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DRC: Reaction to unsealing of Ntaganda warrant; Arbia visit to Kinshasa and Uganda reported; ICG report on priorities for sustainable peace

19 May 2008

Dear all,

Please find below information on recent developments related to the International Criminal Court's (ICC) investigation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

This digest includes reaction to the unsealing of the arrest warrant against Bosco Ntaganda, the Congolese accused of conscripting child soldiers in the DRC in 2002-2003, from the National Council for the People's Defence (CNDP) militia for whom Ntaganda is the chief of staff.; report in the French press that new ICC Registrar, Silvana Arbia, is expected to visit Kinshasa and Uganda via Ituri this weekend to meet with local populations and NGOs including the Coalition for the ICC in DRC; excerpts from the latest International Crisis Group
(ICG) report on priorities for sustainable peace in Ituri which urges the ICC to continue its investigations of atrocity crimes committed in Ituri; relevant op-eds as well as much more.

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 and current situations before the Court or situations under analysis. The Coalition, however, will continue to provide the most up-to-date information about the ICC.

With regards,

CICC Communications

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I. ARREST WARRANT AGAINST NTAGANDA

i. "ICC : Dossier Bosco Ntanganda : The CNDP Calls for Probe to Prove Commander's Guilt,» Radio Okapi, 9 May 2008

http://www.radiookapi.net/index.php?i=53&l=46&c=0&a=18553&da=&of=0&s=&m=2&k=0&r=all&sc=58
(in French)

"The National Council for the People's Defence (CNDP), politico-military movement led by Laurent Nkunda is setting two conditions before declaring its position in response to an arrest warrant issued by the ICC against their current chief of general staff, Gen Bosco Ntanganda. The first condition, CNDP is waiting to be officially notified by the ICC. The second, Laurent Nkunda's movement is recommending the opening of an international inquiry to prove the serious accusations brought against General Bosco Ntanganda. The CNDP spokesperson Séraphin Mirindi had this to say to U.N.-sponsored Radio Okapi in an interview broadcast on Friday:

'...If there are such serious allegations, about massacres, about enrolling children, we must have the proof....And that proof we can only have if a serious investigation is carried out with the participation of the CNDP. It is only after that we will know what decision to take...'

For his part, the ICC's spokesman in Congo, Paul Madidi, said 'The
(ICC) prosecutor operates with total independence. It's not up to the CNDP to demand an independent investigation. An independent investigation has already been carried out.' As a result, there is no question of opening a fresh inquiry."

Translation is unofficial and provided by the CICC Secretariat.

ii. "Congo war crimes case should not derail peace -U.N., by Joe Bavier (Reuters), 30 April 2008,

http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL30937261.html

"A Congo rebel group rejected on Wednesday an international court indictment of their military chief for war crimes but a senior United Nations official said the dispute should not derail a three-month-old peace deal.

The International Criminal Court said on Tuesday it was seeking the arrest of Jean Bosco Ntaganda, the military commander of renegade General Laurent Nkunda's Tutsi insurgency in Democratic Republic of Congo's North Kivu province.

..... 'We do not agree with the ICC,' Nkunda's spokesman Rene Abandi told Reuters. He said the leadership of Nkunda's CNDP rebel group was meeting to decide how to react to the court's decision to indict Ntaganda.

.... On Tuesday, Abandi criticised the ICC warrant for Ntaganda as 'counter-productive', raising fears it could act as a major disincentive for Congolese rebel and militia fighters to come out of the bush and disarm under the peace accord.

The top U.N. official in the Congo, Alan Doss, said he believed the court's move should not endanger the peace process...."

iii. "Congo-Kinshasa: ICC Seeks Arrest of Ex-DRC Militia Leader,"
Hirondelle News Agency, 30 April 2008,
www.allafrica.com/stories/200805010393.html
<file:///C:Documents ;and ;SettingsdalalLocal ;SettingsLocal ;SettingsTemporary ;Internet ;FilesOLK2allafrica.comstories200805010393.html>

"The International Criminal Court (ICC) has announced an arrest warrant against Bosco Ntaganda, a former deputy Chief of Staff of Union of Patriotic Congolese (UPC), a militia group with its base in Ituri, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, in an official statement, called upon the national authorities and actors concerned to cooperate for Ntaganda's arrest and his transfer to the Hague-based Court. The warrant was under seal since August 2006.

He does not mention the United Nations Mission in Congo (MONUC), but the indictment was communicated, according to AFP, on 22 August 2006 to UN officials in Kinshasa...."

II. UN MISSION IN DRC BACKS NTAGANDA WARRANT

"UN mission in DRCongo backs ICC arrest warrant for militia leader,"
BBC Monitoring Africa - Political, 1 May 2008 [link not available]

"...Text of report by French state-funded public broadcaster Radio France:

The United Nations are ready to assist in the arrest of militiaman Bosco Ntaganda in DRCongo. The International Criminal Court made public an international arrest warrant secretly issued two years ago.
However, MONUC [UN Mission in DRCongo] reminded that it was up to the [Congolese] government to arrest him and only mentioned that it would give its backing in case of military operations...."

III. ICG REPORT ON SUSTAINABLE PEACE IN ITURI

"Peacekeeping and Conflict Resolution; Four Priorities for Sustainable Peace in Ituri - Executive Summary and Recommendations," by International Crisis Group, Africa News, May 13, 2008,
http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=5425&l=2 (in French)

"The risk of renewed violence in Ituri is limited today by the presence of the UN Mission in the Congo (MONUC), the dismantling of the majority of armed groups and the local population s war weariness after years of suffering and destruction. To ensure lasting stabilisation, however, it is essential to tackle simultaneously the conflict s root causes and abandon purely reactive or short-term approaches....

....[I]nter-community reconciliation remains superficial, and local justice mechanisms are incapable of combating impunity effectively. If Ituri is to have a real chance of turning the page from a devastating war that has lasted for almost a decade, it is essential, therefore, that the International Criminal Court (ICC) continues its investigations, mixed (international/national) judicial chambers are established and a truth and reconciliation commission created.

...Today, the success of Congo's reconstruction hinges on Ituri, a district that has too often been ignored by Kinshasa. A voluntary and integrated approach is required that reunites national and regional institutions and international partners in order to consolidate peace there. Otherwise, the return of chaos is likely, which would signify the failure of a peace process that has so far mostly been to the advantage of warlords and has failed to bring true benefit to the victims of the conflict.

Recommendations

...Promoting inter-communal reconciliation and fighting impunity

To the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo:

[...] 17. Present legislation that incorporates the Rome Statute into the domestic legal system, including granting jurisdiction for war crimes and crimes against humanity to civilian courts, and that permits the creation of mixed (international/national) judicial chambers within the Congolese judicial system.

[...] To the International Criminal Court:

19. Confirm publicly that the office of the prosecutor will continue to investigate atrocity crimes committed in Ituri; ensure that this includes the principal militia chiefs who have not been arrested (Jérôme Kakwavu, Peter Karim, Cobra Matata, Floribert Kisembo Bahemuka), those responsible for the massacre at Nyakunde as well as senior Congolese, Rwandan and Ugandan officials who armed and supported the militias active in Ituri; and bring charges where criminal responsibility can be established...."

IV. LUBANGA CASE: CALL TO COVER MORE CRIMES

"Call for Lubanga Charges to Cover Rape," by Katy Glassborow (IWPR), 12 May 2008

http://www.iwpr.net/?p=acr&s=f&o=344590&apc_state=henh

"A high-ranking United Nations official has urged international judges to bring justice to girls coerced to join a Congolese militia by interpreting the charges against rebel leader Thomas Lubanga Dyilo as including sexual crimes.

.....The United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, estimates that there are currently 30,000 child soldiers in the DRC, fighting or living with armed groups. Between 30 and 40 per cent of these minors are girls.

... 'Children are forced to play multiple roles - asked to kill and defend, carry heavy burdens, spy on villages and transmit messages.
They are asked to perform many other functions and their use differs from group to group,' [UN Special Representative for Children and Armed conflict Mrs.] Coomaraswamy told the ICC.

..... Since Lubanga's arrest in 2006, pressure groups have questioned why the ICC did not add crimes of sexual violence to the charges against him...."

V. "ICC Registrar Expected to Visit Kinshasa, " Le Phare (Kinshasa),
13 May 2008, http://fr.allafrica.com/stories/printable/200805140204.html
<http://fr.allafrica.com/stories/printable/200805140204.html> (in
French)

"The Court's new Registrar, Silvana Arbia arrives this Sunday, 18 May in Kinshasa. According to Sonia Robla, Head of Public Information and Documentation Section at the ICC in The Hague who is herself currently in the DRC, Ms. Arbia will have a rather full agenda. She is going to meet Congolese authorities and other officials interested in the work of the ICC. She will take advantage of her 24-hour stay in the Congolese capital by meeting with representatives of human rights NGO before heading to Uganda via Ituri where she intends to meet with groups affected by the ICC investigations....

...NGOs meeting with Arbia include Arc, Asadho, Jpdh, l'Association des magistrats du Congo, Ligue des électeurs, Lipadho, and all members of the national Coalition for the ICC in DRC represented by its coordinator, Christian Hemedi.

Translation is unofficial and provided by the CICC Secretariat.

VI. OPINION AND ANALYSIS

i. "With Rebel Leader's Indictment, a Tentative Step to Accountability," by Michael Deibert (IPS),
1 May 2008, www.allafrica.com/stories/200805010667.html
<file:///C:Documents ;and ;SettingsdalalLocal ;SettingsLocal ;SettingsTemporary ;Internet ;FilesOLK2allafrica.comstories200805010667.html>

"The indictment against a militia leader whose alleged abuses span the Democratic Republic of Congo's war-ravaged east was finally made public at the end of April, almost two years after being delivered under seal to war crimes prosecutors.

....Formerly the chief of military operations for the Union des Patriotes Congolais (Union of Congolese Patriots, UPC), Ntaganda now serves as military chief of staff of the Congrès National pour la Défense du Peuple (National Congress for the Defence of the People, CNDP).

The warrant was made being made public now because it would 'not endanger the witnesses of the DRC cases' at the present moment, the ICC said in a statement.

The conflict in the DRC's north-eastern Ituri region, lasting from
1999 until 2007, initially involved the Lendu, a group made up principally of farmers who migrated from Sudan centuries ago, and the
Hema: more recent arrivals in the area.

..... The unsealing of the indictment against Ntaganda may present the rebel's new allies in the CNDP with a difficult choice as to his future. This group operates in the mountainous province of North Kivu, directly south of the Ituri region where Ntaganda's UPC crimes are alleged to have taken place...."

ii. "Nkunda Faces ICC Dilemma," IWPR, 1 May 2008

http://www.iwpr.net/?p=acr&s=f&o=344432&apc_state=henh

"Congolese militia leader Laurent Nkunda may face a crisis in the ranks of his rebel force, following an announcement this week from the International Criminal Court, ICC, that it has issued an arrest warrant for his second-in-command.

Human rights groups are calling on Nkunda to immediately hand over Bosco Ntaganda - chief of staff of his militia, the Congrès National Pour la Défence du People, CNDP, which operates in eastern Congo's North Kivu province.

But a diplomat who helped broker the recent Goma peace deal and is in regular contact with Nkunda says the general is in a difficult position.

Roeland van de Geer, European Union Special Representative for the Great Lakes region, says although Nkunda may want to hand over Ntaganda, there will be resistance within the CNDP, as some members remain loyal to him...."

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CICC's policy on the referral and prosecution of situations before the ICC:

The Coalition for the ICC is not an organ of the Court. The CICC is an independent NGO movement dedicated to the establishment of the International Criminal Court as a fair, effective, and independent international organization. The Coalition will continue to provide the most up-to-date information about the ICC and to help coordinate global action to effectively implement the Rome Statute of the ICC.
The Coalition will also endeavor to respond to basic queries and to raise awareness about the ICC's trigger mechanisms and procedures, as they develop. The Coalition as a whole, and its secretariat, do not endorse or promote specific investigations or prosecutions or take a position on situations (potential and current), or situations under analysis before the ICC. However, individual CICC members may endorse referrals, provide legal and other support on investigations, or develop partnerships with local and other organizations in the course of their efforts. Communications to the ICC can be sent to:
ICC
P.O. Box 19519
2500 CM The Hague
The Netherlands