Bosco Ntaganda, ‘The Terminator,’ Surrenders to the U.S.

[Recursion]

For the past three days, Bosco Ntaganda, also known as “The Terminator,” has been holed up at the American embassy in Rwanda. One of Africa’s most wanted war criminals, Ntaganda was a leader of the M23 in eastern Congo, until he apparently lost control of the notorious rebel group, and began fearing for his own life.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has had a warrant out for Ntaganda for years on charges of recruiting child soldiers as well as for murder, rape, and sexual slavery. But despite being on this international black list since 2006, Ntaganda’s fall has been relatively swift and the circumstances of his surrender remain a mystery.

But as Tony Gambino, former head of USAID in the Democratic Republic of Congo, put it: “There was never a good endgame for Bosco.” Gambino, now an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, says that Ntaganda “went from being a senior commander in very good graces – at least as far as the Congolese Army was concerned - to being a hunted man with a bull’s eye between his eyes. How does that happen?”

U.S. officials in Washington said that Ntaganda asked to be transferred to the ICC and that they will let him speak for himself about his motives for turning himself in.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/03/21/bosco-ntaganda-the-terminator-surrenders-to-the-u-s.html

I guess it's an open question whether he showed up at the embassy and turned himself in or "showed up at the embassy" and "turned himself in".

[pinto]

1. from the same article -

Last weekend, clashes with the rival faction sent Ntaganda and his men fleeing over the border into Rwanda, where his men are now detained, according to the Rwandan foreign minister. Ntaganda, however, made a dash for the American Embassy, asking to be transferred to The Hague for his ICC trial, rather than face his erstwhile partner, Kagame.

“He might not have had any other solution. It was that or getting shot, and after all, Dutch jails are fairly comfortable,” says Gérard Prunier, a French academic and author of Africa’s World War: Congo, the Rwandan Genocide, and the Making of a Continental Catastrophe.

[Recursion]

2. Right, I'm wondering whether he made that calculation

or a bodyguard made it for him.

[pinto]

3. Ah, yeah. Probably a good call from his perspective either way. (nt)