KINSHASA. Democratic Republic of Congo (AFP) — The International Criminal Court stepped up pressure on Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday to deliver a militia leader wanted for war crimes, including the recruitment of child soldiers.
A statement from the ICC prosecutor's office in The Hague said the court issued an arrest warrant for Bosco Ntaganda on August 22, 2006, for crimes committed between July 2002 and December 2003.
The existence of the warrant was not made public until Tuesday, but the statement underlined that it had given Kinshasa precise details as to Ntaganda's whereabouts at the time of its issue.
Ntaganda, 35, is portrayed as a central actor in the vast central African country's civil war, and is the fourth militia leader to be the subject of a judge's arrest warrant.
Three other suspects -- Thomas Lubanga Lubanga, whose trial starts on June 23, Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ndgudjolo Chui -- are already in the court's custody.
The statement said Ntaganda, formerly a senior officer with the Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of the Congo (FPLC), was an associate of Dyilo, who is also accused of having forced children to fight with the FPLC.
Known as The Terminator, Ntaganda was thought to be active in the eastern Kivu regions as chief of staff of another militia group, the National Congress for the Defence of the people (CNDP), the prosecutor added.
The court added that the CNDP is also under investigation after "credible reports" concerning "sexual crimes of unspeakable cruelty".
"We count on all concerned states, authorities and actors to contribute to his arrest and surrender him to the Court," it said.
A respected human rights expert on the Congolese conflict said the court's pressure offered a renegade general who leads the CNDP, Laurent Nkunda, the "perfect opportunity" to "practice what he preaches".
"If Nkunda does not hand (Ntaganda) over to the ICC, the United Nations peacekeeping force should go all out to arrest him as soon as possible," said Anneke Van Woudenbergh of Human Rights Watch in a statement.
"The Congolese authorities and the blue berets of the UN should do everything necessary immediately to execute the ICC warrant.
"A suspected war criminal, wanted by the world's highest court, should not be able to live freely in (DR) Congo," she added.
Kinshasa officials also accuse Ntaganda's men of involvement in house-to-house massacres of ethnic Lendu civilians in Songolo, in DRC's north-western Ituri province, and the killings of around a hundred Lendus and opponents to the FPLC in Bunia, the provincial capital.
The court also suspected other groups of similar crimes, including the Rwandan Hutu rebels of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) and individual soldiers serving with government forces.
The warrant against Ntaganda is the fourth issued by the ICC judges.
The other three suspects -- Lubanga, Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ndgudjolo Chui -- are already in custody awaiting trial.
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