Congo ex-warlord sent to international court

By Joe Bavier

Mathieu Ngudjolo was the head of the Front of Nationalists and Integrationists (FPI) militia during conflict in northeast Ituri Province that grew out Congo's 1998-2003 war.

"He left very early this morning ... escorted by a security detail from the ICC," Paul Madidi, the court's spokesman in Democratic Republic of Congo's capital Kinshasa, told Reuters.

ICC.

The ICC is also in the process of prosecuting Germain Katanga, another Ituri ex-militia leader who is accused of murder, sexual slavery and using child soldiers.

Last month, the government signed peace deals with 25 armed groups, including renegade General Laurent Nkunda's Tutsi insurgency, in a bid to finally stabilise the east, where fighting has continued despite the end to the broader war.

Ngudjolo was one of three Ituri warlords to sign a similar peace agreement with the government in 2006, promising to disarm in return for officers' commissions in the Congolese army.

"Ngudjolo's arrest shows that justice will reach those who seem untouchable because of their official position," Param-Preet Singh, a lawyer with New York based Human Rights Watch (HRW), said in a statement on Thursday.

The international court plans to prosecute Ngudjolo on three counts of crimes against humanity and six counts of war crimes.

While welcoming the move to send Ngudjolo to The Hague, HRW's Singh said the court must extend its investigation into crimes into Ituri to include those responsible for backing the warlords both militarily and financially.

"The ICC prosecutor should investigate their links to officials in Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda, who might also be responsible for atrocities."