Un témoin clé contre le Général Bosco Ntaganda poursuivi par la CPI

(ARI/RNA)

The Hague: A child protection specialist has told the International Criminal Court that ICC fugitive General Bosco Ntaganda personally executed a young recruit who tried to escape, as war crimes proceedings of his former boss continue.  

Ms. Christine Peduto, who worked for the UN Mission to DRC (MONUC), was testifying at the trial of Thomas Lubanga who is charged with recruiting children in the DRC province of Ituri. Gen. Ntaganda faces similar charges but remains at large in the DRC where he has been integrated into the national army.

An unsolved controversy still haunting MONUC after the Security Council was told in May that General Ntaganda was commanding an operation meant to disarm militias – when he is actually supposed to be arrested. Under enormous pressure, Kinshasa this week lashed out at the ICC for disregarding the peace process allowing Gen Ntaganda to join government.

Ms. Peduto said she interviewed a child who saw the “summary execution” by Ntaganda. Other children, she added, gave similar accounts. The witness oversaw MONUC’s child protection office in the Ituri capital Bunia and worked with various NGOs to assist child soldiers who had been demobilised.

The UN official also said she went to Lubanga’s home in the town of Bunia on May 30, 2003 to discuss the issue of forced enlistment and tactics employed by his militia, the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC).

The child expert said that she interviewed many child soldiers, and all but a few of the girls had been raped by commanders or other soldiers in the UPC.

It was not uncommon for the girls to become pregnant, she said, and many either had abortions or miscarried due to the poor living conditions in the training camps. Those who kept their babies were often rejected by the UPC, she explained, since they were no longer considered useful.

The General abruptly took over control of a rebel force he managed with detained General Laurent Nkunda and decided to integrate the rebels into the government army.  

Comments

[Rangot]

Que la justice fasse son travail. Un jour la vérité finira par triompher. Personne n'est a l'abri.