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Congolese government soldiers in the troubled province of North Kivu, where various militia groups sow death and terror. Stock Photography.
A former leader of the Congolese-Kinshasa militia has been sentenced to life in prison for a series of war crimes, including murder and high-profile mass rapes.
The trial of Ntabo Ntaberi Sheka, who was charged with murder, rape, sexual slavery and use of child soldiers, has dragged on for two years. The UN representative, Leila Zerrougui in Congo-Kinshasa, welcomes the ruling, which she believes proves that “impunity is not inevitable” in the country.
Sheka founded the NDC militia, which operated in the troubled North Kivu province. He claimed that the purpose of the NDC was to fight the Rwandan Huture rebels.
An arrest warrant for Sheka was issued in 2011. This came after a series of attacks in the summer of 2010 when the NDC and two other militia groups raped almost 400 people in 13 villages. He surrendered to the UN peacekeepers in 2017 and was later brought to justice along with two other suspected war criminals, one of whom was sentenced to life in prison and the other was acquitted.
