Move over, Arnold — there’s a new “Terminator” in town. And this one’s not heading to the gubernatorial halls of Sacramento, but to the courtrooms of The Hague.
A Congolese warlord known as “the Terminator” is being sought for prosecution, the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague has revealed.
The arrest warrant for Bosco Ntaganda, was issued in 2006 but not made public and he is still at large.
He is accused of conscripting children under 15 to fight in hostilities in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo between July 2002 and December 2003.
Interestingly, the ICC said it had not publicized its arrest warrant for Ntaganda earlier because this may have “hindered the court’s investigations.” This illustrates an important dynamic in the Court’s work — and one that we have previously highlighted in reference to Uganda. Simply put, the ICC is better able to achieve its mission of bringing justice and accountability to a region when peace has already been secured. Whereas northern Uganda fell agonizingly short of a landmark peace deal, a ceasefire in eastern Congo was signed in January. Even as this peace still needs to be consolidated, now seems to be the time to begin the process of bringing to justice those who inflicted such untold misery on the innocents of eastern Congo.