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US: Congo warlord Ntaganda turns himself in
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| Contributor | IndyGeorgia |
| Last Edited | IndyGeorgia Mar 18, 2013 04:03pm |
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| Category | News |
| Author | Edmund Kagire and Melanie Gouby |
| Media | Website - Yahoo News |
| News Date | Monday, March 18, 2013 10:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) — A Congolese warlord accused of conscripting child soldiers who had lived as an international fugitive for years surrendered to the United States Embassy in Rwanda on Monday and asked to be transferred to the International Criminal Court, a U.S. State Department spokeswoman said.
The move marks a major advance in efforts to prosecute Bosco Ntaganda, who had become a symbol of impunity in Africa as he played tennis and lived in an upscale villa in eastern Congo despite the international warrants for his arrest.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland confirmed that Ntaganda walked into the U.S. Embassy in Kigali on Monday and asked to be transferred to the International Criminal Court at The Hague, Netherlands. She said the U.S. was consulting with the Rwandan government.
"We want to facilitate that request," she said. "We strongly support the work that the ICC is doing to investigate the atrocities committed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. And we are going to continue to work with the ICC on this matter."
The ICC first indicted Ntaganda in 2006. However despite that warrant, he went on to become a general in the Congolese army, living freely in eastern Congo.
The ICC has no police force and has to rely on member states to detain those it indicts. Congo failed to apprehend him for years, and the United States is not a member.
"If he's actually handed over to the International Criminal Court or a court that would prosecute him, that would be a huge step forward in the fight for justice in eastern Congo," said Carina Tertsakian, a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch. |
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