By Jean-Yves Kamale, KINSHASA DR
Congo
A military court in Congo on Thursday sentenced 25 people, including the leader of a rebel coalition, to death after a high-profile televised trial that started late last month.
Corneille Nangaa (pictured with dark glasses), leader of
the Alliance Fleuve Congo, or AFC, was found guilty of war crimes,
participation in an insurrection and treason. Naanga and 19 other defendants
sentenced to death were absent from the trial as they are currently on the run.
“This nauseating judicial saga
reinforces our struggle for democratic normality in Congo,” Nangaa told the
Associated Press in a text message from an undisclosed location.
The AFC is a
political-military movement launched by Nangaa in December with the aim of
uniting armed groups, political parties and civil society against Congo’s
government. One of its most renown members is the M23,
an armed group accused of mass killings in eastern Congo’s decadeslong
conflict.
Congo’s president Felix Tshisekedi, along with
U.S. and U.N. experts, accuse neighboring Rwanda of giving military backing to
M23. Rwanda denies the claim, but in February it effectively admitted that it
has troops and missile systems in eastern Congo to safeguard its security,
pointing to a buildup of Congolese forces near the border.
The court’s decision against Nangaa follows the announcement of a cease-fire between Congo and Rwanda last week following talks mediated by Angola. The cease-fire took effect on Sunday but prospects are slim with previous truces not lasting more than a few weeks and fighting having already resumed near the border with Uganda.
The death sentence against
Nangaa might be a way to have more leverage in possible future negotiations
with Rwanda or the armed groups themselves, Yvon Muya, a conflict studies
researcher at Saint Paul University, said.
The decadeslong conflict in
eastern Congo has produced one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises,
with over
100 armed groups fighting in the region, most for land and control of mines
with valuable minerals. Some are fighting to try to protect their communities.
Many groups are accused of
carrying out mass killings, rapes and other human rights violations.
The violence has displaced
about 7 million people, including thousands living in temporary camps. Many
others are beyond the reach of aid.
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