The former vice president of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Jean Pierre Bemba, was arrested on war crimes charges in Belgium Saturday.
Acting on a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC), Belgian police arrested Bemba, 45, on charges arising from his alleged involvement in the neighboring Central African Republic (CAR) in 2002 and 2003.
His militia group was called upon by the then president of the CAR, Ange Félix Patassé, to counter a rebellion led by the current CAR ruler, François Bozizé.
Bemba is "alleged to be criminally responsible for four counts of war crimes and two counts of crimes against humanity," according to a press release posted on the ICC's website.
The nine-page arrest warrant says that Bemba's militia, the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC), comprised mainly of rebels from the Banyamulenge ethnic group, acted "in concert" with troops loyal to Patassé to engage in rape, torture, degrading treatment of a person, and looting in at least two localities between October 25, 2002 and March 15, 2003.
"There are therefore reasonable grounds to believe that, during the time that MLC fighters were in CAR, war crimes were committed," the warrant further reads.
Bemba later renounced armed struggle to join the civil opposition in the DRC, where he became one of four vice presidents ahead of the 2006 elections. He was defeated in a run-off during the presidential election. He was subsequently elected to the senate but fled to Portugal in April 2007 after deadly clashes between his security guards and DRC soldiers trying to disarm them.
It is not clear what he was doing in Belgium.
According to the Congolese daily La Prospérité, at the time of his arrest Bemba was likely to be selected to serve as the spokesperson for the Congolese opposition, a newly created position.
Bemba is the first person to be the subject of an arrest warrant in connection with the conflict in CAR, according to the ICC. "This arrest is the result of a complex and well planned operation," said ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo. Both the CAR and the DRC have ratified the Rome Statute, which established the ICC.
