Notorious DRC warlord arrested
2005-03-23 12:33
Kinshasa - Soldiers arrested a warlord accused of years of atrocities in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where United Nations officials say rival militias have created the world's worst ongoing humanitarian crisis, the government said.
Security officials arrested Thomas Lubanga late on Saturday in Kinshasa, the capital in the south-west of the country, government spokesperson Henri Mova Sakanyi said on Tuesday. Lubanga, who heads the Union of Congolese Patriots, is being held at Kinshasa's notorious Makala prison, said Sakanyi.
Lubanga is the latest of several militia chiefs arrested recently as DRC?s struggling government and UN peacekeepers attempt to bring order to lawless Ituri province, where ethnic militias terrorize and prey on the local population.
Fighting between ethnic Hema and Lendu militias in Ituri has killed more than 50 000 people since 1999 and made 600 000 homeless, aid groups say.
Thousands are dying
In clashes between Lubanga's militia of Hema fighters and Lendu militia and tribespeople, fighters on both sides have been accused of killings, decapitation, torture, rape and forced labour.
Thousands are dying in Ituri every month, UN humanitarian chief Jan Egeland said last week, calling it the world's worst ongoing humanitarian crisis.
For several years, the tall and reedy Lubanga was a feared warlord around Bunia, Ituri's capital. Often flamboyant, he danced on tabletops during news conferences and was protected by twitchy children carrying Kalashnikovs, some as young as 10-years-old.
"Now Thomas Lubanga is in the judge's hands," said Sakanyi. He declined to say when a trial would be scheduled.
Lubanga moved from Bunia a year ago to establish his militia as a political party in Kinshasa, from where authorities accuse him of sending orders to his fighters.
Last month, Lendu militia ambushed and killed nine UN peacekeepers who were protecting thousands of residents displaced by fighting. The bodies of the peacekeepers were then mutilated, UN officials said.
Four days later, police arrested Lendu warlord Floribert Ndjabu in the killings along with two army generals from his militia given army posts in January as part of a power-sharing agreement to end the war.
The following day, peacekeepers killed as many as 60 Lendu militiamen after they said their patrol was fired upon as it shut down a militia camp.
UN peacekeepers stationed in Ituri have continued to aggressively close the camps and disarm mostly teenage gunmen.
They have disarmed hundreds in recent months.
The United Nations and international community also have put pressure on DRC?s government to crack down on the militias.
The United Nations and Human rights groups say Uganda continues to feed guns and ammunition over DRC?s porous and isolated borders. - AP
- SAPA