The Democratic Republic of Congo yesterday transferred a militia chief to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague to face war crimes charges, including sexual enslavement and using child soldiers.
Germain Katanga, 29, who once led the Forces for Patriotic Resistance in Ituri (FRPI), was flown out of Kinshasa early yesterday, a senior ICC official in the capital said.
Katanga, whose forces operated in the north-east Ituri region, was arrested in Kinshasa in 2005.
He faces three charges relating to crimes against humanity and six relating to war crimes.
He is accused of murder, sexual enslavement and forcing children younger than 15 years to fight as soldiers, as well as having led attacks that deliberately targeted the civilian population.
The prosecutor's office had presented its charges in sealed documents in June of this year, said the official.
"The warrant was issued on July 2 and executed overnight with the collaboration of the Congolese courts," he added.
The ICC was created five years ago as the world's first permanent war crimes court, but has yet to conduct a single trial.
The first trial -- of another Congolese warlord, Thomas Lubanga -- is not expected to begin in February next year.
After Lubanga, Katanga is only the second war crimes suspect to be transferred into ICC custody.
Katanga was taken from Kinshasa central prison and flown out from Ndjili international airport on a civilian aircraft chartered by the ICC.
The FRPI was set up at the end of 2002. Its members, from the Lendu and Ngiti ethnic groups, are suspected of having taken part in massacres of another ethnic group, the Hema.
In December 2004 Katanga, along with other Ituri militia chiefs, had been promoted to the rank of general in the DR Congo army in exchange for ordering his forces to disarm.
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