Ugandan rebels face death for crimes against humanity

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo

A Congolese military court has sentenced 10 Ugandan Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) militiamen to death for crimes against humanity, official sources told Anadolu late Wednesday.

"These 10 terrorists were given the heaviest sentence, the death penalty, by the Operational Court Martial of Beni," government spokesman Lambert Mende told Anadolu Agency by phone.

Mende said that the Ugandan rebels were captured during a military operation that started last year in Beni, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, near the Ugandan border. They were convicted of terrorism, crimes against humanity, and rebellion.

The same sentence was passed in September against 10 other rebels of the same group.

The trial of ADF rebels charged with killing innocent people in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo began in August.

The trial, conducted by the Operational Court Martial in collaboration with high military court magistrates, considered charges that the rebels killed innocent civilians with impunity, attacking their homes, and hacking them to death.

The Congolese army, backed by the UN mission in the country, have vowed to neutralize ADF militiamen in eastern DRC.

The ADF, which has been based in the eastern DRC since 1995, is made up of several armed groups opposed to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.

Between 1,200 and 1,300 civilians have been killed by the ADF since October 2014, according to a report released Monday by the coordination of Civil Society of Beni, a local NGO.