Enforcing arrest warrant against Mudacumura will help end culture of impunity

The Pre-trial chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has finally issued an arrest warrant for Major General Sylvestre Mudacumura, the hard line commander of the eastern Congo based Forces for the Democratic Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) militia.This development comes after a setback where the judges had rejected to indict Mudacumura forcing prosecutors to present more detailed information/ evidence in regard to Mudacumura’s alleged crimes.As they say, better late than never. The indictment of Mudacumura is a step in the right direction in regard to ending the FDLR’s long reign of terror in eastern DRC. Mudacumura belonged to the Habyarimana presidential guard that carried out the initial massacres at the start of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.By all accounts, he is an uncompromising genocidaire whose agenda remains the extermination of the Tutsi. By indicting Mudacumura, ICC has placed the FDLR leadership on notice for the crimes they preside over, and further nation-states that have ratified the Rome Statute of the ICC are now obliged to arrest and handover Mudacumura to the ICC.Enforcing his arrest will require regional and international cooperation. It is vital for regional stability that he is arrested and brought to justice as a mechanism of ending his heinous crimes, and dismantling his terrorist network.Being a reclusive figure, an awareness campaign about his criminal career would help in enforcing his arrest as well as help bringing to an end the culture of impunity.