KINSHASA — The arrest of former rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda on war crimes charges is "not possible for the time being", a Democratic Republic of Congo government spokesman said Thursday.
The International Criminal Court, based in The Hague, wants to try Ntaganda for alleged offences in Congo's northeastern Ituri region, particularly enlisting child soldiers in 2002-2003.
Ntaganda, head of the general staff of the rebel National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) which waged a bloody campaign in eastern Congo, defected to the government side in January.
Since then, international bodies including the European Union have urged the Congolese authorities to arrest Ntaganda, who has been brought into the country's army as a general.
The defection of the CNDP leadership and the arrest of its former commander Laurent Nkunda in Rwanda in January brought some stability to eastern Congo.
In March the CNDP signed a peace deal with the government paving the way for it to become a political party.
At a news conference in Kinshasa, Lambert Mende, the Congo government spokesman, ruled out arresting Ntaganda and transferring him to the ICC for now.
Squabbles about bringing legal proceedings straight away could inflict a "cure worse than the illness" on an already fragile country, Mende said.
Officially Ntaganda has a non-operational role in the Congolese army, in charge of integrating former CNDP fighters, but in reality he is second in command of operations led against Hutu rebels in the east of the country since March.
Copyright © 2009 AFP
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