DRC rebels eye immunity from prosecution

05 Feb 2009 07:19 - Staff Reporter

Rebels in the DRC asked Kinshasa this week to grant them immunity for acts carried out during the recent war in the country's eastern region.

Dissident Tutsi rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) asked Kinshasa this week to grant them immunity for acts carried out during the recent war in the country’s eastern Nord-Kivu region.

Members of the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) want guarantees they will not be prosecuted after their self-proclaimed leader, Bosco Ntaganda, declared the war with the Congolese army was over on January 16.

In a statement, the CNDP called on the government “to introduce a law for an amnesty for insurrectional acts and acts of war”. Ntaganda replaced former rebel leader Laurent Nkunda, saying Nkunda had lost his authority over the rebel group.

He quickly put the CNDP militia “at the full disposal” of the Congolese army in their fight against Rwandan Hutu rebels, the Democratic Force for the Liberation of Rwanda, who took refuge in eastern CDRC after participating in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide.—Sapa-AFP