Germain Katanga, second Congolese transfer to the ICC

Arrested by Congolese authorities in February 2005, former militia leader Germain Katanga, alias Simba ("lion" in Swahili), was transferred from Kinshasa to The Hague on October 18. The International Criminal Court (ICC) accuses him of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the February 23, 2003 attack on the Bogoro village in Ituri, eastern Congo. After more than three years of investigation, the ICC now has only two suspects in custody: Katanga and former militia leader Thomas Lubanga, who was transferred from Kinshasa to The Hague on March 17, 2006. In Congo, and particularly in Ituri (the only province affected by the ICC indictments), the wait has been long. In Bunia, Ituri's capital, reactions to this second transfer are decidedly mixed. For Godefroy Mpiana, head of the local association Justice Plus, "the proceedings took a long time. The court really lost its credibility here on the ground. So the fact that it has a second defendant, with more charges against him than foreseen, is really a good thing. We were requesting that murder charges be added [for Lubanga, who has only been indicted for the use of child soldiers], so we welcome this new accusation."

"But what we fear now," adds Mpiana, "are the consequences this transfer will have on the disarmament process." In Bunia, the transfer was announced the same day as the deadline set by the government for the disarmament of the Ituri militia. Interviewed two days later, the director of the local radio station Canal Révélation, Richard Pituwa, said, "I spoke with those close to Katanga, who are disappointed, when they were laying down their weapons. So they have not turned in any weapons, and their officers tied to the FARDC [Congolese armed forces] went into the bush to try and bring back their personnel for the disarmament, but they did not return as planned. We still do not know what is happening, but we are worried."

Reactions were also mixed among the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC), the majority Hema movement that Lubanga led and which was opposed by Katanga's majority Lendu and Ngiti Patriotic Forces of Resistance of Ituri (FRPI). According to Pituwa, who interviewed the head of the UPC the day of the transfer, "They recognize that their own were massacred, but they say that beyond Katanga they really see other people who financed it. They reproached the ICC for focusing on the Hema-Lendu conflict when there are other ethnicities involved in this conflict and especially people who are in Kinshasa or Kampala." And ordinary people? "The people expect that in Uganda the investigations will advance as well, but ultimately everyone sees that this very large machine [the ICC] is only succeeding in little Ituri, where there is a strong international presence. That is what makes it easier."

For human rights observers, there is little doubt as to Katanga's and the FRPI's responsibility in the Bogoro attack. Anneke van Woudenberg, Human Rights Watch's senior researcher on Congo, says, "Bogoro is a Hema village in southern Ituri that is a stronghold for the UPC. The FRPI attacked it on February 24, 2003, killing civilians and soldiers. The UPC, short of ammunition, left the area, and those who could not flee—women, the elderly and children—took refuge in a school. At least 200 people were killed."

However, several observers also describe the ties that existed between the FRPI militias and the RCD-KML, a movement led by the current minister of Foreign Affairs, Mbusa Nyamwisi. Katanga's arrest warrant was issued July 2. Some Congolese observers argue that this minister, who had ties both to Lubanga and Katanga, could have prevented an earlier attempt, in mid-July, to transfer Katanga to the ICC. Questioned about the delay between the warrant and the transfer, the Court invokes Congolese political agenda and organizational issues.

Van Woudenberg believes, "The time has come, however, for the prosecutor to continue his investigations to find out who is behind these war lords in Kinshasa, Kampala or Kigali. Two weeks before his transfer, I met Katanga, who told me that he had received military assistance from Kinshasa. He gave names. It's up to the prosecutor to explore these leads. He has the means and the professionals; he can and must search higher up." Not long ago, Arthur Kepel, analyst at the International Crisis Group, was working at the United Nations Mission in Congo. He too wonders, "Militia leaders are arrested who committed crimes but no long represent a threat today. But as far as I know, there is no weapons manufacturer in Ituri. So who supplied the weapons? Who supported these militia leaders? Where are the political leaders who are behind these crimes?"

The ICC does not seem likely to respond to these questions any time soon. After a year without any major jurisprudence, no visible progress on the four official "situations", and no trials at the ICC, Katanga's transfer comes at an opportune moment: just a few weeks before its annual meeting with donors.