," and troops under his command have committed heinous abuses since at least 2002 in the Ituri district of northeastern Congo and in North and South Kivu provinces of eastern Congo, including ethnic massacres, killings, sexual violence, torture, and the recruitment of child soldiers.

Ntaganda is known among his troops as a "warrior" who leads from the front, commanding and directly participating in military operations. In the words of a child soldier who fought with Ntaganda and later testified against him at the ICC in The Hague, he is also known as a man who "kills people easily."