Congo’s Army Kills Top Rwandan Rebel Suspected of War Crimes

(Bloomberg) -- The Democratic Republic of Congo’s army said it killed the military commander of a Rwandan rebel group whom the International Criminal Court suspected of war crimes.

Sylvestre Mudacumura of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda was killed around 5 a.m. when his camp was attacked by government forces in eastern Congo, regional army spokesman Richard Kasonga said by phone Wednesday.

The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Mudacumura in 2012 for crimes including murder, mutilation and torture, which he allegedly committed between 2009 and 2010 in the Congo’s Kivu provinces. He also served in the presidential guard of Rwanda’s army during the 1994 genocide, and had been at large for years.

Rwanda welcomed the news, saying it will help bring peace in the region. Mudacumura’s death confirms “the commitment of the new Congolese leadership to neutralize negative forces” in the eastern Congo, Olivier Nduhungire, state minister for foreign affairs, said by phone from Rwanda’s capital, Kigali.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ignatius Ssuuna in Goma at issuuna@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net, Pauline Bax, Hilton Shone

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.