Congolese warlord Lubanga

[PPCLI MCpl]

Warlord 'arrest' for UN killings

A militia leader in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has reportedly been arrested over the killings of nine UN peacekeepers last week.
Floribert Ndjabu was arrested in a health clinic in the capital, Kinshasa, an intelligence source told the BBC.

His Nationalist and Integrationist Front is one of the militias operating in lawless north-eastern Ituri, where the Bangladeshi troops were killed.

The UN has suspended aid work in Ituri, saying it is too dangerous.

A spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency Ocha said that more than 50,000 people would be affected.

Neither the Congolese government nor the UN have officially confirmed the arrest.

Three more senior Ituri militia leaders, including two recently appointed as generals in the DR Congo army, are also being questioned in connection with the deaths.

Armed policemen have been stationed outside the luxury Kinshasa hotel rooms of Generals Goda Sukpa and Germain Katanga, both from Mr Ndjabu's group.

The BBC's Arnaud Zajtman in Kinshasa says their mobile phones have been switched off, as has that of Thomas Lubanga, another Ituri warlord.

Day of mourning

There are some 12,000 UN peacekeepers in DR Congo, following a 2002 deal to end five years of civil war.

But bitter ethnic fighting continues in Ituri.


Violence between rival militias resumed in the mineral-rich province in December, and aid workers say tens of thousands of people have been displaced by the fighting - many fleeing to neighbouring Uganda.
Bangladesh, which is one of the largest contributors to UN peacekeeping operations across the world, has 1,300 troops in DR Congo.

It has said the attack will not deter it from sending peacekeepers to DR Congo, or elsewhere.

Hundreds of mourners led by President Iajuddin Ahmed, attended funeral prayers in the capital, Dhaka, as the country observes a day of mourning.

The bodies of the soldiers have been taken to their own villages to be buried with full military honours.

Last week's attack was the deadliest against the UN mission in DR Congo since it was set up in 1999.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/4308583.stm

Published: 2005/03/01 15:04:36 GMT

© BBC MMV

 

[pbi]

As of this morning's CBC web news, the UN force has reported killing 50-60 of the militia. Hello robust ROEs. Maybe the Brahini reoprt had an effect after all. Too bad the UN force in Rwanda wasn't capable of this: alot of people might still be alive.

Cheers.

 

[mo-litia]

As of this morning's CBC web news, the UN force has reported killing 50-60 of the militia. Hello robust ROEs. Maybe the Brahini reoprt had an effect after all. Too bad the UN force in Rwanda wasn't capable of this: alot of people might still be alive.

Cheers.

Good point. The UN needs some more political will to enforce it's generally good intentions. I've often wondered what the UN gained by sending soldiers to essentially observe genocide while being powerless to stop it.

 

[Pikache]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4310593.stm


UN troops strike back in DR Congo
UN soldier in DRC
The mandate of the UN mission in DR Congo was strengthened last year
United Nations peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo have killed more than 50 militiamen in a gun battle in the north-east, the UN says.

The fierce fighting came during a major offensive against an ethnic militia, accused of killing nine Bangladeshi UN soldiers in Ituri province last week.

A UN spokeswoman accused the militia of killing and raping civilians from rival groups, and said they must be stopped.

The UN force in DR Congo is one of the world's largest, at more than 13,000.

'Vengeance'

"While on operation we were fired upon, so we immediately responded," said Col Dominique Demange, a spokesman for UN forces in DR Congo.

QUICK GUIDE

The war in DR Congo

He said the Pakistani UN troops had used helicopter gunships and armoured vehicles in the operation against the militia.

Those killed are believed to be from the ethnic Lendu Nationalist and Integrationist Front (FNI), whose leader has been arrested following the killing of the Bangladeshi peacekeepers.

The UN chief of staff in DR Congo, General Jean-Francois Collot d'Escury, vowed to dismantle all the militia camps in the area, saying his message to the gunmen was straightforward: the UN peacekeepers know how to fight.


It's time to put an end to this militia
Eliane Nabaa
UN spokeswoman

UN takes fight to militias

However, one local Lendu leader told Reuters news agency that the UN mission in DR Congo (Monuc) was wreaking indiscriminate revenge.

"We say Monuc is looking for vengeance, and they are seeking it against the Lendus without even verifying exactly who it was who carried out the massacre of the Bangladeshis," said Larry Batsi Thewi.

Time up

Tuesday's clash took place near where the Bangladeshi troops were ambushed last week, outside Loga, 30 km (19 miles) north of Bunia, Ituri's provincial capital.

AFP news agency reports the militia were based on a plateau overlooking the town of Kafe, where more than 8,000 people have fled recent violence.

The FNI are accused of terrorising their ethnic Hema rivals in Ituri.

"This group continues to loot, kill and rape these people, making life miserable," said UN spokeswoman Eliane Nabaa.

"It's time to put an end to this militia."

Two UN soldiers were wounded in the latest clashes, said the UN office in Bunia.

Rich

On Monday, the Congolese government said three FNI commanders had been detained.

The three include the militia's leader, Floribert Ndjabu. The FNI denies killing the UN troops.

Refugee in DR Congo
Thousands of people have fled ethnic violence in Ituri
There are more than 13,000 peacekeepers in DR Congo, following a 2002 deal to end five years of civil war.

But ethnic militias in Ituri have so far refused to disarm and have continued to fight for control over the region's rich natural resources.

As a result of the resumption of violence in the region, the UN humanitarian agency, Ocha, has stopped some of its activities, depriving more than 50,000 displaced civilians of humanitarian assistance.

 

[Pikache]

Similar article
***
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4311013.stm


UN takes fight to DR Congo militia
UN troops carry the coffins of nine Bangladeshi peacekeepers killed in DR Congo's Ituri region
The death of UN troops has led to increased efforts to disarm militia
After years being derided as "tourists in a war zone", the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo has sent out a new message - that it will get tough on ethnic militias.

Known as Monuc, the UN force in DR Congo is one of the world's largest, and one of its most controversial.

Nine of its troops were killed last week in an ambush in DR Congo's north-eastern Ituri region, the deadliest attack since Monuc was set up in 1999.

Monuc has responded with a high-profile offensive killing 50 militia fighters.

UN military spokesman Jean-Francois Collot d'Escury told a press conference that the message of the Ituri campaign was: "We know how to fight".

QUICK GUIDE

The war in DR Congo

Some 15,000 militia in the region - where a recent surge in violence has forced thousands of civilians to flee - have been warned they face more such operations if they continue to resist pressure to disarm.

Gen Collot d'Escury said Monuc was determined to dismantle camps used by the fighters, even if it meant using force.

The new tough talking follows a year in which Monuc's failure to prevent rebel forces taking control of the key eastern town of Bukavu prompted criticism and anti-UN riots.

Strengthened mandate

The mission's reputation has also been damaged by claims of sexual abuse of women and girls by peacekeeping troops stationed in DR Congo.

Correspondents say the latest offensive marks a significant shift in the way the UN tackles the huge task of maintaining peace in a country the size of Western Europe - and may go some way to restoring its credibility.

The Bukavu debacle last summer pushed the UN Security Council to strengthen the mission's mandate in DR Congo.

A UN Security Council resolution in October 2004 authorised an extra 5,900 personnel for Monuc, taking the official ceiling for troops and police to 16,700.

The mandate for the mission, which includes representatives of more than 40 countries, was also reinforced to "ensure the protection of civilians 'under imminent threat of violence'".

UN spokesman Kemal Saiki told the BBC News website the offensive showed that extra troops in Ituri were starting to make an impact, even though the full deployment has not yet been reached.

'Armed crooks'

"Before, we had a situation where we did not have a critical mass of military means and tools to conduct this kind of operation," he said.

"Our plan is to step up our activities in those parts of the country where there is still a lot of violence and unrest caused by the presence of so-called militias.

Pakistani UN peacekeepers in DR Congo's Ituri region
Monuc has said it is willing to use violence to dismantle militia camps

"They are basically armed crooks, rather criminal than political, preying on the population and trying to exploit the wealth of the area."

He said the Monuc unit involved in the latest offensive, comprising Pakistani, South African and Nepalese troops, had called in combat helicopters in self-defence after coming under fire while searching for weapons dumps.

And he warned the militia could expect many more such operations if they continued to resist the peacekeepers' efforts to disarm them.

The BBC's Arnaud Zajtman in Kinshasa says most people in DR Congo welcome Monuc's offensive against the Ituri militia as long overdue.

"The real scandal for Monuc for the people was the fact that the UN wasn't imposing the peace that it was supposed to impose, so it wasn't really fulfilling its task," he says.

'Still reeling'

"Now it's managing to do so, people are happy because that is what they want."

But although Monuc's stance has been welcomed by Congolese ministers, the struggle to quell the country's violence is far from over.

Despite a rise in the number of peacekeepers deployed, Monuc still has far fewer than the 23,900 troops and 500 police recommended by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan last year.

The BBC's Mark Doyle, who was in Ituri late last year, says the Congolese people will remain wary about their security.

They know that the UN force is overstretched, he says, and are also well aware that the international community will only be with them for a limited time.

In the end, he concludes, Congolese politicians will have to sort out a country which has never known democracy and is still reeling from decades of dictatorship and war.

 

[Yrys]

Congolese warlord in trial first, BBC News

Former Congolese militia leader Thomas Lubanga goes on trial
at the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday over the
use of child soldiers. Mr Lubanga faces six charges of recruiting
and using children to fight during the DR Congo's brutal five-year
conflict that ended in 2003.

Thomas Lubanga (seated) was handed
over to the court in 2006


Prosecutors say child soldiers were used to kill members of a rival
ethnic group, or as Mr Lubanga's bodyguards. The case is the first
to come to trial before the ICC in The Hague. This follows a seven-
month delay, as judges and prosecutors disputed confidential evidence.

Mr Lubanga, who is expected to enter not-guilty pleas, insists he was
trying to bring peace to Ituri, a region in eastern Congo wracked by
years of conflict between rival groups seeking to control its vast mineral
wealth. He was the leader of the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) and
its armed wing at the time of the alleged crimes in 2002-2003, and still
has strong support among his Hema community in Ituri.

Child abuses

The prosecution says children had been snatched as they walked to school
and forced to fight for Mr Lubanga's ethnic Hema militia against their Lendu
rivals.  Many were plied with marijuana and told they were protected by
witchcraft, according to human rights groups.

More than 30,000 children were recruited during the fighting which saw
some 60,000 people lose their lives. The ICC trial sends a clear signal to
rebel leaders and army commanders around the world who have frequently
been able to commit atrocities on the battlefield with impunity, says the BBC's
Africa analyst Martin Plaut.

Separately, judges at the court are expected to decide soon whether to issue
an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is accused of
genocide in Darfur.


Link for more informations  on : Congo, Democratic Republic of the

 

[Yrys]

Congo trial starts road to justice

In tall grass where boys play football, stand destroyed brick houses. These are
the relics of Congo's five-year civil war that saw some 60,000 people lose their
lives. We are in the outskirts of Bunia - provincial capital of Ituri province and
the hunting ground of former warlord Thomas Lubanga, the first person to
stand trial at the International Criminal Court in the Hague (ICC).

The boys playing football were all child combatants, operating under Lubanga's
command.

More than 30,000 children were taken as soldiers during the war


As head of the UPC - a militia made up of the Hema ethnic group - his ragtag
army fought ethnic battles over gold and mining rights with the "rival" Lendu
community. It was one of the bloodiest conflicts Congo has ever seen and
more than 30,000 child soldiers were fighters during the war, taken on by
all sides.

Bahati, one of the boys kicking the ball, was just 11 when he was recruited
by the rebels. He was given an Uzi machine gun and taught to fight.
He rose through the ranks to become Lubanga's personal bodyguard. And
he earned more then than he does now.

It has kept him loyal.

"It wasn't all bad. I could get money from vehicle checkpoints and free food,
and I could get as many girls as I wanted," he smiled. "But on the battlefield
I saw friends die. I still have nightmares."

Like many other ex-combatants, Bahati has mixed views about whether his
former master should stand trial. Five years on from when he was forced to
fight, his priority is getting a job and something to eat.

"He was very good to his militia, very disciplined," Bahati says of Thomas
Lubanga. "But it was us that chose to fight alongside him. We did so willingly,
we were scared of him so we joined him."

Signal sent

It is a logic that is a strong currency here, where survival often overshadows
issues of justice.Yet in a country cursed by its mineral wealth, human rights
groups warn that impunity will continue unless those who committed war
crimes are held to account.

That is why the proceedings of the ICC trial are being carried on national
TV and relayed to people across Ituri, and why radio stations will be
devoting their day's coverage to the event. There are huge banners right
across Bunia advertising the trial.

But in the town of Mongbwalu, a key battleground for Lubanga's men, they
will be digging for gold instead. The place is packed with gold mines - men
armed with buckets and shovels dig in search of wealth. But unlike in wartime,
when slave labour was rife, now they keep what they find.

Few had any idea the former warlord was standing trial. Many seem not to care.
But there is a strong sense that the ICC is only seeing one side of the coin.
Certainly that is the view in the village of Saio, another flashpoint during the war.

Many are angry here that Congo's neighbours are not in the dock. Bakamba, one
of the residents, feels Lubanga should face up to his alleged crimes.

"But what about Uganda and Rwanda, which at different times backed Congo's
various rebel groups, in exchange for a share of the wealth? No one seems to be
going after them," he says. The ICC may face enormous constraints, but Anneke
Van Woudenberg from Human Rights Watch (HRW) says the Lubanga trial is crucial.

She backs the views of children's charities who warn that the trial could have far
reaching implications for the use of child soldiers worldwide. "The work of the ICC
is important because it sends the signal that this is coming to an end. "It will only
try a handful of cases - it's up to the Congolese justice system to try the rest - but
it's a start."

But she admits a lack of political will has hampered the judicial process. "So long
as government rewards warlords and doesn't punish them then impunity will
continue."

Peace first

That point strikes a chord with many people in eastern Congo.Not least because
another former warlord, indicted by the ICC, has reinvented himself as a
peacemaker and is still at large. Despite arrest warrants being issued, he is
sipping coffee at a hotel in the city of Goma. It is an extraordinary state of affairs.

Bosco Ntaganda has been charged by the ICC with war crimes. He worked under
Lubanga - the man who is in the dock at the ICC - in Ituri. Now, he has switched
sides and become the chief of staff of the Tutsi rebel group the CNDP.

By agreeing to lend his troops to a huge military operation, to bring peace to the
troubled region, he seems to have bought himself more time.

It is hard to dismiss the notion of a political deal. Peace will always come first,
confessed a senior figure in the Congolese administration. That is why bringing
alleged war criminals to trial, will demand time and political commitment.

 

[midget-boyd91]

insists he was trying to bring peace to Ituri

I look out the window and see the kids playing outside. You know, kids. The ones who see so much and take everything in but still haven't got the slightest idea what the world is really like. Care free kids who are more concerned about what their shoes look like than anything.

This s.o.b  takes a look at these kids and says, "hey, they don't have the brains to know what I'm going to do with them."    So rather than having a childhood they're more concerned about grabbing the mud to hide from the bullets whizzing over their heads than anything.
Pardon the 'kneel to the ditch' expression, but it's time for a six foot drop with a four foot rope.

Humanity at it's peak.

Oddball

 

[Yrys]

DR Congo wary despite Nkunda arrestt

At Mugunga camp, just outside the provincial capital Goma, there was relief
in the immediate hours that followed Congolese rebel leader Gen Laurent
Nkunda's capture.

In an astonishing about turn, Rwanda - widely considered his backer - arrested
him. It is part of a political deal to end the Democratic Republic of Congo's
troubles, which are bound up in the aftermath of Rwanda's 1994 genocide.

Mugunga is a sprawling sea of tents and home to some 50,000 people. They
are among the quarter of a million people forced to flee their villages after
clashes between Gen Nkunda's rebels and the Congolese army.

In a white tent pitched in a sea of black volcanic mud, Bizi has a transistor
radio clamped to his ear. I ask him if he feels safer with the news of Nkunda's
capture on Friday. "Yes, I feel a good deal safer… and now that Nkunda is gone,
it means we might be able to return home soon," he says.

'End of the war'

The capture of Gen Nkunda is being billed as the "end of the war" by many of
DR Congo's politicians, who have now embarked on a major PR drive. But the
seizure of one of Africa's most feared rebel leaders is only half of the story.
Thousands of Rwandan troops are now marching into Congo to complete their
operation, and people do not know whether to be grateful or scared.

Julien Baluku, the governor of North Kivu province, stood in the pouring rain
in the centre of Kiwanja, surrounded by heavily armed bodyguards. The venue
was significant and chosen for maximum effect.

Until recently it was held by Gen Nkunda's  National Congress for the Defence
of the People (CNDP), and was the scene of atrocities, televised around the world.
Now it is back in government hands, following a deal with some of the rebels,
to integrate their men into the Congolese army.

But the deal was done with a dissident faction of the CNDP, not troops loyal to
the Gen Nkunda. The captured rebel leader portrays himself as "protector" of
DR Congo's Tutsi minority, who he says are being threatened by "foreign" Hutu
militias, some of whom are accused of taking part in the Rwandan genocide and
have integrated into Congolese society.

"They tell us it's the end of the war," said one man who spoke as others nodded
their heads around him. "I would like to believe that. But we now have Rwandan
troops in Congo and we don't know what they're really up to."

Twin-track approach

Mr Baluku told the crowd in Kiwanja that Rwanda, its former foe, was now a key
ally of the Congolese government. Working together to restore peace to this
tattered region, the neighbours have come up with a deal.

It entails the capture of Gen Nkunda in exchange for a joint mission to purge
Congo of Hutu militias that fled across from Rwanda after the genocide, including
the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).

The principle of a twin-track approach is something diplomats have been pushing
for some time. Disarming both the Tutsi rebels and the Hutu militias will be crucial
for the people of Kiwanja. For many years, they have been caught in the middle of
a complex crisis.

It has seen Kinshasa accused of backing the Hutu rebels, and Kigali accused of
funding Gen Nkunda's CNDP. Little wonder, then, that the capture of one man is
now being used as a "bargaining chip" by Rwanda to end the war and deal with
some of the "demons" of the past.

Congolese troop advance

Analysts believe Gen Nkunda may not be extradited to DR Congo until the joint
military operation to hunt down the FDLR is complete. Units of Congolese troops
are being moved north towards Rutshuru and beyond. They are poised for further
strikes on FDLR strongholds, including the town of Tongo further west.

There have been attacks on five villages already, and there is widespread fear
that the violence could dramatically escalate. The soldiers march on foot or are
transported in military trucks. Others we saw had commandeered civilian vehicles
to ease their advance. Along the route, we also spotted clusters of heavily armed
Rwandan troops.

With mortars slung over their shoulders and other heavy weaponry, their presence
in small units is causing nervousness. DR Congo's civilians want to believe that
soon there will be peace, but during major operations like these rape, looting and
killings of innocent villagers, is the price that many pay.

The reality is that it could be some time before it really is the end of the war.

Detailed map of the area

 

[Yrys]

Q&A: DR Congo conflict

General Laurent Nkunda, leader of the strongest rebel group in
eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, has been arrested in
Rwanda. Last year, an offensive by his forces led to fears of
another humanitarian disaster in the country, with some 250,000
people fleeing their homes. They joined more than one million
already displaced in the region.

A vast nation in the heart of Africa, DR Congo is struggling to
recover from a lengthy conflict in which up to five million people
died, mostly through starvation and disease. The world's largest
UN peacekeeping force has been trying to help secure an end to
that war, and prevent further outbreaks of fighting involving
government troops, militia groups, rebel forces and now Rwandan troops.

What does Gen Nkunda's arrest mean?

Optimists hope that it will be the beginning of the end of 15 years of
conflict in the region. If his forces lay down their weapons and join the
national army, that would be a huge step towards bringing peace to
eastern DR Congo.

Even if they try to fight on, they would be much weaker without their
charismatic leader and more importantly, without backing from Rwanda.
His group has already split and fighters loyal to Gen Nkunda's fomer
chief of staff Bosco Ntaganda are already working with the Congolese army.

Why has Rwanda turned on Gen Nkunda?

A UN report recently accused Rwanda and DR Congo of fighting a proxy
war in eastern DR Congo, with Rwanda using Gen Nkunda and DR Congo
backing Rwandan Hutu rebels based on its territory. Gen Nkunda is an
ethnic Tutsi, like Rwanda's leaders, and they have long wanted to wipe
out the Hutu Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) group.

Some of the leaders of the FDLR are accused of taking part in the 1994
Rwandan genocide, which targeted Tutsis and moderate Hutus. Some
4,000 Rwandan troops have marched into DR Congo since 20 January
2009 under a deal with the Congolese government.

Most observers assumed they were after the FDLR. However, it would
appear that intense diplomacy has led to a deal under which DR Congo
lets Rwanda take action against its enemies - the Hutu rebels based in
DR Congo - as long as it first takes out Gen Nkunda.

If both groups are indeed neutralised, that would be a huge step forward
and make peace in eastern DR Congo a realistic prospect.

What happens next?

The Congolese want Rwanda to extradite Gen Nkunda to face charges of
treason and war crimes. Even if this does not happen, the Congolese
would be delighted to see him neutralised.

Meanwhile, the joint Congolese-Rwandan operation will turn its attention
to the FDLR. Analysts point out that Rwandan troops spent four years in
DR Congo and failed to wipe out the FDLR, which has also resisted more
recent attempts by the Congolese army, Gen Nkunda's forces and UN
peacekeepers to disarm them.

What is the conflict about?

The origins of the conflict lie across the border in Rwanda and the
genocide committed there in 1994. Some of the extremist Hutu militias
responsible crossed the border into what is now DR Congo.

Rwanda, now run by the Tutsi force which ended the genocide, has twice
invaded its much larger neighbour, saying it wants to wipe out the Hutu
militias. Gen Nkunda has always claimed he was protecting Congolese
Tutsis from attacks by the FDLR.

But all sides have also been accused of plundering eastern DR Congo's
rich mineral resources - gold, diamonds, tin and coltan, used in mobile
phones. DR Congo is about the size of western Europe, but with no road
or rail links from one side of the country to the other, making it easy to
take advantage of any disorder and plunder natural resources.

A five-year war - sometimes termed "Africa's world war" as it drew in
Angola, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Uganda and Rwanda - ended in 2003 with
the formation of a transitional government and subsequent elections.

But unrest has continued in the unruly east of the country and, as a result,
some armed groups have refused to disarm or join the national army.

What is the UN doing?

The UN has been taking control of several towns in the region. The UN
Security Council has voted to increase its 17,000-strong force by another
3,000.

But diplomats admit they do not know where the troops will come from,
or when they will be sent. There are currently some 5,500 peacekeepers
in North Kivu, where the recent fighting has been taken place, including
some 1,000 stationed in the provincial capital, Goma.

There have been calls for the mandate to be made stronger. However,
the force operates under a Chapter Seven mandate, the most robust
available for a peacekeeping operation - allowing it to protect the civilian
population and themselves.

There are also calls for Europe to send in an elite force, as France did
when it lead a European Union mission to Ituri, further north of Goma,
to stop a separate conflict a few years ago.

What about the civilians?

Aid workers are extremely worried about tens of thousands of people in
the area. All sides are accused of carrying out horrific atrocities against
civilians, in particular mass rape.

Aid is now getting through to those who fled last year's fighting between
Gen Nkunda's forces and the army. A new wave of conflict, targeting the
FDLR, could lead to another humanitarian disaster.

FORCES AROUND GOMA
CNDP - Nkunda: 2,000 Tutsi fighters
CNDP - Bosco: 4,000 former Nkuna allies, now working with army
FDLR: Rwandan Hutus - 6-7,000
Mai Mai: pro-government militia - 3,500
Monuc: UN peacekeepers - 6,000 in North Kivu, including about 1,000 in Goma (17,000 nationwide)
DRC army: 90,000 (nationwide)

 

[Yrys]

Witness 'trained child soldiers', 30 January 2009

The International Criminal Court in The Hague has heard from a man
who says he trained children to use Kalashnikovs for DR Congo warlord
Thomas Lubanga.

The unnamed former militia fighter was giving evidence at Mr Lubanga's
trial for war crimes allegedly committed during the five-year civil conflict.
He said Mr Lubanga had told child recruits in his camp: "Do not be afraid.
The war will not be difficult."

Mr Lubanga denies using hundreds of child soldiers during the war. His
trial opened on Monday after a seven-month delay, as judges and
prosecutors disputed confidential evidence. He is the first person to be
tried at the ICC.

'Fighting and dying'

Taking the stand on Friday, the unnamed former fighter said he had
joined Mr Lubanga's militia, the Union of Congolese Patriots, in 2002
after militia commanders threatened to burn his village if the young
people did not join its ranks. He said that children had been among
the group that went with them to a training camp.

The militia made him an instructor since he had already served in the
DR Congolese army, in which he had served seven months as a child
soldier in 1997, at the age of 13. He taught children to shoot and the
basics of combat, he said.

Underage children were often assigned to officers as armed
"bodyguards or escorts", he said. "Children were deployed in companies,
battalions, brigades and platoons. They were like soldiers." Eventually,
the witness added, he saw children fighting and dying in several battles.
"If the commander gave the order, everyone had to fire, even the children,"
he testified.

The first witness at the trial retracted his testimony after first saying he had
been recruited by Mr Lubanga's fighters on his way home from school. The
prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, asked for an investigation into whether the
witness, who was also unidentified, feared for his personal safety after the trial.

 

[old medic]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17364988

ICC finds Congo warlord Thomas Lubanga guilty
14 March 2012

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has found the Congolese warlord, Thomas Lubanga, guilty of recruiting and using child soldiers between 2002 and 2003.

It is the court's first verdict since it was set up 10 years ago. He will be sentenced at a later hearing.

He headed a rebel group during an inter-ethnic conflict in a gold-rich region of Democratic Republic of Congo.

The prosecution accused him of using children as young as nine as bodyguards, sex slaves and fighters.

In a unanimous decision, the three judges said evidence proved that as head of the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) and its armed wing, Lubanga bore responsibility for the recruitment of child soldiers under the age of 15 who had participated actively on the frontline.

Lubanga, who was arrested in 2005, has the right to appeal against the guilty verdict on all three war crimes charges.

He could face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. The court cannot impose the death penalty.

US-based Human Rights Watch says more than 60,000 people were killed in the conflict between Hema and Lendu ethnic groups in Ituri, in north-eastern DR Congo.
Prosecution criticism

It took the presiding judge Adrian Fulford 30 minutes to deliver the verdict.

"The evidence demonstrated that children endured harsh training regiments and were subjected to hard punishment," AFP news agency quotes him as saying.

"The evidence demonstrated that the children were deployed... and took part in the fighting," he said.

But the judge was also very critical of the prosecution's initial investigation, saying the intermediaries it had used in Ituri had led to unreliable evidence.

This had cost the court time and expense, he said.

The BBC's Anna Holligan in The Hague says the guilty verdict means victims and their families will now be entitled to reparations from the court.

Amnesty International said the conviction of the Congolese rebel leader showed the ICC could bring the world's worst offenders to justice.

"It will help to strip away the impunity they have enjoyed for crimes under international law because national authorities have consistently failed to investigate these crimes. This guilty verdict demonstrates that the ICC can step in to bring them to justice," Michael Bochenek, from the UK-based group said in a statement.

As well as being the ICC's first verdict, the Lubanga case is also the first international trial focusing on the use of child soldiers.

Analysts say it could set legal precedents for others accused of similar crimes.

The ICC issued its first arrest warrant in 2005 against the Ugandan rebel leader, Joseph Kony, who remains at large.

His Lord's Resistance Army is accused of committing atrocities in several central African countries.

Others ICC suspects include Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of the former Libyan leader, and several members of the Sudanese government, including President Omar al-Bashir.

 

[Brad Sallows]

Where is Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner when needed?