21 03 13 AI – Bosco Ntaganda must be surrendered to the ICC

The
United States and Rwandan governments must move quickly to ensure the safe
surrender of Bosco Ntaganda, to the International Criminal Court (ICC), Amnesty
International said today.

The US State Department confirmed that Bosco
Ntaganda – who heads a faction of the M23 armed group – arrived at the US
Embassy in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, on 18 March 2013 and requested to be
transferred to The Hague. The US pledged to facilitate this
request.

Amnesty International is calling on the US and Rwandan
authorities to ensure that Bosco Ntaganda’s rights are protected pending his
transfer to the ICC, where he can face a fair trial with full respect for his
rights.

“Surrendering Bosco Ntaganda to the ICC should act as a strong
deterrent to others and help break persistent cycles of impunity that wrack
eastern DRC,” said Sarah Jackson, Amnesty International’s Deputy Africa
Director.

“Bosco Ntaganda is accused by the ICC of committing war crimes
and crimes against humanity in Ituri, eastern DRC in 2002 and 2003. Crimes that
caused untold suffering to the people of eastern DRC.” 

Despite the ICC
arrest warrant issued in 2006, Bosco Ntaganda was never arrested by the DRC or
UN authorities. On the contrary, he was made a general in the Congolese army in
January 2009, as part of a peace agreement integrating armed groups.

“For
the last six years, victims have been waiting for his arrest and surrender to
the ICC. It is important that this finally happens,” said
Jackson.

Amnesty International is also calling on the Congolese
authorities to apprehend Sylvestre Mudacumura, the military commander of the
Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, so that he too is surrendered to
the ICC.

“It the obligation of every state to deny a safe haven to anyone
suspected of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.” 

The ICC
first issued an arrest warrant for Bosco Ntaganda in 2006 on allegations of
recruiting children under 15 as soldiers into the Forces patriotiques pour la
libération du Congo (FPLC) in Ituri between 2002 and 2003.

In July 2012,
the ICC issued a second arrest warrant on allegations of war crimes and crimes
against humanity, including for murder, rape and sexual slavery, also alleged to
have taken place in 2002 and 2003.

Bosco Ntaganda later led the Congrès
National pour la Défense du Peuple (CNDP), whose members committed serious human
rights abuses, including a massacre at Kiwanja, North Kivu, where more than 150
civilians were killed in November 2008.

In April 2012, Bosco Ntaganda led
a mutiny creating the M23 armed group whose fighters have committed numerous
human rights abuses, including unlawful killings, forced recruitment of children
and rape.