French authorities have arrested in Paris the alleged leader of a Rwandan rebel group accused of mass rapes in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the International Criminal Court (ICC) said on Monday.
Callixte Mbarushimana, described as a leader of the rebel group Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda, FDLR), was held after a sealed warrant was issued for his arrest on allegations the rebel group was involved in hundreds of rapes in DRC's North Kivu province. The suspect will remain in the custody of the French authorities pending their full consideration of this request unless the Chambre d’instruction decides otherwise, the ICC said on its website.
Mbarushimana, 47, faces five charges of crimes against humanity and six war crimes charges for murders, rapes, torture and destruction of property in eastern DR Congo in 2009, said the ICC. He was arrested in Paris, where he has lived as a leader-in-exile of the Rwandan Hutu rebel group the FDLR, having received refugee status in France in 2003. The crimes were said to have been committed during a series of "widespread and systematic attacks" by FDLR fighters against civilians in the Nord Kivu and Sud Kivu provinces.
New York-based Human Rights Watch said the arrest sent a strong signal that the ICC was at work investigating crimes in the Kivus and would pursue abusive commanders.
"Civilians in eastern Congo have endured terrible suffering inflicted by various armed groups for many years," said Géraldine Mattioli-Zeltner, international justice advocate at Human Rights Watch. "The arrest of Callixte Mbarushimana sends a powerful message that those responsible for horrific crimes will face justice no matter where they try to hide."
Hutu rebels first fled to eastern Congo after the Rwandan genocide, in which 800,000 ethnic-Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed. They formed a succession of rebel groups, including the FDLR, and frequently attacked the Congolese population. The Congolese army is tracking down the remaining FDLR rebels in an operation supported by United Nations peacekeepers.
Rwanda’s Justice Minister said his government was pleased with the arrest. Tharcisse Karugarama said, “It is good news that Callixte Mbarushimana has been (arrested) by the French judicial authority. Good news in the sense that, first, there was an international arrest warrant against him issued by the Rwandan government in respect of (the alleged) act of genocide committed in Rwanda in 1994.”
The FDLR also participated in a series of attacks on 13 villages in eastern Congo between July 30 and August 2 this year that resulted in the rape of more than 300 civilians. The FDLR’s president, Ignace Murwanashyaka, was arrested last November in Germany. He is awaiting trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The horrors of the DR Congo conflict were recently documented in a 566-page report, DRC: Mapping human rights violations 1993-2003, by the UN.
