Congolese ‘Terminator’ rebel guilty of war crimes

International Criminal Court judges yesterday convicted a Congolese rebel chief nicknamed “Terminator” of war crimes including massacring civilians and sexual enslavement, in a badly-needed victory for prosecutors in The Hague. Bosco Ntaganda’s forces carried out horrific attacks including one in a banana field that left babies and children disembowelled or with their heads smashed in, judges said. The 45-year-old was a “key leader” who recruited child soldiers and gave “direct orders to target and kill” non-combatants in Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ituri region in 2002 and 2003. Ntaganda was found guilty of 18 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, directing attacks against civilians, displacing civilians, rape, sexual slavery and enlisting children under the age of 15.