The War Criminals Trying to Prevent a Genocide

[Music] these men are former militia leaders current military and at least one convicted war criminal they're working together on behalf of the government of the democratic republic of congo [Music] allah they've been waiting for weeks to carry out the next phase of peace negotiations in rebel-held territory and now they've finally got the state funds to go we're with the congolese military on our way to jugu an area that's been at the center of the conflict in atari province for the last few years they're escorting what the government is calling a peace delegation but they're actually former warlords who've led the last conflict here they'll meet up with active codeco rebels who are still fighting in the field and they say they'll convince them to stop the fighting and put their weapons down there was a full-scale war in the turi province in 1999 between ethnic lendu and hema groups it ended in 2003 with tens of thousands dead on both sides now a new conflict that started in 2017 is escalating is a former lindu warlord who led a militia in the last war he's now the president of this delegation today they were planning to make a case for the rebels to live at this site while disarming but no one showed up what is the site intended to be and what's the process that will happen here [Music] a little bit [Music] how will you convince the man to come here the lamentation but right now they're living in the villages they have weapons they're powerful they're living with their families do you think they'll want to come and and live here yes in the last war the fighting was clearly along ethnic lines the landu resented the hema for what they saw as having more political power and land and neighboring countries uganda and rwanda threw their money and weapons behind different militias then and now forces both inside and outside the country stand to profit from destabilizing this mineral-rich region that's part of a lucrative and illegal international gold trade and they're manipulating ethnic resentments to do it this village is home to cadeco rebels a loose coalition of mostly lending militias they're the main perpetrators of this conflict which has led to at least 1 000 dead last year congo's president called this an attempted genocide and since then few aid workers or journalists have been allowed into rebel territory some high-ranking rebels agreed to meet with the peace delegation in town to talk through their terms before agreeing to surrender their weapons why have you come here today to meet with this delegation and what do you think about the peace process [Music] [Music] [Music] since 2017 two million people have fled their homes due to the conflict in the last six months there's been a surge in attacks leading to hundreds of thousands of new majority hema internally displaced people or idps to flood into camps like this one [Music] [Music] [Music] there are 64 refugee camps and they can only house about 12 of all of those who've been displaced some like xavier lucigo who's an ethnic hema chose to wait for a spot to open up family fled in march after rebels torched and looted their village a horrifying story we heard over and over again did you know why they were attacking all these villages [Music] [Music] do you think the government will end the violence here government the government says the work of the peace delegation will allow idps to return home they've succeeded in convincing some cadeco rebel groups to demobilize but at least one has already reneged attacking villages and army positions on the outskirts of aturi's capital in october 5 000 people were displaced in a single day these un troops are conducting night patrols on the outskirts of dunya in response to ongoing rebel attacks just a few miles outside of the city in these villages in the last few days they're securing the main roads the city borders talking to new idps flooding into the city and to village leaders to find out what the situation is here there has long been skepticism that the un peacekeeping mission is actually helping they've been here for 20 years and currently have some 12 500 troops on the ground kenyan national josiah obad has served with the un since 2006 and is in charge of the mission here so in the 20 years that the u.n has been involved in congo there's been many failed disarmament processes and the negotiation with cadeco is to reintegrate them into the army do you think that's problematic the un does not support a process that integrates wholesome armed groups particularly those that have committed serious human rights violations into the national army it's not a way to build a credible national lab in the jugu peace process do you think it's problematic that the government has sent former warlords back to negotiate peace in the same area that they led the conflict i think we're here to work with the government and i would i would not venture in making an opinion about a decision that has been made by the president it seems like it's almost becoming a business where in this region if you pick up arms you can be guaranteed on some level to be reintegrated into the army or at least that's what their leaders are telling them that is the concern the other groups that say no that should not be the way you pick up arms you kill people and then you end up in the army it's like we are rewarding impunity fighters are increasingly attacking civilians of several ethnic groups indiscriminately but if hema militias start to organize this could again become an all-out war assemway bahati is hema and fought in the last conflict he's lost eight family members in the last few months were you surprised that the violence flared up in a turi again so do you actually think it's about hatred between the landows and the hammer or do you think somebody else is pulling the strings behind this war to figure out so what's stopping you from defending yourself this time around congo's president says that peace in a tory is a priority his critics say sending former warlords to demobilize over 20 000 rebels with no clear plans for reintegration is a setup for failure but in jabu dismisses the skeptics the international community has said they won't participate in this peace process and that it needs to have some element of justice for war crimes especially before people are integrated into the army what's your response to [Music] foreign but you're going around promising these guys jobs or integration into the army when the government can't necessarily provide that management this year absence thomas lubanga was just released from prison six months ago the founder and former leader of an armed group called the fplc lubanga was sentenced to 14 years after he was found guilty of war crimes by the international criminal court for his role in the lastiturry conflict the crimes of conscripting and enlisting children under the age of 15. it was the first ever trial and conviction by the icc lubanga maintains his innocence [Music] utility but you weren't convicted for bringing peace you were convicted for waging war for recruiting thousands of child soldiers what's your full age gentry [Music] it's not me who's saying i'm not saying you're a monster i'm saying there's a lot of evidence not just about the child soldiers but about war crimes that were committed under your command not from one person not just from the icc but from many many people during that time period and it can't all be fake and now what role are you playing now that you're back in the but isn't the international community already there on the ground with the monusco peacekeeping forces can you understand why people would be skeptical of that message of peace from you when you played such a significant role in the last war there when tens of thousands of people died and your side was accused of grave crimes saying uh second you

Channel: VICE News

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Keywords: War Criminals, Prevent a Genocide, ex-warlords, VICE News, julia steers vice, vice news 2020, VICE News Tonight, Congolese authorities, MONUSCO, Ituri province, vice congo, congo conflict, eastern congo war, EASTERN CONGO, vice video, congo, news, VICE on SHOWTIME, BUNIA, Julia Steers, DR Congo, Second Congo War, Africa’s World War, international news, democratic republic of the congo, eastern congo rebels, union des Patriotes Congolaise, United nations

Id: _U0bbxo_9Ms

Length: 19min 47sec (1187 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 01 2020