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Ntaganda ‘key’ to ethnic crimes, ICC hears

The judges have two months to make a decision on proceeding to trial.

The first-ever suspect to voluntarily surrender to the ICC, Ntaganda walked into the US embassy in the Rwandan capital Kigali 11 months ago and asked to be sent to The Hague.

Observers said Ntaganda was possibly fearing for his life as a fugitive from a rival faction in the M23 movement, although his motives remain unclear.

The ICC had issued two arrest warrants against Ntaganda — the first in 2006 and a second with additional charges in 2012.

The Rwandan-born Ntaganda is suspected over attacks on a number of Ituri towns over a period of a year starting in September 2002.

Prosecutors accuse Ntaganda of leading a November 2002 attack on the gold mining town of Mongbwalu that lasted six days and left 200 villagers dead.

Born in 1973, Ntaganda is the fifth African in ICC custody.

His former FPLC commander Thomas Lubanga was sentenced to 14 years in jail in 2012 on similar charges, the court’s only conviction since it was set up 11 years ago.

Ntaganda had managed to evade arrest after the tribunal’s first warrant was issued mainly because he remained a powerful commander.

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In 2006, he became a military leader for the CNDP, an ethnic Tutsi rebel group led by Laurent Nkunda.

The insurgency was ended by a peace deal that integrated the ex-rebels into the army. Ntaganda was made a general and began building a parallel command inside the military.

He activated that network to form the M23 in 2012 when President Joseph Kabila signalled he was ready to comply with the ICC warrant and have him arrested.

UN and other experts accuse Rwanda of being Ntaganda’s master and pulling all the strings in the M23, an allegation Kigali has consistently denied.

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