DRC: M23 Rebel Surrenders to US Embassy

Kinshasa---Democratic Republic of Congo fugitive rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda, has handed himself to the US embassy in Rwanda asking to be turned over to the International Criminal Court where he is wanted for suspected war crimes.

"We have learned today that Bosco Ntaganda entered Rwanda and surrendered to US Embassy in Kigali," read the message on Rwanda’s foreign minister Louise Mushikiwabo posted on her twitter account Monday.

General Ntaganda, who led a mutiny in April against the Congolese government, is wanted by the ICC on account of an arrest warrant released in 2006 for war crimes allegedly committed during his days as rebel leader between 2002 and 2003.

The US State department has confirmed Gen Ntaganda’s surrender to its embassy in Kigali, saying they were in contact with the ICC and the Rwandan government to facilitate his request.

"I can confirm that Bosco Ntaganda... walked into the US embassy in Kigali this [Monday] morning” US state department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. "He specifically asked to be transferred to the ICC in The Hague."

Neither Rwanda nor the US is obliged to hand Gen Ntaganda over to The Hague-based court since they are not bound by the Rome statute that established the court.

Fadi el-Abdallah, the ICC spokesman said on Monday that the court was trying to establish Ntaganda’s surrender and will make possible arrangements on the co-operations.

"If this information is confirmed, the court will make the necessary arrangements for the transfer of Ntaganda to The Hague. Nothing prevents a state which is not a signatory of the Rome Statute from 
cooperating with the court on a voluntary basis," he said.

On Sunday the DR Congo government reported that Gen Ntaganda had fled to Rwanda following defeat of his followers by a rival faction of the M23 movement.

Ntaganda, nicknamed the “Terminator” has been indicted by the ICC for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, including conscription of child soldiers during his rebellion days in the second Congo conflict that claimed over a million lives in fighting, displacing millions others.

His National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) among other rebel groups were integrated into the Congolese army as part of the 2009 peace deal.

The breakaway from the national army in 2009 cites failed promises by the government but it is viewed to be due to a fall out with President Joseph Kabila who had wanted to hand him over to the ICC.

According to UN, Ntaganda has managed to amass considerable wealth by running a large extortion empire in North Kivu, running rogue checkpoints and taxing the area's many mines.

His move to hand himself in to the ICC is expected to shade more evidence on allegations claimed by a UN report which asserts that both Rwanda and Uganda have been supporting M23 rebels. Both Uganda and Rwanda governments have denied the claims.

Kano, Nigeria

Bus Station Explosion Kills Dozens in Nigeria

A series of explosions at a bus station have killed at least 25 people in Kano city in northern Nigeria, a region where radical Islamist group Boko Haram is waging insurgency against the government.

Five blasts went off on Monday at a bus station in Kano’s Sabon Gari area, destroying several buses packed with passengers waiting to leave for their various destinations. A witness at the bus park said a car laden with explosives rammed into the buses, setting off the explosion.

"There was a huge blast at the New Road motor park," Tunde Kazeem area mechanic was quoted by the al-Jazeera news agency saying. "The blast was followed by billows of black smoke and there was a lot of confusion with people rushing out of the motor park, some of them with blood on their clothes."

The Nigerian authorities are yet to confirm the details or the death toll of the explosion, as investigations and evacuation processes continue with security forces cordoning of the area.

No group has claimed the Monday attack so far but accusations have turned to Boko Haram which has become synonymous with similar attacks in northern Nigeria.

The station serves mostly immigrants from Nigeria’s Christian south in the most Islamic northern city which among others that have witnessed dreaded attacks by Islamist group. In last year January the station was attacked in an explosion wounded several people that blamed on Boko Haram.

Meanwhile the father of a French family kidnapped in Cameroon in mid-February has pleaded in a video-taped message for demands by Boko Haram group believed to be holding them hostage be met.

Tanguy Moulin-Fournier, the head of the hostage family including four children, the youngest of whom is four years old said they had been held for 25 days in a desert region where life was very difficult especially for the children.

“Each day we are losing our strength and we are beginning to become ill,” he said. “We can’t last much longer.”

The recorded message is believed to be addressing to the Cameroonian authorities, and threatens of more attacks if demands are not met.

“They will only liberate us if the men that you have arrested in Cameroon are set free.

“Boko Haram does not want a conflict with Cameroon, but if you continue to arrest its members, there will be kidnappings and suicide attacks in Cameroon.”

Efforts by the government to draw the radical group into peace talks to end the long-standing insurgency have severally failed, as it continues to infuse terror in its pursuit to instill Islamic laws throughout Nigeria which is divided along Muslim north and mostly Christian south.

Despite of a brutal repression from the government that seemed to destroy its network, the al-Qaeda-linked group has regrouped and become fierce in its recent attacks.