Global News Post: Congo

Congo Plane Crash Kills 30 near Brazzaville

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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiO6H_k7q8RRIApdOskY3Qav9ncSdINaochEtcMC9uhaJcl6auZEvzmccHcS4jzSpVYLt_1mjxYW0GzB90dzYmYRl0RrHdmji0X8iBDJscFeI0xDvE8mlAuBapn6yChLn_eM5OKDEXXG4/s1600/2012120310500111.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiO6H_k7q8RRIApdOskY3Qav9ncSdINaochEtcMC9uhaJcl6auZEvzmccHcS4jzSpVYLt_1mjxYW0GzB90dzYmYRl0RrHdmji0X8iBDJscFeI0xDvE8mlAuBapn6yChLn_eM5OKDEXXG4/s1600/2012120310500111.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">NNN--- Rescue workers walk among the crash
site of a cargo airplane near the airport at <st1:city w:st="on">Brazzaville</st1:city>
in the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Republic</st1:placetype>
 of <st1:placename w:st="on">Congo</st1:placename></st1:place>’s capital on 1
December 2012. Emergency workers said at least 30 people were killed when a
cargo plane slammed into homes near <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Brazzaville</st1:place></st1:city>'s
airport. The victims included all six crew members of the Soviet-era cargo
plane, as well as local people who were killed when the plane skidded off the
runway and ploughed into a residential area. There was no official word on what
caused the crash. Witnesses said the aircraft was trying to land during a
violent storm. Photo courtesy Agencies---NNN<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Congo Plane Crash Kills 30 near Brazzaville

NNN--- Rescue workers walk among the crash site of a cargo airplane near the airport at Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo...

International Criminal Court Set to Issue First Sentence

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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">By VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The International Criminal Court is set to hand down its first sentence Tuesday, in the case of convicted Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Lubanga was found guilty of war crimes in March for recruiting and using child soldiers during fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in 2002 and 2003.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Human Rights Watch said Monday said Lubanga's sentence is important not only to his victims, "but also as a warning to those who use child soldiers around the world."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Lubanga conviction was the ICC's first verdict since it was established a decade ago.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Court prosecutors are seeking a sentence "close to the maximum" for Lubanga, which could range from 30 years to life in prison.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A panel of judges ruled unanimously that Lubanga recruited children under 15 years old to fight for the armed wing of his group, the Union of Congolese Patriots.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He has been in the ICC's custody at The Hague since March of 2006.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The international court is seeking the arrest of another Congolese militia leader, Bosco Ntaganda, who it says was the number-three leader in Lubanga's militia.  Soldiers loyal to Ntaganda left the Congolese army earlier this year and began an ongoing mutiny in the east, near the Ugandan border. <o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

International Criminal Court Set to Issue First Sentence

By VOA News The International Criminal Court is set to hand down its first sentence Tuesday, in the case of convicted Congolese warlord T...