ICC: ‘Terminator’ warlord guilty of Congo war crimes

The Hague, July 8 

International Criminal Court (ICC)  judges on Monday convicted a Congolese rebel chief nicknamed “Terminator” of war crimes including horrific massacres of civilians, sexual enslavement and recruitment of child soldiers.

Former warlord Bosco Ntaganda becomes the first person to be convicted of sexual slavery by the tribunal in The Hague, in a badly-needed boost for prosecutors after a string of high-profile failures.

Ntaganda stood expressionless as judges passed sentence on a man they called a "key leader" in atrocities in eastern DR Congo’s Ituri province in 2002-3, issuing “direct orders to target and kill civilians”. In one of their most gruesome attacks, his men disembowelled babies and children or crushed their skulls.

Ntaganda was found guilty of 18 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, directing attacks against civilians, displacing civilians, rape, sexual slavery and enlisting children under the age of 15. — AFP