ICC trial of Congolese rebel Bosco Ntaganda opens

Congolese warlord Bosco Ntaganda is seen during his first appearance before judges of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, on March 26, 2013. AFP PHOTO | PETER DE JONG

What you need to know:

  • Ntaganda stands accused of orchestrating hundreds of deaths in savage attacks in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
  • Ntaganda "recruited hundreds of children... and used them to kill and to die in the fighting".

The trial of former Congolese warlord Bosco Ntaganda opened at the International Criminal Court on Wednesday, where the ex-rebel dubbed "The Terminator" faces 18 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Ntaganda, who surrendered to the US embassy in Kigali in 2013, stands accused of orchestrating hundreds of deaths in savage attacks in the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as recruiting and raping child soldiers.

Prosecutors say Ntaganda played a central role in savage ethnic attacks on civilians in the mineral-rich and restive northeastern Congolese province of Ituri in 2002-2003, in a conflict rights groups believe has left some 60,000 dead since 1999.

Ntaganda "recruited hundreds of children... and used them to kill and to die in the fighting," ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said.

Girl soldiers were "routinely raped," the prosecutor added.

Ntaganda's lawyer Stephane Bourgon said his client would seek to prove his innocence before the ICC's judges.

"Mr Ntaganda maintains his innocence in respect of every charge laid against him. He intends to present a thorough defence," Bourgon told a press conference at the ICC's fortress-like headquarters in a suburb outside the city on Wednesday.

It is the first time since the ICC opened its doors in 2003 that a suspect will be charged with raping and abusing women and children fighting within his own militia.

Ntaganda, 41, was once one of the most-wanted fugitives in Africa's Great Lakes region until he unexpectedly walked into the US embassy in the Rwandan capital Kigali in March 2013 and asked to be sent to The Hague.

He was the founder of the M23 rebel group that was defeated by the Congolese government in late 2013 after an 18-month insurgency in the vast Democratic Republic of Congo's North Kivu region.