Ngudjolo and Katanga: Their Role in the DRC Conflict and the Need for Broader Accountability
Published: 4 Mar 2011
By: Olivia Bueno
At the International Criminal Court, Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui are charged with the particularly bloody joint attack on the village of Bogoro in February 2003. The facts of this attack are particularly disturbing: at least 200 civilians are estimated to have been killed, civilian women were raped and held as sexual slaves, and children were used to perpetrate theses atrocities. Unlike the Lubanga prosecution, which has been criticized both for its procedural mishaps and for the narrow scope of the charges, the case against Katanga and Ngudjolo has both run fairly smoothly and embraced a broader range of charges. This broader scope of charges is critical to fulfilling the expectations of victims. In the words of one Congolese activist, is the trial is “an important process because the court listened to the victims.”
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