Former DRCongo leader arrested

(May 25, Brussels, Sri Lanka Guardian) Jean-Pierre Bemba, formerly vice-president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, was in custody in Belgium on Sunday after being arrested on a war crimes warrant from the International Criminal Court.

"Jean-Pierre Bemba was arrested at around eight in the evening in a Brussels suburb," said ICC prosecutor Beatrice Le Fraper.

`We are waiting for Belgian authorities to order his transfer to the ICC," in The Hague, she added.

Bemba was arrested on a warrant that listed four charges of war crimes and two of crimes against humanity, all allegedly committed in the Central African Republic.

Although the arrest warrant was originally issued on May 16, Bemba had no warning of it because it had not been made public.

"The warrant of arrest for Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo is the first warrant issued in the situation in the Central African Republic," said a statement from the ICC posted on its website.

But prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo made it clear that the investigation was ongoing and it would not be the only warrant issued in the case.

Bemba, now 45, was one of four vice-presidents in a transitional government in DRCongo between 2003 and 2006.

The multi-millionaire businessman led the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) rebel group, which later converted itself into a political party.
- Sri Lanka Guardian