International Justice/ICC: May '08

IWPR report on Bemba arrest republished in leading Kinshasa daily and distributed among victims in eastern DRC.

IWPR’s coverage of the arrest of Congo’s former vice-president and opposition leader Jean-Pierre Bemba on war crimes charges was widely republished and circulated among victims groups in the country.

Some said his arrest in Belgium was an important step in the fight against impunity, while others accused the court of siding with Congo’s president Joseph Kabila by effectively wiping out the political opposition.

Bemba, arrested in the suburbs of Brussels, where he had been living, has been indicted by the International Criminal Court, ICC, for crimes committed in Congo’s neighbour, the Central African Republic, CAR.

As chairman of the Movement for the Liberation of the Congo, MLC, and former presidential candidate, he is the highest-ranking political figure to be nabbed by the ICC for prosecution.

Bemba’s MLC was an armed group in the 2002-2003 conflict in CAR, eventually becoming a political party in DRC. Bemba was also runner-up in the 2006 DRC presidential election which was won in a run-off election by Kabila.

According to the charges unsealed by the ICC on May 24, the day he was arrested, Bemba’s forces terrorised and brutalised innocent civilians and carried out a campaign of rape and looting when in CAR.

IWPR’s May 28 story – Bemba Arrest Sets Key Precedent – was widely republished, including in the Kinshasa daily, Le Phare. The paper’s international justice reporter Désiré-Israel Kazadi praised the story’s balanced approach.

“The opinions of all the players were included,” said Kazadi, who is also a member of the Congolese Coalition for the ICC. “Le Phare usually published articles written by IWPR as they are very interesting.”

In the eastern DRC – when many of the MLC’s crimes were allegedly committed – interest is particularly high in the Bemba case.

Delly Mawazo Sesete, the director general of the NGO Creddho (Research Centre on Environment, Democracy and Human Rights), said Congolese are waiting to see if Bemba will be released on bail, with some speculating that the case against him will eventually be dropped.

With misconceptions and rumours flying around, Mawanzo said it is important that IWPR continues to translate its stories. “IWPR is one of the few bodies of information based in The Hague to maintain French as a major language of communication,” he said. We translate all of our Congo output into French, along with selected pieces from Uganda and Sudan.”

In Goma – where crimes of sexual violence are rampant – the head of group that helps women who have been raped said she shares IWPR articles with other members of her coalition as well as victims.

“The information that you send us is of great importance,” said Justine Masika, coordinator of Synergie. “What interests me personally, however, is the arrest of Bemba as it is a strong signal in the fight against impunity.”