A military court in the Democratic Republic of Congo has issued an international arrest warrant for the leader of the Congo River Alliance, which includes the M23, for war crimes and treason.
State media reported on Thursday that the warrant was issued on Tuesday against Corneille Nangaa for massacres it claimed he committed in eastern DRC’s North Kivu and, more recently, in South Kivu regions, constituting a crime under Congolese legislation as well as international law.
The court has ordered Nangaa to be arrested wherever he may be found and brought to Congolese territory. Violence erupted in Goma, a city of two million people in eastern DRC, two weeks ago when the M23 fighters launched a major offensive against government forces.
On Wednesday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimated that at least 2,800 people died in Goma due to the violence. Thousands of people have also been displaced, with many fleeing to neighbouring Rwanda, including staff from international organisations such as the UN and the World Bank.
On Monday, the M23 declared a ceasefire after fighting the Congolese army for control of Goma. Due to the renewed fighting, on Thursday, UN human rights experts raised alarm about the worsening humanitarian situation in the eastern DRC.
Speaking to reporters at UN headquarters in New York on Thursday, UN chief Antonio Guterres told reporters that the situation is “deeply concerning.”.
International Criminal Court prosecutors have also said that they were closely monitoring events after reports of possible war crimes in the battle for Goma.
Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame said on Wednesday he had discussed the situation in the eastern DRC with European Council chief Antonio Costa, and they “agreed on the need for effective de-escalation and a resolution to the conflict that… ensures lasting peace.”.
He and his DRC counterpart, Tshisekedi, are due to attend a summit of the eight-country East African Community and 16-member Southern African Development Community in the Tanzanian city of Dar-es-Salaam on Saturday.
The United Nations Human Rights Council is also due to convene a special session on the crisis and discuss solutions to stop the violence.