Minority Rights Group International today welcomed the surrender of Congolese General Bosco Ntaganda to the US embassy in Kigali, Rwanda, and called on the US authorities to transfer him promptly to the International Criminal Court where he is indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
'Bosco's surrender is a rare blow to the impunity for mass crimes that still prevails in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo', said Mark Lattimer, Director of Minority Rights Group International (MRG), 'But he is not the only one responsible for the mass killing, rape and recruitment of child soldiers that continue in the DRC today.'
'The DRC Government and the international community should now end the disastrous policy of integrating into the Congolese armed forces those who have been responsible for grave human rights abuses,' he added.
MRG has campaigned for a decade to bring to justice those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the DRC, and to protect the rights of the Congo's Batwa and Bambuti Pygmy communities, who have suffered grave abuses from all sides in the DRC's long-running conflict.
Notes for editors: Bosco Ntaganda has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for seven counts of war crimes, including conscription of child soldiers, and three counts of crimes against humanity: murder, rape and sexual slavery, and persecution. A former rebel known by the nom de guerre of 'Terminator', he was integrated into the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2009 but rebelled again last year.
For more information contact:
Emma Eastwood, MRG Media Officer T: +44 (0)207 4224205 M: +44 (0)7989 699984 E: emma.eastwood@mrgmail.org Twitter: @MinorityRights
Or
Mark Lattimer, Director M: +44 (0)7970 651342