Congolese gov’t happy with taking Gen NKunda to military court, push for extradition

Kishasa-The Democratic republic of Congo has added its nod on Rwanda’s Supreme Court decision of transferring the controversial case of Laurent Nkunda to military court after long arguments on the competence of other courts

“We have what to accuse Nkunda basing on abuses in North and South Kivu war, we support the courts decision but our country needs Nkunda to be extradited to face justice here,” Lambert Mende Omalanga, the minister of communication who also dabbles being government spokesman was quoted by Okapi radio as saying

Rwanda's Supreme Court ruled on Friday it is not competent to hear a plea seeking the release of Laurent Nkunda, a former rebel chief in the Democratic Republic of Congo, held since January 2009.

"The court ruled it is not competent and sent the case back to a military tribunal," Aime Bokanga, one of Nkunda's lawyers told AFP.

Nkunda was arrested in Gisenyi on January 22 2009, when he was head of the rebel National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) movement, according to people close to him.

In October 2008, Nkunda's men routed the DR Congolese army in Nord-Kivu province and threatened to take the strategic provincial capital, Goma, near the border with Rwanda.

But after a shift in alliances, the Congolese and Rwandan armies in January 2009 launched an unprecedented joint operation targeting Rwandan Hutu rebels in eastern DR Congo which also resulted in Nkunda's arrest.