Suspected D.R.Congo war criminal, Gen. Bosco Ntaganda surrenders

Bosco Ntaganda. PHOTO/Getty Images

Barely a week after 11 African Union leaders met in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa in a bid to find a solution to bring peace to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, former Congolese general Bosco Ntaganda, wanted by the International Criminal Court for suspected war crimes in Congo, has given himself up at the U.S. Embassy in Kigali, Rwandan Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo said on Monday.

“We have learned today that Bosco Ntaganda entered Rwanda and surrendered to the U.S. Embassy in Kigali,” she posted on Twitter.

The US State Department has also issued a confirmation, saying Ntaganda asked to be turned over to the ICC and that they were working to facilitate his request.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland revealed that Ntaganda had specifically asked to be transferred to the ICC in The Hague.

He faces charges of conscripting child soldiers, murder, and ethnic persecution in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Neither Rwanda nor the US has an obligation to hand Ntaganda over to The Hague-based ICC since they are not
parties to the Rome Statute that established the court.