Amnesty Wants Lubanga Charged
Mar 20, 2003
AMNESTY International has called on the Ugandan Government to pursue and bring to justice Thomas Lubanga, a rebel leader in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), for atrocities committed by his forces in Ituri region.<br><br><br>
By John Eremu
AMNESTY International has called on the Ugandan Government to pursue and bring to justice Thomas Lubanga, a rebel leader in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), for atrocities committed by his forces in Ituri region.
The UK-based rights group yesterday released a damning report in which it accused Lubanga’s Union of Patriotic Congolese (UPC) and other armed factions in DRC of killing up to 50,000 people and displacing over 500,000 more since ethnic conflict erupted in the region in 1999.
“The Union des Patriotes Conglais (UPC) soldiers and allied Hema militias, were reportedly responsible for a spate of unlawful killings and acts of torture or ill-treatment against non-Hema who were suspected of dissidence during the UPC’s rule in Bunia and other towns between August 2002 and March 2003,†AI said in a the report.
“The Uganda Government is obliged under Article 146 of the Fourth Geneva Convention 1949, to search for persons alleged to have committed grave breaches (of the convention) and bring them, regardless of their nationality, before its own courts. Breaches include wilful killing, torture or inhuman treatment,†it added.
Godfrey Byaruhanga, AI’s researcher - Africa programme, told journalists at Hotel Africana during the report release that over three million people have been killed in DRC since fighting began in 1998. Ends
AMNESTY International has called on the Ugandan Government to pursue and bring to justice Thomas Lubanga, a rebel leader in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), for atrocities committed by his forces in Ituri region.
The UK-based rights group yesterday released a damning report in which it accused Lubanga’s Union of Patriotic Congolese (UPC) and other armed factions in DRC of killing up to 50,000 people and displacing over 500,000 more since ethnic conflict erupted in the region in 1999.
“The Union des Patriotes Conglais (UPC) soldiers and allied Hema militias, were reportedly responsible for a spate of unlawful killings and acts of torture or ill-treatment against non-Hema who were suspected of dissidence during the UPC’s rule in Bunia and other towns between August 2002 and March 2003,†AI said in a the report.
“The Uganda Government is obliged under Article 146 of the Fourth Geneva Convention 1949, to search for persons alleged to have committed grave breaches (of the convention) and bring them, regardless of their nationality, before its own courts. Breaches include wilful killing, torture or inhuman treatment,†it added.
Godfrey Byaruhanga, AI’s researcher - Africa programme, told journalists at Hotel Africana during the report release that over three million people have been killed in DRC since fighting began in 1998. Ends