Congolese warlord Bosco Ntaganda hands himself in in Rwanda
19/03/2013
Fugitive Congolese warlord Bosco Ntaganda walked into the US embassy in Kigali, Rwanda on Monday and asked to be transferred to the international criminal court, where he faces war crimes charges. With his surrender, where an embassy official said staff were "shocked" by his sudden arrival, Ntaganda ended a career that saw him fight as a rebel and government soldier on both sides of the Rwanda-Congo border during nearly 20 years of conflict in Africa's Great Lakes region.
Ntaganda's whereabouts had been unknown after hundreds of his fighters fled into Rwanda or surrendered to UN peacekeepers at the weekend following their defeat by a rival faction of M23 rebels in the mineral-rich eastern Congo. "He specifically asked to be transferred to the ICC in the Hague," US state department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters in Washington. "We are currently consulting with a number of governments, including the Rwandan government, in order to facilitate his request."
ICC spokesman Fadi el-Abdullah said the court would put in place all necessary measures to ensure a swift surrender.
Ntaganda faces charges of conscripting child soldiers, murder, ethnic persecution, sexual slavery and rape during the 2002-03 conflict in the Ituri district of northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
(SOURCE : THE GUARDIAN : HERE)
A découvrir aussi
- Aid Suspension : What are consequences on the Rwandan Economy ? Read the interview of the IMF resident representative to Rwanda.
- Fitch Ratings talks about the aid cut to Rwanda
- The Governement in final Consultations on Marriage Age