Warlord sentenced by ICC, while fighting continues in Congo

The International Criminal Court handed down its first sentence today, imprisoning for 14 years a Congolese warlord convicted of using child soldiers. Thomas Lubanga was convicted in March of recruiting and using children in his militia, sending them to kill and be killed during fighting in Congo's eastern Ituri region in 2002. Meanwhile, Congo's newest rebel group has retreated into the mountains of North Kivu, retreating from areas it seized over the weekend.

“The fighting over the last few days means a lot of people have been displaced,” said Krista Armstrong, the representative for the International Committee for the Red Cross in Kinshasa.

She told Vatican Radio several refugees have fled to neighbouring Uganda, but others are still in areas of fighting.

“Some people are remaining on sites [where the fighting is happening], so there is also concerns for their health and longer term well-being,” she said.

The rebels are defectors from the Congolese army, and claim the government has not fulfilled promises made in a 2009 peace deal that had paved the way for them to join the army in the first place. They claim to have left population centres in order to give the government time to negotiate with them.

“The situation is on-going. It still remains precarious,” Armstrong said. “However, hopefully, the security will return slightly so communities can return to some areas.”

Listen to interview by Charles Collins with Krista Armstrong: