war crimes

Dominic Ongwen, a Ugandan child soldier who became commander of the infamous Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), was sentenced to 25 years in prison for war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court on Thursday. Ongwen, 45, whose nom de guerre was "White Ant", was found guilty in February of 61 charges, including murder, rape and sexual addiction during a period of terror in the early 2000s by the LRA, led by the fugitive Joseph Kony. Prosecutors had asked for a 20-year prison…

After terrorizing Libya's Tarhuna for several years during their rule over the city, the Kaniyat militia has still not been held accountable for its war crimes as authorities continue to locate mass graves. "They spared no child, no woman, no old man," said Mohamed Amer, mourning the murdered under the reign of terror by six brothers who ruled the Libyan city with bloodshed. "I am the father of the martyr Moaid, cold-blooded killed by the criminal gang Kaniyat," said Amer, a silver-haired father in his…

The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Tuesday upheld the conviction of former Congolese militia leader Bosco Ntaganda for war crimes and crimes against humanity and upheld his 30-year prison sentence. "After dismissing Mr Ntaganda's grounds of appeal in its entirety, the Board of Appeal hereby confirms the judgment of the Chamber," said Judge Howard Morrison. Ntaganda's lawyers had tried to overturn his conviction, saying the original trial was full of legal errors. But the appeals judges rejected all of the…

The UN and an Ethiopian rights agency said on Thursday that they had agreed to conduct a joint investigation into abuses in the fought Tigray region, where fighting continues as government troops chase the region's fleeing leaders. An investigation of all parties to the conflict is "part of the much-needed responsibility process" for the victims of the conflict, the government-established Ethiopian Human Rights Commission and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement. "With several…

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Thursday that her office had confirmed serious violations that could constitute "war crimes and crimes against humanity" in Ethiopia's Tigray region, including by Eritrean troops. In a statement, Michelle Bachelet stressed the urgent need for an independent inquiry into the situation in Tigray, which has been shaken by months of fighting. Her office had "managed to confirm information about some of the events that occurred in November last year,…

Extremists, government forces and a "private militia" supporting authority have indiscriminately killed hundreds of civilians in Mozambique's troubled northeastern region, Amnesty International said in a report on Tuesday. Violence perpetrated by armed Islamists in the gas-rich province of Cabo Delgado has left at least 2,600 people dead since 2017, about half of them civilians, according to a non-governmental organization called Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED), Agence France- Press (AFP)…