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2334 - Media Coverage of Germain Katanga transfer to ICC in DRC and Interna

18 Oct 2007

Dear All,

There has been news coverage involving the recent transfer of ex-
rebel commander Germain Katanga from the custody of Congolese
authorities in Kinshasa to the ICC in The Hague. Katanga is the
former leader of the Patriotic Forces of Resistance of Ituri (FRPI)
and the second Congolese war crimes suspect to be transferred to the
Court. Please find below a digest with media coverage from the
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as well as international coverage
and links to related articles.

Please take note of the Coalition's policy on situations before the
ICC (below), which explicitly states that the CICC will not take a
position on potential or pending situations before the Court. The
Coalition, however, will continue to provide the most up-to-date
information about the ICC.

Sasha Tenenbaum
Information Services Coordinator
Coalition for the International Criminal Court
[email protected]
*********************************************

NATIONAL MEDIA COVERAGE

I. DRC JUSTICE MINISTER SAYS KATANGA TRANSFER SENDS STRONG MESSAGE

i. "The government welcomes the transfer of G. Katanga," Radio Okapi
in DRC, 18 October 2007, http://www.radiookapi.net/index.php?
i=53&l=0&c=0&a=0&da=&of=9&s=&m=2&k=0&r=all&sc=0
"In a communiqué, the Deputy Minister for Justice in the DRC
indicated that the transfer of Katanga sends a strong message to the
national and international communities affirming that no one is above
the law, and that justice will catch up with those who have committed
crimes harming the conscince of humanity, reports radiokapi.net…"
(Translation is unofficial and provided by the CICC secretariat)

ii. "A second warlord transferred to the ICC," Radio Okapi in DRC à
15:06:51, 18 October 18, 2007, http://www.radiookapi.net/index.php?
i=53&a=15072
"Germain Katanga was transferred overnight on Wednesday to the ICC by
the Congolese justice system. The head of the FRPI (Forces de
résistance patriotique) in Ituri is wanted by the ICC for three
counts of crimes against humanity and six counts of war crimes,
reports radiokapi.net…Paul Madidi, spokesman for the ICC in Kinshasa
confirmed that on Monday October 22, the former leader of the FRPI
will be his first appearance before the Court…After Thomas Lubanga
and Germain Katanga, who's turn will be next? Madidi says the ICC
will continue to work on allegations of crimes committed not only by
other leaders in Ituri but also in the entire Congolese territory….
Katanga holds a secondary degree from an Anglican school and was
recruited by the FRPI in 2002 by a certain Mzee. Kandru, a former
soldier of Marshal Mobutu. Along with four other leaders in the Ituri
army, he was nominated to the FARDC by President Kabilia on 11
December 2004, a move contested by the NGO Human Rights Watch…"
(Translation is unofficial and provided by the CICC secretariat)

II. DRC PRESS CONFIRMS DETAILS OF KATANGA'S TRANSFER

"Accusé de crimes de guerre : Germain Katanga transféré à la Cpi,"
Théodore Ngangu (Digital Congo), 18 October 2007
http://www.digitalcongo.net/article/47514
"…Germain Katanga was arrested in March of 2005 in Kinshasa. He was
taken from his cell at the Kinshasa Prison and Re-education Center
("Centre pénitencier et de reeducation") in the night and driven to
the international airport in Ndjili where he boarded a civil aviation
flight headed for the Court at 1:00 in the morning. His transfer is
second to that of Thomas Lubanga in March of 2006…"
(Translation is unofficial and provided by the CICC secretariat)
Other related stories in French:

« Accusé de crimes de guerre : Germain Katanga transféré à la Cpi."
Agence France Presse (AFP), Sofia Bouderbala, 18 October 2007
http://fr.news.yahoo.com/afp/20071018/twl-rdcongo-ituri-justice-cpi-
prev-f8fd361_1.html

" Kinshasa: un chef milicien d'Ituri (RDC) transféré à la CPI,"
Agenge France Presse, 18 October 2007,
http://www.romandie.com/infos/news2/071018065635.94ykv8dz.asp


INTERNATIONAL MEDIA COVERAGE

I. DRC `DETERMINED TO FIGHT IMPUNITY'

i. « Transfer of warlord to the ICC : the RDC is determined to fight
impunity » In French: " Transfert d'un milicien à la CPI: la RDC
déterminée à combattre l'impunité," Le Monde (based on AP wire), 18
October 2007, http://www.lemonde.fr/web/depeches/0,14-0,39-32872472@7-
60,0.html (in French)
"For DRC Deputy Minister of Justice Madame Kalinda, `immunity and
impunity will not be tolerated for war crimes and crimes against
humanity' in the DRC `whether it is for the recruitment of child
soldiers, murders, sexual violence, pillaging and forced
displacements as in the case of Ituri [Katanga is linked to an armed
and widespread attack directed against the civilian population of
certain parts of the territory of Ituri between January and at least
March 2003]or in other provinces,' of the Congo, added the Deputy
Minister. She also said that since 2004 DRC provided support to the
ICC and will continue to for future arrest of new suspects."
(Translation is unofficial and provided by the CICC secretariat)

II. ICC DEPUTY PROSECUTOR MAKES A STATEMENT

"DRC: International Court takes second ex-rebel commander into
custody over war crimes" Irin News, October 18, 2007 Thursday
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74851

"Katanga, a former senior commander of the Force de Résistance
Patriotique en Ituri (FRPI), had been in the custody of Congolese
authorities.

"Today we are prosecuting Germain Katanga, leader of a militia group,
who we allege is personally responsible for the brutal crimes his
forces committed. His name will forever be associated with the name
of Bogoro, an ordinary village, which he ordered fighters under his
command to 'wipe out'. Hundreds were slaughtered. Women were forced
into sexual slavery," according to a statement by Fatou Bensouda,
deputy prosecutor in charge of the case.

The crimes were committed between January 2002 and December 2003 when
more than 8,000 civilians died and half a million people were
displaced from their homes in Ituri….At least 60,000 civilians were
killed in attacks and revenge-attacks in Ituri between rival ethnic
groups in 1999-2003, according to the UN."

III. `MORE ACTION CAN BE EXPECTED' IN DRC ACCORDING TO ICC

Congolese war crimes suspect turned over to International Criminal
Court
UN News Centre, October 18, 2007
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=24325&Cr=DRC&Cr1=

"…The latest suspect joined Congolese suspect Thomas Lubanga Dyilo,
who will be tried on crimes relating to the recruitment of children
as soldiers in what is widely viewed as a milestone in international
attempts to fight immunity on the issue. In a statement today, ICC
Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said more action can be expected. "We
are selecting a third case. The DRC is still engulfed in violence.
There is forced displacement of people, sexual violence of shocking
brutality, and killings. It must stop. Perpetrators must know they
will be prosecuted. The ICC is at work in the DRC."…The Office of the
Prosecutor began investigating crimes committed in the DRC in June
2004…"

IV. NEWS WIRE REPORTS: AP, AFP, REUTERS

i. "DRCongo militia chief transferred to International Criminal
Court" Stephanie van den Berg, (AFP), English, October 18, 2007,
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071018/wl_afp/warcrimesdrcongoicc_071018
173458

"Germain Katanga, 29, who once led the Forces for Patriotic
Resistance in Ituri (FRPI), was flown out of Kinshasa early Thursday,
a senior ICC official in the capital said. Katanga, whose forces
operated in the north-east Ituri region, was arrested in Kinshasa in
2005. He faces three charges relating to crimes against humanity and
six relating to war crimes.
He is accused of murder, sexual enslavement and forcing children
younger than 15 years to fight as soldiers, as well as having led
attacks that deliberately targetted the civilian population.

…The United Nations had joined the outcry over the impunity enjoyed
by former militia chiefs accused of war crimes…Lubanga's and
Katanga's groups were just two of the six main movements that emerged
during ethnic conflicts that ravaged the DR Congo's eastern Ituri
region from 1999."

ii. "Second war crimes suspect from Congo turned over to
International Criminal Court"
Mike Corder (Associated Press),, October 18, 2007 Thursday (Published
in the International Herald Tribune,
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/18/europe/EU-GEN-War-Crimes-
Congo.php)

"A former Congolese militia leader and army general known as `Simba,'
accused of masterminding the massacre of 200 villagers, has become
only the second suspect taken into custody at the International
Criminal Court…Judges at the court issued a sealed warrant for
Katanga's arrest on July 2, saying there were `reasonable grounds to
believe' the attack on Bogoro was part of a systematic campaign
against members of the Hema ethnic group in Ituri carried out by
Katanga's militia and the armed Nationalist and Integrationist Front
between January and March 2003. Katanga's warrant was unsealed
Thursday, after Congolese authorities who had been detaining him
turned him over. He was put on a plane and flown to the Netherlands,
arriving shortly after 12:30 p.m. (1030 GMT) on Thursday, said court
spokeswoman Sonya Robla…"

iii. "Second Congo war crimes suspect transferred to ICC," Reuters,
18 Oct. 2007, http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?
type=worldNews&storyid=2007-10-18T094122Z_01_L18415927_RTRUKOC_0_US-
CONGO-DEMOCRATIC-KATANGA.xml

"…Germain Katanga, who had led the Patriotic Forces of Resistance of
Ituri (FRPI) militia in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo,
was transferred from the custody of Congolese authorities in
Kinshasa, ICC head of information Sonia Robla told Reuters by
telephone.

…Human rights campaigners welcomed Katanga's transfer to the
ICC. `It's a significant step forward that another individual has
been transferred to The Hague,' Anneke Van Woudenberg, a Congo
researcher with Human Rights Watch (HRW), told Reuters.

Speaking from New York, she urged ICC prosecutors to investigate what
she said were the `political masters' of Congolese militia chiefs who
pillaged, raped and killed civilians in Ituri in 2002 and 2003. The
acts committed included the murder of about 200 civilians, causing
serious bodily harm to civilians, arresting, threatening with weapons
and imprisoning civilians in a room filled with corpses, pillaging,
the sexual enslavement of several women and girls, and the use of
children under 15 to participate actively in the attack. HRW's Van
Woudenberg urged the ICC prosecutors to widen their investigation
against the Ituri warlords.

V. OTHER NEWS STORIES

i. "Congo Warlord Sent To Int'l Criminal Court For War Crimes, Crimes
Against Humanity Charges "Einnor Mendoza AHN Thursday, October 18,
2007, http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7008867551

"…Human Rights Watch said hundreds of witnesses have said these four
commanders ordered, tolerated or personally committed ethnic
massacres, murder, torture, rape, mutilation and the recruitment of
child soldiers. `The government needs to take these warlords to
court, not give them responsible positions in the army,' said Alison
Des Forges, senior advisor to the Africa Division of Human Rights
Watch.
…The rights group has reported that, according to witnesses, Katanga
helped lead one of the largest massacres in Ituri, that at Nyakunde
Hospital in September 2002, killing for over a 10-day period at least
1,2000 Hema and other civilians selected on the basis of ethnicity.
Katanga also led FRPI combatants in the Bunia, Kmoanda, and the
Bagoro massacres in 2002 and 2003, the rights group added…"

ii. "Another DRC war crimes suspect before ICC,"
afrol Thursday, October 18, 2007, http://www.afrol.com/articles/26964

"…The man nicknamed Simba, Katanga has been accused of committing six
war crimes and three crimes against humanity in Ituri. His case
arises from the situation in the DRC which has been under
investigation by the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC since 1 July
2002…
`The warrant was unsealed on 18 October 2007,' the ICC said in a
press communiqué, noting that as the highest ranking FRPI commander,
Katanga `played an essential role in the planning and implementation
of an indiscriminate attack against the village of Bogoro in Ituri on
or around 24 February 2003.'

*************************************************************

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