New international court set for first trial

The Hague: A Congolese militia leader will be the first suspect to go on trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC), on Monday, in a test of the credibility of the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal.

Thomas Lubanga, who founded and led the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) in Congo's eastern Ituri district, is accused of enlisting and conscripting children under the age of 15 to kill members of the Lendu ethnic group during the 1998-2003 war.

Ethnic violence in the Ituri region between the Hema and Lendu and clashes between militia groups vying for control of mines and taxation have killed 60,000 people since 1999.

Lubanga, 48, denies the charges and his defence counsel declined comment ahead of the trial, which begins more than six years after the Hague-based ICC was set up.

"The first trial is the first trial, so I think it's very, very important for the court to show how well it works," ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said this week.

The ICC has the backing of 108 nations, but experts say it faces many challenges including winning endorsement from powers such as the US and China, and scrutiny over its effectiveness. Moreno-Ocampo said lessons had been drawn from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, long criticised for the slow progress of its cases.

"Our policy was always to be very focused. I believe this trial will end this year," he said.

More than 30,000 children were recruited during the conflict in DRC, many plied with marijuana and told they were protected by witchcraft said Bukeni Waruzi, the Africa and Middle East co-ordinator for human rights group Witness.

Waruzi, who is working to re-integrate child soldiers in their communities, said they deserved justice but in a country marked by a culture of impunity, many of them had questioned whether justice would be served.

"I believe this will be a great lesson that the warlords in the DRC will learn that no one is untouchable," he said.