DR Congo's Bosco Ntaganda to appear at Hague court

 

Former Congolese rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda is due to appear at the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

He is accused of committing war crimes in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo a decade ago.
Bosco Ntaganda, who denies the charges, surrendered at the US embassy in Rwanda last March as the Congolese M23 rebel movement was fracturing.
The hearing will help judges decide if there is enough evidence to try him.
He was once one of the ICC's most wanted suspects, accused of using child soldiers, keeping women as sex slaves, and murder.
When he appeared in the Hague soon after his surrender, he pleaded not guilty, before the judge interrupted him and said he should not enter a plea at this stage.

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Who is Bosco Ntaganda?

• Born in 1973 in Rwanda
• Fled to DR Congo as a teenager after attacks on fellow ethnic Tutsis
• At 17, he begins his fighting days - alternating between being a rebel and a soldier, in both Rwanda and DR Congo
• In 2006, indicted by the ICC for allegedly recruiting child soldiers in Ituri
• In 2009, he is integrated into the Congolese national army and made a general
• In 2012, he defects from the army, sparking a new rebellion which forces 800,000 from their homes
• In March 2013, hands himself in to US embassy in Kigali

• Profile: Bosco Ntaganda
• Could surrender bring peace?
• Q&A: International Criminal Court
• Q&A: DR Congo's M23 rebels

Gen Ntaganda has fought for a number of rebel groups as well as the Congolese army.

He was believed to be one of the leaders of the M23 rebel movement, but the seven counts of war crimes and three counts of crimes against humanity he faces relate to his involvement with a different rebel group - in the Ituri region of DR Congo, between 2002-2003.
He was part of the Union of Congolese Patriots rebel group, led by Thomas Lubanga who last year became the only person convicted by the ICC.
Eastern DR Congo has suffered from two decades of violence linked to ethnic rivalries and competition for the control of the area's rich mineral resources.
The unrest began when some of the ethnic Hutu militants accused of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda fled into DR Congo.
Like those who have governed Rwanda since the genocide, Gen Ntaganda is an ethnic Tutsi.
Human rights groups have celebrated Gen Ntaganda's surrender to the court as a victory for international law and the victims of atrocities in the region.
But some analysts suggested his surrender was the last resort and his only chance of staying alive after splits within the M23 rebels.