Kinshasa – The Democratic Republic of Congo wants the recently arrested leader of a Ugandan rebel group extradited to DRC because he committed more killings in the eastern part of the country than in other nations, the justice minister said on Sunday.
Jamil Mukulu, who had been on the run since the 1990s as leader of an Islamic extremist group known as Allied Democratic Forces, was arrested and is in the custody of Tanzanian security officials, Ugandan police spokesperson Fred Enanga told The Associated Press last week.
Mukulu had been the subject of an Interpol arrest warrant for attacks carried out against civilians.
Justice and Human Rights Minister Alexis Thambwe Mwamba said Sunday that Mukulu committed more killings in DRC than in Uganda, so he should be extradited to DRC.
The ADF is one of many armed groups operating in eastern DRC. The rebels have staged sporadic attacks on towns in eastern DRC and against Congolese military units.
Suspected ADF rebels killed at least seven people on Friday in the Mulekera district in North Kivu, the leader of a local civil society group, Teddy Kataliko, said on Sunday. This brings to more than 300 the number of civilians killed in the past five months in this area of North Kivu, he said.
Attackers in military uniforms wore masks and carried machetes and axes during the attacks, witnesses said.