Fearing for the lives of witnesses set to testify at the upcoming
trial of former Congolese warlord Bosco Ntaganda, the International Criminal
Court has announced the trial will open in The Hague rather than the Democratic
Republic of Congo.
Rwandan-born Ntaganda, nicknamed “The Terminator” faces 18 counts
of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in DR Congo's civil war,
which include allegations he used child soldiers and sex slaves in his rebel
army.
A panel of ICC judges initially recommended the trial's opening
statements be held in the city of Bunia in the country's northeast, to allow
victims to be closer to the court proceedings.
It would have been the first time a war crimes trial would have opened
outside the court's headquarters in The Hague.
However the ICC has cancelled the plan because of safety concerns.
Prosecutors allege Ntaganda, who surrendered to the court
unexpectedly last year, was involved in raping child and women soldiers and
keeping them as sex slaves.
He is also accused of using child soldiers in his Patriotic Forces
for the Liberation of Congo (FPLC) during attacks prosecutors say killed at
least 800 people as warlords battled rival militias for control in the
mineral-rich Ituri province.
Ntaganda, 41, has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
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| Bosco Ntagnda (seen above) before his arrest |
He is the founder of the M23 rebel group that was eventually
defeated by the government in 2013 after an 18-month insurgency in the eastern
DR Congo's North Kivu region.
In an unrelated development, the United Nations is again
supporting a military offensive by the Democratic Republic of Congo’s army in
the east of the country.
U.N. forces have deployed ground troops, attack helicopters and
drones to support the campaign against a rebel group known as the Ituri
Patriotic Resistance Force (FRPI).
It’s the first time peacekeepers have
given major combat support to DR Congo's army since a disagreement in January
over the command of a separate operation against Rwandan Hutu rebels.
In that operation, the U.N. mission refused to work with two Congolese generals
accused of human rights violations, leading the government to break off most
military cooperation with the UN.
The U.N. Congo mission is the world's largest.