US Diplomat Urges Rwanda to Transfer Ntaganda to ICC

[Since 1994, the world witnesses the horrifying Tutsi minority (14%) ethnic domination, the Tutsi minority ethnic rule with an iron hand, tyranny and corruption in Rwanda. The current government has been characterized by the total impunity of RPF criminals, the Tutsi economic monopoly, the Tutsi militaristic domination, and the brutal suppression of the rights of the majority of the Rwandan people (85% are Hutus)and mass arrests of Hutus by the RPF criminal organization =>AS International]

ICC officials en route to collect DR Congo warlord: US

International Criminal Court officials are travelling to Rwanda to collect Congolese warlord Bosco Ntaganda, who is holed up in the US embassy there, a top American diplomat said Wednesday.

Ntaganda surprised US embassy staff in Kigali on Monday when he walked in off the street and asked for help in reaching the ICC in The Hague, where he is wanted on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

"Officials from the ICC are, as we speak, en route to Kigali," the top US diplomat forAfrica, Johnnie Carson, told reporters on Wednesday.

"The timeline is uncertain but the need for rapid and quick action is clear," Carson added, speaking on a conference call from Washington.

"The next 48 hours or so will be critical in all this," he added.

Carson, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, said that Ntaganda "voluntarily walked in" to the embassy, but had no clear answer as to why he chose a United States diplomatic mission for his surrender.

"I suspect that he may have come because he knows that we are a symbol of fairness and justice and integrity in this kind of process... but I don't know and can't read his mind," he added.

Carson also appealed to Rwanda to allow Ntaganda free passage to the airport in Kigali on his way to trial "without interference".

Carson said there had been "very open and good contact" with Rwandan officials, who have given assurances they will allow Ntaganda to go to The Hague. But he also said the "realities in practical terms" of how Ntaganda would travel to the airport were still to be ironed out.

Ntaganda was allegedly involved in the brutal murder of at least 800 people in villages in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, using child soldiers in his rebel army and keeping women as sex slaves between September 2002 and September 2003.

Carson said bringing Ntaganda to The Hague would send a "clear signal" to other rebel leaders and be a step towards improving the situation in DR Congo's volatile east.

"It will take off the battlefield one of the most notorious rebel leaders, a man dubbed by the media 'The Terminator'," Carson said. 

Gabe Joselow

March 20, 2013

NAIROBI, KENYA — A senior U.S. diplomat has urged Rwanda to allow the transfer of rebel commander Bosco Ntaganda to the International Criminal Court. Ntaganda walked into the U.S. embassy in Kigali earlier this week and asked to be transferred to The Hague, where he is facing charges for war crimes.

In a telephone briefing Wednesday, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Johnnie Carson called for Rwanda’s “full and complete cooperation” to allow Ntaganda to be transported from the U.S. embassy to the airport as ICC officials arrive in the country. “Yes, he is in the American embassy. Yes, there are ICC officials en route. But between the embassy and the airport, it is in effect important that his movement, his transport, in no way be inhibited,” said Carson.

U.S. officials have said they had no prior knowledge that Ntaganda had plans to turn himself in until he arrived Monday at the embassy. Now they are trying to determine how to meet his request and to facilitate his transfer to The Hague.
Rwandan officials have said Ntaganda’s transfer is a matter between the U.S. and the ICC, and has nothing to do with Rwanda. But the country’s justice minister has indicated Kigali will allow safe passage.

Carson said U.S. diplomats are in conversations with Rwanda and other international partners on the issue.

“We hope that the Rwandan government will work with the U.S. government, with the Dutch government, and with the appropriate international authorities, the ICC and the U.N., to facilitate the transfer,” said Carson.

While Rwanda has suggested no reason it would hold up the transfer, analysts speculate officials might interfere because of Rwanda's alleged support for the Rwandan-born Ntaganda and his M23 movement, and possibly fears that he could divulge information about that relationship if brought to court.

Rwanda strongly denies supporting the rebels, who defected from the Congolese army last year, and seized territory in eastern Congo.

Ntaganda is facing charges at the ICC of being criminally responsible for war crimes as a commander of rebels in eastern Congo in the early 2000s. The crimes include murder, rape and sexual slavery.

Another former commander from the same rebel group, Thomas Lubanga, already has been tried by the ICC and sentenced to 14 years in prison for crimes relating to the forced conscription of child soldiers - charges Ntaganda also is facing.

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