Chui Arrest a Milestone in the Fight Against Impunity in DRC
Published: 1 Jun 2008
Chui Arrest a Milestone in the Fight Against Impunity in DRC
On February 6, 2008, Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui became the third war crimes suspect to be transferred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague. His arrest marks another milestone in ongoing efforts to address the impunity which facilitated the widespread commission of atrocities during the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Since 1998, the conflict is estimated to have claimed the lives of 3.8 million people, including 60,000 civilians in the Ituri region in north-eastern DRC, where Chui was active. 3.4 million civilians are estimated to have been displaced, with more than half a million in the Ituri region alone.
Chui was the former leader of the National Integrationist Front militia (also known by its French acronym FNI), affiliated with the Lendu ethnic group. He is charged with nine counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, inhumane acts, sexual enslavement and using child soldiers in the Bogoro village attack which claimed the lives of 200 civilians and in which girls were abducted and forced to be sex slaves. In 2002/3, over 8,000 civilians died and more than half a million people were displaced in Ituri as a consequence of the armed conflict between the FNI and other armed militias in the region.