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Bogoro Attack Allegedly Targeted Tribal Alliance
Prosecution witness says Katanga intended to undermine efforts
by Hema and Lendu
to strengthen links.By Anjana Sundaram - International Justice -
ICCACR Issue 273,15 Oct 10
A witness told the International Criminal Court, ICC, last week
that alleged Congolese warlord Germain Katanga launched an attack
on the Ituri town of Bogoro inorder to scupper a tribal alliance
that excluded his own tribe.
Continuing his testimony from the previous week, the prosecution
witness, a former commander in the Ugandan armed forces, testified
with face and voice distortion.
He told the court that the February 24, 2003 attack on the
mainly Hema-populatedvillage had been carried out to weaken an
alliance between the Lendu and Hema people, which Katangas own
Ngiti tribe was not part of.
The witness recalled that the Lendu and Hema ethnic groups had
been strengthening their political ties during that period. The
Front for Integration and Peace in Ituri, FIPI, which brought the
two ethnic groups together under a single political umbrella, had
been established at the end of 2002.
He said that during several encounters with Katanga in late
2003, he heard the alleged militia leader boast of military
triumphs in Ituri as a sign to the people.to understand that [the
FIPI] would suit the Lendu but not the Ngiti.
Katanga was really proud of that exploit and happy with the
results of the assaulton Bogoro, continued the witness, adding that
a similar motive lay behind an attack on the village of Mandro, not
far from the provincial capital of Bunia, which occurred just days
after the Bogoro attack.
Katanga is standing trial before the ICC along with Mathieu
Ngudjolo. Both men are charged with three counts of crimes against
humanity and seven counts of warcrimes, including the use of child
soldiers, murder, pillaging, sexual slavery and rape.
Katanga was allegedly the commander-in-chief of the Patriotic
Forces of Resistan
ce of Ituri, FRPI, while Ngudjolo is said to have led the
Nationalist and Integrationist Front, FNI.
The two men are accused of planning the attack on Bogoro in
order to secure theroute between Bunia and the Ugandan border.
However, Ngudjolos reaction to the Bogoro strike was markedly
different from thatof his co-defendant, according to the
witness.
The witness - who claimed to have also served with the FRPI -
said that Ngudjolohad shown remorse for his actions during a
meeting at the Mango Hill hotel in Kampala, between May and June
2004, when another militia group, the RevolutionaryMovement of
Congo, MRC, was created.
The witness said that Ngudjolo expressed regret for killing so
many Hema people,which he claimed to have done mistakenly.
