THE HAGUE - Democratic Republic of Congo's Jean-Pierre Bemba was convicted by the international war crimes court on Monday, when it judged him guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity. He was responsible for a campaign of rape and murder in Central African Republic. Bemba, who served as vice president from 2003 to 2006, failed to discipline or restrain his Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) soldiers as they rampaged through the neighbouring country in 2002 and 2003, the International Criminal Court's presiding judge, Sylvia Steiner, said.
The case is the first in which the ICC has found a high official directly responsible for the crimes of his subordinates, as well as the first to focus primarily on crimes of sexual violence committed in war. Originally a rebel force in Congo's Northwest, the MLC is now the country's second-largest opposition party, and Bemba retains a significant following in the West. His supporters had hoped he would return home to help unblock a political stalemate.
ICC judges said Bemba had punished some low-ranking soldiers for crimes and ordered inquiries into allegations of misconduct, which included raping girls as young as 10. But those attempts were half-hearted at best.
MLC soldiers pillaged to supplement their meagre wages during the intervention in support of Central African Republic's then-President Ange-Felix Patasse, who was eventually deposed by rebels led by his successor, Francois Bozize. Bemba's supporters in Congo, meanwhile, reacted indignantly to the verdict. The son of a businessman who became rich during years of close association with former Congolese dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, Bemba founded and helped finance the MLC.
He entered government under current President Joseph Kabila in 2003 as part of a power-sharing deal that ended years of civil war.