A commander in a Central African Republic militia has been arrested and turned over to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, the Netherlands, to face charges that include murder and torture, the court announced on Saturday.
The court, established to prosecute atrocities including war crimes, said that Central African Republic authorities surrendered Alfred Yekatom that day.
ICC spokesman Fadi El Abdallah would not say whether Yekatom had already been sent to the court’s headquarters.
The Central African Republic has been plagued by interreligious and intercommunal fighting since 2013, when predominantly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power in the capital and mainly Christian Anti-Balaka militias fought back. The violence left thousands of people dead and displaced hundreds of thousands more.
The court alleges that Yekatom commanded about 3,000 Anti-Balaka fighters responsible for atrocities committed between December 2013 and August 2014 in the capital, Bangui, and other locations.
“Now, he must answer in court for his actions,” ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said in a statement.
Bensouda paid tribute to witnesses who helped her build the case against Yekatom, saying that “justice would not be possible” without them.
“We cannot undo the suffering that has been inflicted on victims, but we remain committed to doing our part ... to advance justice and accountability in the Central African Republic,” Bensouda added.
The court said that Yekatom would make his first appearance before judges “in due course,” when he will be asked if he understands the charges and his rights.
The International Federation for Human Rights welcomed Yekatom’s transfer to ICC custody.
The move “confirms the authorities’ commitment to cooperate with the ICC when they are unable to pursue those most responsible for war crimes,” said Drissa Traore, a vice president of the federation.
The government of the Central African Republic in May 2014 asked the ICC to investigate crimes allegedly committed by both the Seleka and the Anti-Balaka.
Traore urged the court to follow up the charges against Yekatom with a case against Seleka leaders “so that the ICC can target the perpetrators of these crimes and better reflect the totality of abuses suffered by victims.”
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was