FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Matt Brown, [email protected],202-468-2925
WASHINGTON – Congo should heed growing international pressure and arrest wanted war criminal Bosco Ntaganda, the Enough Project said in a new paper. The U.S. government and other donor nations should support and pressure Congo to arrest Ntaganda and other senior commanders, according to the paper.
"Bosco Ntaganda’s mutiny provides an important opportunity for the government of Congo and international actors to take positive steps toward peace and reform in eastern Congo," said Aaron Hall, Enough Project associate director of research. "This turn of events presents the possibility that, finally, the interconnected issues of democratization, security sector reform, justice sector reform, and mineral sector reform could be addressed in conjunction with each other."
Ntaganda, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes including recruitment of child soldiers, was until recently living with impunity in Goma, DRC, as a general in the Congolese army. Last month, Ntaganda defected and launched a rebellion against the government from his stronghold in eastern DRC. This action created the ideal conditions for the Congolese government to arrest Ntaganda, according to the Enough Project report, “Taking the Terminator: Congo’s Golden Opportunity to Deliver a Warlord to Justice.”
The report recommends that the international community supports and pressures the governments of Congo and Rwanda to arrest Ntaganda and the senior commanders, urges the establishment of the Specialized Mixed-Courts system which has been provided for by the government to try war crimes in Congo, pressures the government of Congo to implement security sector reform, and asserts to the governments of Congo and Rwanda that Ntaganda is bad for business by saying that companies will not invest in minerals from rebel-held territories.
Read the Enough Project report: “Taking the Terminator:Congo’s Golden Opportunity to Deliver a Warlord to Justice.”