Act now on Congo war criminals

The wars and human tragedy engulfing the Congo is worsening by the day. Millions have been killed since 1996. Hundreds of thousands of women have been raped; and millions more will die long after the conflict is over from the ensuing HIV/Aids pandemic, triggered by campaigns of sexual atrocities against women – and still spreading today at an alarming speed (The human spur to action, 30 May). While there is enough blame to be shared by all parties to this conflict, Bosco Ntaganda, Sultani Makenga and Sylvestre Mudacumura bear primary responsibility for the recent spike in waves of violence and mass displacement. We urge the UK government to impose targeted sanctions against senior members of the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) and the armed group M23. We also urge the government to call on the international criminal court's chief prosecutor to expand the charges against Ntaganda to include recent massacres; to provide urgent diplomatic leadership and logistical support to the international criminal court, Monusco (UN stabilisation mission in DR Congo) and the Congolese government to arrest and send Ntaganda to the Hague; and to warn the government of Rwanda, as well as individuals and corporations known to have funded or armed Ntaganda, the CNDP or other militia gangs in the past, to halt immediately or face international isolation and sanctions.