Nkunda Rebuffs ICC Over Indictee

Rebel leader refuses to hand over indicted deputy Bosco Ntaganda to the war crimes court.

By Jacques Kahorha in Masisi, North Kivu Province (AR No. 175, 16-Jun-08)

Renegade Congolese general Laurent Nkunda, leader of National Congress for the Defence of the People, CNDP, has told IWPR that he won't hand over his chief of staff, Bosco Ntaganda, despite an International Criminal Court, ICC, warrant for his arrest.

"The extradition of Congolese to the International Criminal Court is an indignity," said Nkunda. "I wish Ntaganda could be judged in Ituri rather than The Hague."

Nkunda spoke to IWPR at a farm in Kirolirwe, about 60 kilometres west of Goma, one of several of his homes in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC.

There is "no chance [I will] hand over Bosco Ntaganda to ICC", he said.

Nkunda said he was not sure of the precise crimes that Ntaganda has been charged with, and questioned the adequacy of the ICC's investigation.

"I request the ICC to furnish us [with] evidence on the involvement of [Ntaganda] in the crimes in Ituri," said Nkunda. "I'm waiting for an ICC delegation here for that purpose."

Nkunda said that before he would cooperate with the ICC with his chief of staff, he would need to verify the accuracy of the evidence again Ntaganda.

"I personally have to verify [the] evidence in Ituri and not in The Hague," he said.

An international arrest warrant was issued against Ntaganda by the ICC in April 2008 for crimes he allegedly committed between 2002 and 2003 in Ituri. Four others from the region have been arrested on ICC warrants – only Ntaganda remains at large.

Despite the indictments and an on-going investigation by the ICC in eastern DRC, little has changed and it appears no efforts are being made to arrest Ntaganda.

Nkunda and his CNDP, a political and military organisation which controls a large area in North Kivu, meanwhile, have on the whole cooperated with a wide-ranging peace agreement among militias that was signed in January in Goma, the capital of North Kivu.

Although units of Nkunda's army have reportedly clashed with Rwandese Hutu militia fighters of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, FDLR, who also operate in the region.

Ntaganga is currently in command of Nkunda's troops, a position he has held for two years. Ntaganda is known to be in the area, but Nkunda did not reveal his exact location.

Nkunda believes that his commander has been unfairly selected for prosecution, even though many others, including some high-ranking government officials, have also been implicated in atrocities committed in the region and not been charged.

"Those who committed crimes in Ituri are in power," he said.

Nkunda explained that in 2003, Ntaganda was deputy commander of the Union of Congolese Patriots, UPC, a militia headed by Thomas Lubanga, who currently faces a trial at the ICC. At the time, Ntaganda took orders from General Floribert Kisembo, who was Lubanga's chief of staff. Kisemba is now a top commander of the DRC army in Maniema province.

"The arrest warrant should target authorities in the government and the army before involving Bosco Ntaganda," said Louis Hamuli, a political representative of Nkunda's organisation. "People should know that those who committed killings in Ituri are well [known]. Most of them were appointed [to] high positions."

Nkunda insists that Ntaganda is a "small fish" and argues that as he's "neither a partner of the Rome Statute nor a member of the ICC", he has no obligation to cooperate.

But the ICC spokesman in the DRC, Paul Madidi, said Nkunda should cooperate.

"If the CNDP thinks that Ntaganda did not commit any crime, it has to hand him over to ICC. This court will give Bosco Ntaganda an opportunity to defend himself or with the help of a lawyer who will be provided to him," Madidi told IWPR.

According to the Rome Statute, the government is obligated to cooperate with the ICC in the arrest of presumed criminals. Although the DRC has arrested ICC suspects in the past, this appears unlikely to happen with Ntaganda, however, because he is in the area firmly controlled by Nkunda.

United Nations forces in the area, MONUC, however, have expressed willingness to help.

"MONUC said it is going to help ICC in the arrest of Ntaganda, and we hope that [it] will," said Madidi.

But the threat of UN involvement in the arrest not concern officials in the CNDP.

"MONUC has attacked us [along with] the governmental forces [before]," said a CNDP officer, who preferred not to give his name. "If (MONUC) dares arrest [Ntaganda], it will [face] us."





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