U.S. seeks swift transfer of Congo warlord to Hague court

By Jenny Clover

KIGALI (Reuters) - The United States is seeking the swift transfer of a Congolese warlord from its embassy in Rwanda to a war crimes tribunal for a trial that could help eastern Democratic Republic of Congo inch towards peace.

Bosco Ntaganda gave himself up to the U.S. Embassy in Kigali on Monday after a 15-year career that spanned a series of Rwandan-backed rebellions in eastern Congo.

He asked to be sent to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague where he faces war crimes charges.

Ntaganda's departure from the conflict zone, where he was a leading commander in the M23 group fighting Congolese forces, could improve prospects for stability in a region where vast mineral resources have fuelled two decades of conflict.

But the trial of Rwandan-born Ntaganda could also prove an embarrassment to the Rwandan government which has denied charges by a U.N. panel that accused it of backing the M23 rebels. The could take months or even longer to start.

"This is an opportunity to advance a little bit of peace and stability in the eastern Congo," Johnnie Carson, U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs, told a conference call on Ntaganda's situation.

He also said Rwanda could use the opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to a February deal signed in Addis Ababa that called for regional states to help end conflict in Congo.

He said the Rwandan government had offered "appropriate assurances" that it would not interfere in the process of transferring Ntaganda, who needs to be transported through the capital to the airport in coordination ICC authorities.

Speaking from Washington, Carson said he wanted Ntaganda moved "as quickly as possible". He did not give a precise timeline.

OBSTACLE TO PEACE?

"The next 48 hours or so will be critical," Carson said. Practical arrangements were still being worked out and ICC officials were heading to Rwanda to help with those logistics. In the meantime, he said Ntaganda did not have access to communications equipment at the embassy that might allow him to contact former comrades in the field.

Ntaganda faces charges of recruiting child soldiers, murder, ethnic persecution, sexual slavery and rape during the 2002-3 conflict in northeastern Congo's gold-mining Ituri district.

Ntaganda's whereabouts had been unknown after hundreds of his fighters fled into Rwanda or surrendered to U.N. peacekeepers at the weekend following their defeat by a rival faction of M23 rebels in the mineral-rich eastern Congo.

With an arrest warrant hanging over him, Ntaganda and his faction were seen as an obstacle to a peace deal between the M23 and the Congolese government. Jason Stearns of the Rift Valley Institute, a research body working in the region, said he might have feared being sold out.

But his decision to give himself up may improve the prospects for a deal that the M23 faction he opposed has shown signs of warming to.

Born in Rwanda, Ntaganda grew up in Congo before fighting alongside Rwandan Tutsi rebels who seized control of the small central Africa country, ending the 1994 genocide in which over 800,000 people died.

For Rwanda, the worries of being implicated by Ntaganda in any testimony when on trial may be outweighed by the desire to avoid being seen as a nation seeking to protect an ICC indictee.

"It's possible the Rwandans will be nervous about what he might say if he got on the stand in the Hague," said Ben Shepherd, an analyst at Chatham House, a London-based international affairs institute.

But Shepherd said the relationship between Ntaganda and Rwanda was ambiguous so Kigali might be confident it could avoid being implicated or might simply be hoping it would take years before he stood trial.

(Writing by Edmund Blair and Richard Lough in Nairobi; Editing by Erica Billingham)

View the original article here

U.N. hopes to approve Congo force by end of March: Russian envoy

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council hopes to approve by the end of March a special force to combat rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but some members have concerns that need to be addressed first, Russia's U.N. envoy Vitaly Churkin said on Tuesday.

While Churkin did not divulge these concerns, some diplomats worry the creation of the intervention force within the existing peacekeeping operation, known as MONUSCO, could lead to two competing units. They want more detail on the new unit's command structure.

"We think it's very important that the intervention force is fully integrated into MONUSCO," said one senior council envoy, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "I don't see opposition" to the proposal, he said, "but we need a lot of clarification."

South Africa, Tanzania and Mozambique are the most likely candidates to supply the several thousand soldiers needed for the intervention force, but diplomats have questions about the ability of those troops to take on the rebel groups, including the M23, which have taken parts of eastern Congo.

"A lot of hard work is ahead of us in the next few weeks," Churkin told reporters after U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon briefed the 15-member council on his proposal to strengthen and define MONUSCO's mandate and create the intervention force.

"There are some issues to be sorted out ... Hopefully by the end of the month we will be able to adopt that mandate" resolution, said Churkin.

M23 began taking parts of eastern Congo early last year, accusing the government of failing to honor a 2009 peace deal. That deal ended a previous rebellion and led to the rebels' integration into the army, but they have since deserted.

"The intervention brigade will be tasked with containing the expansion of both Congolese and foreign armed groups, neutralizing these groups, and disarming them," Ban told the Security Council on Tuesday.

In practical terms, U.N. diplomats say, troops in the brigade will have more freedom to open fire without being required to wait until they are attacked first, a limitation that is standard for U.N. peacekeepers deployed around the world.

African leaders signed a U.N .-mediated deal late last month aimed at ending two decades of conflict in Congo's east and paving the way for the intervention force.

At least 70 people were killed and thousands more fled their homes after days of fighting between rebels and government forces in eastern Congo, aid agencies said on Tuesday.

The clashes that began last week underline the complex nature of the conflict in eastern Congo, where personal and local grievances fuel a wider battle between armed groups and the ill-disciplined army for control of land and the region's rich mineral deposits.

(Editing by Philip Barbara)

View the original article here

U.N. threatens to stop working with Congo army units accused of rape

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo has threatened to stop supporting two Congolese army battalions unless soldiers accused of raping scores of women in an eastern town are prosecuted, a senior U.N. official said on Thursday.

The United Nations said 126 women were raped in Minova in November after Congolese troops fled to the town as so-called M23 rebels briefly captured the nearby provincial capital of Goma.

The senior U.N. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the two Congolese battalions had been told to start prosecuting soldiers accused of raping the women in Minova this month or they would lose the support of U.N. peacekeepers.

"Many rapes were committed. We have investigated, we have identified a number of cases and we demand that the Congolese authorities take action legally against those people," said the official. He did not say how many soldiers had been accused.

"Since nothing sufficient has happened at this stage we have already put two units of the armed forces of Congo on notice that if they do not act promptly we shall cease supporting them," he said. "They have to shape up."

U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said in December that alleged human rights abuses were committed in and around Minova between November 20 and November 30, including the 126 rapes and the killing of two civilians. Nesirky said at the time that two soldiers were charged with rape, while seven more were charged with looting.

The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo, known as MONUSCO, has a mandate to protect civilians and supports operations by the Congolese army. There are more than 17,000 troops in Congo - a country the size of Western Europe.

Peacekeepers have been stretched thin by the M23 rebellion in the resource-rich east of Congo and the U.N. Security Council is considering creating a special intervention force, which one senior council diplomat has said would be able to "search and destroy" the M23 rebels and other armed groups in the country.

M23 began taking parts of eastern Congo early last year, accusing the government of failing to honor a 2009 peace deal. That deal ended a previous rebellion and led to the rebels' integration into the army, but they have since deserted.

African leaders signed a U.N.-mediated accord late last month aimed at ending two decades of conflict in eastern Congo and paving the way for the intervention force.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; editing by Christopher Wilson)

View the original article here