Alleged Congolese Warlord 'The Terminator' Denies Crimes

Gen. Bosco Ntaganda, widely known as "the terminator," is accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity, all allegedly committed during the decade-old conflict in the mineral-rich east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The allegations, including murder and rape, were made against Gen. Ntaganda on Monday morning at the International Criminal Court (ICC) as judges decide whether there is enough evidence for him to stand trail. Ntaganda has not entered a plea yet, and he denied the charges Monday morning in front of the ICC.

Ntaganda is accused of 13 counts of war crimes and five counts of crimes against humanity, including murder, coercing children to become soldiers and keeping women as sex slaves.

Eastern DR Congo has suffered from two decades of violence linked to ethnic rivalries and competition for the control of the area's rich mineral resources, which has left an estimated five million dead.

The unrest in the region began when some of the ethnic Hutu militants accused of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda fled into DR Congo. Some 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered.

Like those who have governed Rwanda since the genocide, Ntaganda is an ethnic Tutsi.

Ntaganda is accused of leading fighters of to drive ethnic minorities out of the mineral-rich Ituri region in the northeast of the DR Congo during that period.

The fighters, many whom were child soldiers, committed atrocious crimes on the ethic minority population in the northern-eastern corner of the DRC. Ntaganda ordered fighters to shoot and behead civilians, rape women and recruit child soldiers, the International Criminal Court (ICC) was told.

“Ntaganda was a senior military commander who should also be punished because he failed to prevent or punish crimes by troops under his effective command or control,” Fatou Bensouda, the chief prosecutor told the ICC on Monday morning.

"He played a key role in planning assaults against the civilian population in order to gain territory. He persecuted civilians on ethnic grounds, through deliberate attacks, forced displacement, murder, rape, sexual enslavement,” said Bensouda.

Bensouda has five days starting this Monday to convince judges that Gen. Ntaganda should be tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Earlier on Monday Ntaganda, speaking in the Kinyarwanda language, told the court: “My name is Bosco Ntaganda. When I arrived at the ICC I was a soldier, but I'm no longer a soldier any more.”

Ntaganda has been one of the ICC's most wanted suspects for his alleged crimes.