Features

May 27, 2008

Africa and the ICC

NEW YORK - Belgium's arrest of Jean-Pierre Bemba for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Central Africa Republic is a significant step toward holding militia leaders and governments accountable for virtual lawlessness in central Africa, the International Center for Transitional Justice said.

The International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant against Mr. Bemba on May 23, charging him as commander of the Movement for the Liberation of Congo with four counts of war crimes and two counts of crimes against humanity for alleged torture and alleged hundreds of rapes of civilians by MLC forces between October 2002 and March 2003.

"This should be only the beginning of actions by the ICC against senior leaders," said Suliman Baldo, director of ICTJ's Africa Program. "Violence by militias rules daily life in much of the Central African Republic as well as the Democratic Republic of Congo. Neighboring states remain involved."

"We are pleased that authorities in Belgian promptly enforced the ICC arrest warrant," Mr. Baldo said. "We urge the Congo and other African states to bring commanders and abusive members of regular forces suspected of war crimes to justice in their own countries, through fair trials."

In 2002, the then president of the Central Africa Republic asked Mr. Bemba's MLC militia to subdue an attempted coup. Accusations that the MLC carried out widespread looting, murder and rape led to an ICC investigation that began in March 2007.

Mr. Bemba was one of four vice-presidents of the Congo from 2003-2006, during a political transition that attempted to balance competing demands of rebel leaders. After Mr. Bemba's defeat in presidential elections in 2006, Congo's government held him responsible for violence in Kinshasa, the capital, and for refusing to disarm the MLC. Congo issued an arrest warrant charging him with treason.

"Mr. Bemba was not the only rebel leader in Congo," Mr. Baldo said. "Other prominent figures also used militias as proxies during the 1998-2002 war and for months after its official end. The ICC should investigate the conduct of their forces within the DRC and the conduct of regional powers, including Rwanda and Uganda, that backed competing rebel factions."

The ICTJ assists countries pursuing accountability for past mass atrocity or human rights abuse. The Center works in societies emerging from repressive rule or armed conflict, as well as in established democracies where historical injustices or systemic abuse remain unresolved.