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Last week, the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Joseph Kabila, put four notorious warlords under house arrest in Kinshasa. They were accused by the United Nations of having masterminded the murder of nine peacekeepers killed in the lawless Ituri district ten days ago. The killings were shocking, but even more outrageous is that these armed group leaders were not arrested much earlier for the killing of tens-of-thousands of Congolese civilians.

The individuals put under house arrest include Floribert Njabu, the leader of the FNI armed group accused of killing the Bangladeshi peacekeepers, an allegation that requires further investigation. Whatever the outcome of such enquiries, it is clear the FNI carried out thousands of other brutal killings in Ituri since 1999. I recently documented one such attack in 2003 on the town of Fataki. FNI militiamen targeted Hema civilians and left the corpses of some of their victims dead in the streets with their arms tied, sticks in their rectums, and body parts such as ears cut off.  
 
The Hema militias of the UPC under the leadership of Thomas Lubanga have carried out equally horrible atrocities. In the rich gold town of Mongbwalu and surrounding villages they slaughtered some 800 civilians in 2002 and 2003, mostly targeting those who were Lendu. After their battles, the UPC militia carried out house-to-house searches looking for Lendu civilians to arrest, torture and then execute. In one massacre in the town of Kilo, Hema militiamen killed their Lendu victims - including women and children - by hitting them over the head with a sledgehammer.  
 
Where is the justice for these crimes? More than 60,000 people have been killed in Ituri alone since 1999. Rather than being punished for their ghastly abuses, senior leaders of armed groups from Ituri are being promoted. In January, President Kabila elevated six senior military leaders from Ituri to the rank of general in the new Congolese army. They included Jérôme Kakwavu, Floribert Kisembo, Bosco Taganda and Germain Katanga, all notorious military leaders who personally ordered, tolerated or participated in the killing of civilians.  

Thirty-two other militiamen from armed groups responsible for widespread human rights abuses against civilians are soon to become majors and colonels. The message is clear. Carrying out brutalities against civilians will help you to get a promotion in Congo.  
 
Last week's house arrest of Lubanga and Njabu plus two of the new Lendu generals for the murder of the U.N. peacekeepers at least provides a glimmer of hope that there may be a price to pay for such atrocities. But house arrest simply means these war criminals sit in the comfort of the Grand Hotel in Kinshasa. They have not yet been charged with any crimes, nor have they been officially arrested. And the other military leaders who participated in the killing of Congolese civilians, but are not thought to have participated in the recent murder of the U.N. peacekeepers, remain free. What justice is this?  
 
Are we to assume from the actions of President Kabila that the lives of U.N. peacekeepers are more valuable than those of Congolese citizens? Congo needs justice if it is to rebuild a broken society. President Kabila should act now and immediately order the arrest and investigation of all the armed group leaders implicated in killing civilians sitting at the Grand Hotel in Kinshasa, not just the ones who may have killed U.N. peacekeepers. The families of the Bangladeshi peacekeepers killed in Ituri deserve to see justice done, but so do the citizens of the DRC.

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