Monday, March 18, 2013

Fugitive M23 Leader Bosco Ntaganda 'surrenders'

Congolese rebel, wanted by ICC for alleged war crimes, has given himself up at US embassy in Rwanda, officials say.
Rebel M23 leader, nicknamed "the Terminator" and wanted by ICC for war crimes, said to have fled DR Congo for Rwanda

Democratic Republic of Congo rebel Bosco Ntaganda, wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for suspected war crimes, has surrendered to the US embassy in Kigali, Rwanda's foreign minister said.

"We have learned today that Bosco Ntaganda entered Rwanda and surrendered to US Embassy in Kigali," Louise Mushikiwabo said in a message posted on her Twitter account on Monday.

The March 23 Movement consists largely of defected Congolese soldiers and ethnic Tutsi [AFP/Getty Images]

The US State Department has also issued a confirmation, saying Ntaganda asked to be turned over to the ICC and that they were working to facilitate his request.


"I can confirm that Bosco Ntaganda... walked into the US embassy in Kigali this morning. He specifically asked to be transferred to the ICC in The Hague," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.


Ntaganda faces charges of conscripting child soldiers, murder, ethnic persecution and rape in eastern DR Congo.

Neither Rwanda nor the US has an obligation to hand Ntaganda over to The Hague-based ICC since they are not
parties to the Rome Statute that established the court.

Year-long uprising 
ICC spokesman Fadi el-Abdallah told the AFP news agency late on Monday that the court was trying to confirm Ntaganda's surrender.

"If this information is confirmed, the court will make the necessary arrangements for the transfer of Ntaganda to The Hague," he said, adding that "nothing prevents a state which is not a signatory of the Rome Statute from 
cooperating with the court on a voluntary basis." 

A year-long uprising in the resource-rich North Kivu province by M23 rebels was partly triggered by President Joseph Kabila's plan to arrest Ntaganda on the international charges.

Fighting between the M23 and Congolese forces has displaced 500,000 people since last May, according to the UN refugee agency.

Ntaganda was integrated into the Congolese army with rebels as part of a 2009 peace deal. 

The ICC has been seeking Ntaganda's arrest since 2006, but Kabila resisted acting on the warrant until April last year, saying Ntaganda was a linchpin in the fragile peace.

The alleged atrocities he has been charged with were committed in the Ituri region in the northeastern DR Congo in 2002-2003.

Ntaganda, who is believed to be in his 40s, is accused of having once again recruited under-age fighters in the North Kivu region during the rebellion last year.

According to UN investigators, Ntaganda has managed to amass considerable wealth by running a large extortion empire in North Kivu, running rogue checkpoints and taxing the area's many mines.

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