Warlord Bosco Ntaganda accused of crimes against humanity who has evaded International Criminal Court warrants for seven years has surrendered to the U.S. Embassy in Kigali, Rwanda.
"I can confirm that this morning [Ntaganda] walked into U.S. Embassy Kigali. He specifically asked to be transferred the ICC in the Hague. We're currently consulting with the number og governments, includung the Rwandan government, in order to facilitate his request," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters.
The ICC first issued an arrest warrant for Ntaganda who at different times has been a Congolese rebel leader and a general in the army of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in 2006. That warrant alleged that Ntaganda had forced children to became soldiers in the DRC.
A second ICC warrant issued in July 2012 accused Ntaganda of murder, rape, attacks on civilians and slavery.
Ntaganda's whereabouts had been unknown "after hundreds of his fighters fled into Rwanda or surrendered to UN peacekeepers this the weekend following their defeat by a rival faction of M23 rebels in the mineral-rich eastern Congo," the AP reported.
Ntaganda faces charges of conscripting child soldiers, murder, ethnic persecution, sexual slavery, and rape during an earlier conflict in the Ituri district of northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The experts said the rebellion was backed by Rwanda and Uganda, both of which allegedly sent troops to aid the insurgency in a deadly attack on UN peacekeepers. Both countries have repeatedly denied supporting M23.
"For over 10 years now, Ntaganda has left a trail of atrocities across eastern Congo, leading his troops to murder, rape, and pillage," said Ida Sawyer, researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The US now needs to make sure he faces justice for these alleged crimes by immediately sending him to the ICC in The Hague."
