THE HAGUE, Oct 22, 2007 (AFP) - Congolese militia leader Germain Katanga, accused of massacres, using child soldiers and turning women into sex slaves, is to make his first appearance on Monday before the International Criminal Court.

Katanga, 29, arrived in The Hague Thursday after being handed over to the ICC by Congolese authorities in Kinshasa. He is only the second person to be transferred to the custody of the ICC, the world's first permanent war crimes court.

THE HAGUE, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - Congolese militia leader Germain Katanga will on Monday become only the second person to appear before the International Criminal Court to face accusations of massacres, using child soldiers and turning women into sex slaves.

Katanga, 29, arrived in The Hague Thursday after being handed over to the ICC by Congolese authorities in Kinshasa.

The prosecution accuses Katanga of massacring villagers, using child soldiers and sexually enslaving women in the northeastern Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

THE HAGUE, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - Democratic Republic of Congo militia chief Germain Katanga, who was transferred to the International Criminal Court, is a 'small fish' and Congolese NGOs called Friday for the ICC to pursue their probe and issue more arrest warrants.

THE HAGUE, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - A Democratic Republic of Congo militia chief accused of war crimes arrived at the detention centre of the International Criminal Court in The Hague on Thursday after his transfer from Kinshasa, an ICC spokeswoman told AFP.

'He arrived around noon at the detention centre,' court spokeswoman Sonja Robla told AFP.

Germain Katanga, 29, who once led the Forces for Patriotic Resistance in Ituri (FRPI), faces charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity commited in the north-eastern Ituri region of the DR Congo.

KINSHASA, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - The Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday transferred a militia chief to the International Criminal Court in The Hague to face war crimes charges, including sexual enslavement and using child soldiers.

Germain Katanga, 29, who once led the Forces for Patriotic Resistance in Ituri (FRPI), was flown out of Kinshasa early Thursday, a senior ICC official in the capital said.

KINSHASA, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - The Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday transferred a militia chief to the International Criminal Court in The Hague to face war crimes charges, including sexual enslavement and using child soldiers.

Germain Katanga, 29, who once led the Forces for Patriotic Resistance in Ituri (FRPI), was flown out of Kinshasa early Thursday, a senior ICC official in the capital said.

THE HAGUE, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - The transfer of a Democratic Republic of Congo militia chief to the International Criminal Court (ICC) Thursday shows war criminals in the African country that they will be prosecuted, the ICC prosecutor said.

'The DRC is still engulfed in violence. There is forced displacement of people, sexual violence of shocking brutality, and killings. It must stop. Perpetrators must know they will be prosecuted,' prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said in a statement.

KINSHASA, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - A militia chief from the Democratic Republic of Congo accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the northeast Ituri region in 2003 was transferred to the International Criminal Court in the Hague Thursday, a court official said.

Germain Katanga, 29, who once led the Forces for Patriotic Resistance in Ituri (FRPI), was flown out from Kinshasa early Thursday, said a senior ICC official in the capital.

THE HAGUE, Oct 1, 2007 (AFP) - Judges at the young International Criminal Court said Monday they were hoping to hold the tribunal's first-ever trial -- that of war crimes charges against Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga -- in mid-February 2008.

'Our tentative proposal is a date somewhere around mid-February,' presiding judge Adrian Fulford said during a procedural hearing in Lubanga's case Monday.

Lubanga's trial would be the inaugural one for the ICC, which became operational mid 2002. The court is the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal.

THE HAGUE, Sept 24, 2007 (AFP) - There will be no end to the conflict in Darfur if Sudanese minister Ahmed Haroun is not brought to justice over alleged crimes against humanity, the International Criminal Court prosecutor said Monday.

'I think there won't be a solution in Darfur if Harun remains as minister of humanitarian affairs,' prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said at the ICC's headquarters at The Hague.