DRC Warlord ‘Terminator’ Before ICC

DRC warlord Bosco Ntaganda, also known as the ‘Terminator’ is before the International Criminal Court (ICC) facing 13 counts of war crimes and five counts of crimes against humanity.

The allegations relate to his role in civilian deaths in the Ituri region. He is alleged to have masterminded the deaths of hundred and deployed child soldiers as part of his rebel army.

 In 2006 he was indicted by the ICC for allegedly recruiting child soldiers and in 2008 he was in charge of troops who massacred 150 people in Kiwanja.

The court has confirmed that Ntaganda will face judgement on July 8. He is a former general in the Congolese army who became a founding member of the M23 rebel group. Ntaganda made history when he voluntarily surrendered to the ICC in 2013, becoming the first person to ever do so.

Conflict in the mineral-rich Ituri region has resulted in the deaths of around 60,000 since 1999. Prosecutors claim Ntaganda’s Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (FPLC) were responsible for at least 800 deaths.  His former commander, Thomas Lubanga, has been previously sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2012.