Between Hope and Skepticism: Congolese Await the Trial of Ntaganda
Published: 2 Sep 2015
The following blog was originally posted on the International Justice Monitor website.
(2 September 2015) Today, September 2, the trial of Bosco Ntaganda began at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. This will be an important trial for the court in many ways and will be followed with particular interest both in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and in the rest of the sub-region because of the high profile nature of the perpetrator and because of the extent to which his story highlights regional engagement in the DRC.
Born in Rwanda, Ntaganda fled to the DRC as a teenager. He served as chief of military operations for the Union des Patriotes Congolais (UPC), the rebel group lead by Thomas Lubanga, from 2002 to 2005. Later he went on to fight with a number of other rebel groups including the Congrès National pour la Défense du Peuple (CNDP) and the March 23 Movement (M23), before becoming a general in Congo’s national army following the peace deal signed between the Congolese government and the CNDP.
Read the full blog here.