Jean-Pierre Bemba was one of the four vice presidents during the Congo transitional government. He was one of the 40-something presidential candidates. Later, he was pitted against Kabila in a runoff for the presidency. He lost.
After the election, it has been down hill for Bemba. He was forced out of the country into exile by the Kabila government in March 2007. He fled to Portugal. Finally, he was arrested by the ICC in May 2008 while in Belgium.
The International Criminal Court handed down charges today on Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo, who is alleged to have committed crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Central African Republic, where he allowed fighters from the Mouvement de libération du Congo to kill, rape, and torture non-combatants and to plunder and destroy villages.
Mr. Bemba has served as Vice-President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and President and Commander in Chief of the MLC. He was arrested in May 2008 in Belgium and has been in jail at The Hague for the last six months.
The crimes of which Mr. Bemba is accused took place between 25 October 2002 and 15 March 2003, while the CAR was wracked by internal fighting. He allowed CAR’s President Ange Felix Patassé to use the MLC to carry out attacks on civilians.
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