THE HAGUE, March 18 - A Congolese militia leader accused of conscripting
children for war will be the first suspect to face trial at the International
Criminal Court, the chief prosecutor of the ICC said on Saturday.
Thomas Lubanga arrived at an ICC temporary detention centre late on Friday
night after having been flown from the Democratic Republic of Congo aboard a
French military plane one day after Congolese authorities surrendered him to the
court.
"Thomas Lubanga Dyilo was transferred to The Hague and is now in the custody
of the Court," the ICC's Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told a press
conference.
Lubanga was the founder and leader of one of the most dangerous militia in
Congo's lawless northeastern district of Ituri, Moreno-Ocampo said.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed during years of militia violence
in Ituri, one of Congo's most violent areas.
Lubanga has been charged with enlisting children under the age of 15 as
soldiers, but investigations continue and the charges against him could yet be
expanded, Moreno-Ocampo said.
"These are extremely serious crimes. Forcing children to be killers
jeopardises the future of mankind," he added.
"We will show pictures of Thomas Lubanga inspecting the camps where children
from seven years were training to become soldiers," Moreno-Ocampo said.
The conflict in the mineral-rich area pits various ethnic-based militias
against each other and has displaced some 100,000 people since December,
hampering the former Belgian colony's efforts to recover from a wider five-year
war.
International pressure to arrest Ituri's warlords, some of whom have joined
Congo's national army as part of a peace deal, increased last month after U.N.
Bangladeshi peacekeepers were killed in an ambush by unknown gunmen.
The ICC was set up as the first permanent global war crimes court to try
individuals, and Lubanga is the first suspect to be delivered into its custody.