UPDATE 20 March 2013: NTAGANDA is still at the US embassy for a third day where US officials say he will remain until he is transferred to the ICC. Bloomberg News is reporting that ICC officials are on their way to Kigali for NTAGANDA according to U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie CARSON.
Some troubling indications have emerged that Rwanda may try to block the transfer of NTAGANDA to the Hague. According to Melanie GOUBY and Mike CORDER of AP:
The United States government appears to be worried that Rwanda won't allow a warlord from Congo now camped out in the U.S. Embassy safe passage to the airport to be flown to the International Criminal Court for prosecution.The U.S. hopes Rwanda will help facilitate the transfer of Congolese rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda from the U.S. Embassy in Kigali to the airport for a flight to the ICC in the Netherlands, the top U.S. State Department official on Africa, Johnnie CARSON, said Wednesday."We hope that the Rwandan government will do its part," CARSON said in a telephone press conference from Washington. "It is a small but significant part to ensure that Bosco NTAGANDA is able to move freely from the American embassy compound to the airport where he will board a plane and go to The Hague."CARSON said it's important that NTAGANDA's movement from the embassy to the airport "in no way be inhibited."Carson also indicated that Rwanda hasn't yet assured cooperation with ICC officials en route to Rwanda. He noted that Rwanda, like the United States, is not a signatory to the Rome Statue that created the ICC and is not bound by international obligations to hand NTAGANDA to the ICC.
More, later... from Clay Claiborne
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