FOR the first time since it started to function in 2002, the International Criminal Court at The Hague has passed a guilty verdict on a warlord for perpetrating, among other things, rape as an act of war. It is also the first time that the court has secured a conviction for “command responsibility”, meaning that a commander can be found guilty even if he did not himself take direct part in such crimes as rape, murder and pillage but allowed them to be committed.
Jean-Pierre Bemba (pictured), the head of the Movement for the Liberation of the Congo—and a former vice-president of the Democratic Republic of Congo—was found guilty of crimes against humanity, including rape and pillage. This took place when Mr Bemba’s militia, said to be around 1,500-strong, was sent across the border to the Central African Republic (CAR) during a period of turmoil in 2002 and 2003, when hundreds of civilians were slaughtered. Sentencing has yet to be carried out.
Whereas most international human-rights campaigners, including African ones, have welcomed the verdict, the African Union and most African governments have so far been more reticent. The...Continue reading
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