…As ICC backs off investigation of possible U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan***
Congolese
troops killed 36 Burundian rebels in clashes with two armed groups in the east
of Democratic Republic of Congo and three soldiers were also killed, the DRC
Army said on Friday.
The
Congolese army mounted a series of operations between April 6 and April 8 in
the eastern province of South Kivu aimed at regaining territory against the
Burundian rebel groups National Liberation Forces (FNL) and the Burundian
Republican Forces (FOREBU).
“During
the three days of combat, 36 of those rebels have been neutralised,” army
spokesman, Dieudonne Kasereka, said.
FNL
leader, Gen. Aloyse Zabampema, was seriously wounded, he said.
Several
areas formerly under the control of rebels have been recovered by Congolese
soldiers, he added.
Reuters
was unable to immediately confirm the army report.
The
FNL is among several ethnic Hutu rebel groups that rose up to fight Burundi’s
Tutsi-led military government in the 1993 to 2005 civil war.
Though,
it officially disarmed in 2009, pockets of FNL fighters remained active in
eastern Congo.
Millions
were killed in the civil war in Congo from 1998 to 2003, when foreign armies
and allied rebel groups clashed over territory and mineral concessions, mostly
in the east.
Congo’s
President, Felix Tshisekedi, who took office in January, has pledged to address
the militia violence that persists in the region.
Meanwhile,
the International Criminal Court (ICC) has dismissed a request for an
investigation into war crimes committed in Afghanistan that would have called
for trying U.S. soldiers in The Hague.
ICC
judges found that “an investigation into the situation in Afghanistan at this
stage would not serve the interests of justice,” according to a statement
issued on Friday.
Prosecutors
wanted to see an investigation of crimes against humanity and war crimes possibly
perpetrated by U.S. soldiers and CIA operatives as well as Afghan security
forces and the Taliban starting from 2003.
The
court said in November 2017 after analysing evidence gathered by prosecutors
since 2006 that there was “reasonable basis to believe’’ war crimes had been
carried out by Taliban, Afghan and U.S. forces.
Some
of the evidence related to U.S. “secret detention facilities.”
While
the U.S. does not recognise the court, Afghanistan does, making a prosecution
of U.S. soldiers possible in this instance.
The
ICC judges denied prosecutors authorisation to pursue the investigation
further, saying that the difficult situation on the ground in the
conflict-stricken state make “prospects for a successful investigation and
prosecution extremely limited.”
The
administration of U.S. President Donald Trump had threatened ICC employees and
judges with sanctions over the possible legal proceedings.
The
chief prosecutor in the investigation, Fatou Bensouda, recently had her U.S.
visa revoked.
