War criminal Bosco Ntaganda surrenders at a U.S. Embassy

Bosco Ntaganda at his mountain base in Kabati, Democratic Republic of Congo, in 2009. 

Bosco Ntaganda, a Rwandan general indicted for war crimes, a particularly bad actor who’s stirred up violence in a part of the world that has plenty of bad actors and violence, walked into the U.S. Embassy in Kigali, Rwanda, today and asked to be delivered to the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands.

That’s according to State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, who confirmed a Rwandan foreign ministry statement from earlier today. “I can confirm that Bosco Ntaganda … walked into U.S. Embassy Kigali,” she said, adding that the U.S. is “working to facilitate” Ntaganda’s request that he be “transferred” to the ICC. (This is actually trickier than it sounds for some very interesting reasons; more on this later.)

Ntaganda’s rap sheet is very, very dark; when you think of the most horrific stories coming out of the Democratic Republic of Congo during its wars, you’re probably thinking about Ntaganda. The ICC indicted him in 2006 for, according to a summary by Human Rights Watch, “allegedly committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in northeastern Congo in 2002 and 2003, including recruiting and using child soldiers, murder, rape and sexual slavery, and persecution.”

Since 2006, Ntaganda has been a major player in Central Africa, a powerful militia leader who allegedly had a hand in such enterprises as smuggling and the illicit “conflict minerals” trade. He’s been accused of running his corner of eastern Congo as a mafia-style fiefdom. Most recently, he helped lead a Congolese rebel movement called M23 that, this fall, briefly seized the city of Goma.

The big question: Why would someone so powerful voluntarily give himself up to the ICC, which is likely to sentence him to many years in jail? We don't know the answer right now. Maybe we'll find out later today, maybe not for months, maybe not forever. But here, if for no other reason than to help understand the dynamics at play, are some of the theories being tossed around by Central Africa watchers. To be clear, these are just theories, but worth considering.

1) Ntaganda "lost some of his powerful backers in Rwanda," suggests Morehouse College professor Laura Seay, referring to long-held suspicions (particularly within the United Nations) that some senior elements in the Rwandan government supported Ntaganda as a way to exert their influence in neighboring Congo. Perhaps he "decided to sell them out," even if that meant serving time himself.

2) Perhaps Ntaganda's sponsors, particularly any hypothetical sponsors within the Rwandan government, pushed him to turn himself in. The Atlantic's Armin Rosen offers a version of this theory, suggesting that Rwanda may have given Ntaganda an ultimatum: Turn yourself in to the ICC or else. In this thinking, his sponsors may have found that he had outlived his usefulness.

3) Here's the theory that appears most compelling as of this moment: Perhaps Ntaganda thought his days in Central Africa were numbered and saw surrendering to the ICC as his best route to safety. Speculation is so far focusing on his possible Rwandan sponsors giving him up, but it's worth noting that his M23 group split recently. Ntaganda's faction of M23 suffered a major defeat just two days ago, sending him fleeing. A representative of the rival M23 faction pledged "we will go after him." Rwanda, meanwhile, arrested another senior figure in M23, putting Ntaganda between two very unattractive options.

4) A less-compelling theory is that Ntaganda arranged some sort of deal with the ICC in which he believed his capture was imminent and that he could get a more sympathetic trial if he gave himself up. If this had occurred, presumably whoever he negotiated with would tell him where to surrender. The U.S. Embassy would be a bad place to do this, given that the U.S. is an ally of Rwanda and is not an ICC signatory, making it unlikely but plausible that the embassy would refuse to take him.

Gunmen kill four teachers in Maiduguri

Nigeria:

Reports from Maiduguri, the  Bornu state capital, said some gunmen on Monday attacked two schools and shot dead four teachers, while four pupils sustained injuries.

Newsmen reports that the teachers were shot in two separate attacks.

In the first attack, witnesses said three gunmen stormed Ali-Alaskiri Secondary School in Mafoni ward of Maiduguri and shot dead a teacher at the school while a pupil was injured by a stray bullet.

In the second incident, three teachers were shot dead by another set of gunmen inside the Exams and Records office of Mafoni Day Secondary School while three pupils were injured by stray bullets.

The spokesperson of the JTF, Sagir Musa, could not be reached for comment.

Lebanese President Visits Nigeria

In pictures:

FBI: We know who carried out greatest art heist in American history

On the 23rd anniversary of the biggest art heist in history FBI agents said they've identified the culprits and pleaded with the public for any information leading to the suspects and the $580 million artwork. 
The FBI said Monday that it knows the identities of the thieves who stole 13 works of art from Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, but declined to name the suspects or the alleged criminal organization they belong to, saying it would be "imprudent" to do so. They said they believe the art work has "changed hands several times" over the years. 
"The FBI believes with a high degree of confidence in the years after the theft the art was transported to Connecticut and the Philadelphia region and some of the art was taken to Philadelphia where it was offered for sale by those responsible for the theft," Special Agent Richard DesLauriers said during a press conference.
"With that same confidence we have identified the thieves who are members of a criminal organization with a base in the mid-Atlantic states and New England," he said.  

After the attempted sale in Philadelphia, which authorities claim took place about a decade ago, the investigators' knowledge of the art's whereabouts is limited. 
Just after midnight on March 18, 1990, two men dressed as police officers buzzed the side door at a Boston museum and claimed they were there to investigate a disturbance.
A little more than an hour later, the men left with what is said to be the most valuable collection of stolen artwork in history: $580 million worth of famous works, including Rembrandt's only seascape, "The Storm on the Sea of Galilee," and Vermeer's "The Concert," a masterpiece valued at more than $200 million.

The FBI on Monday pleaded with the public for any information leading to the whereabouts of the famed works, which they said could be hanging over a mantel somewhere or lying in an attic. 
Investigators over the years have followed leads from Nevada to France, but the priceless items snatched from the museum have never been recovered.
The two men who broke into the museum -- hours after Boston celebrated St. Patrick's Day -- had "inside knowledge" of the museum's surveillance system, FBI Special Agent Geoff Kelly previously told FoxNews.com. 

The suspects, described as white men in their 30s, were disguised as Boston police officers when they approached the museum door. The pair convinced two inexperienced security guards that they were responding to a call, before overtaking the guards and tying them up.
They spent 81 minutes inside the museum, walking the dark hallways before making their way to the Dutch Room, where the most valuable works were found.
The pair smashed glass and used box cutters to remove the masterpieces from their frames. In all, 13 priceless items were taken: three paintings by Rembrandt including, "The Storm on the Sea of Galilee," five drawings by Degas, and Vermeer's "The Concert" -- said to be the most valuable stolen painting in the world. The thieves also snatched an ancient Chinese bronze beaker or "Ku" from the Shang Dynasty and a finial that once stood atop a flag from Napoleon's Army.
But the method by which the pair seized the works led police to believe they were inexperienced art thieves.       
"They were clever in how they got into the museum," Kelly said, "but the working profile points to inexperienced art thieves."
"How they went about removing the paintings – slicing them from their frames – that's indicative of a rank amateur when it comes to art theft," Kelly said. "Anyone who knows anything about art, when you’re taking an old Dutch master, slicing out of the frame will damage the painting."
The pair also made sure to cover their tracks. They took the museum's surveillance tape with them. They also took a printout from a computer that showed -- based on motion detectors -- where they had walked in the museum. That information, however, was already captured on the computer's hard drive, confirming to authorities where in the museum the thieves had been and how long they had stayed.    
"They had a comfort level that really would establish they had some type of knowledge about how the security protocols were conducted at the museum," said Kelly.
Kelly said it's highly probable the thieves had no idea the magnitude of their crime until they woke up the next morning and realized they had committed the "heist of the century." He said it's possible they planned to "wait until the heat dies down" before attempting to sell the works. But it never did.
The museum has a $5 million reward for anyone with information on the whereabouts of the items. The U.S. Attorney in Boston is also offering immunity from prosecution for anyone with information leading to the stolen art.  

The Theft story in pictorials:

 

   

   

 

   

 

   

   

Tiger Woods, Lindsey Vonn confirm they're dating

Tiger Woods and Lindsay Vonn have made it official.
The pro golfer and Olympic skier confirmed Monday what had been rumored for months -- yes, they are dating.
In messages released simultaneously on their respective Facebook pages, the two confirmed they are a couple and shared a few photos.
"I guess it wasn't a well-kept secret but yes, I am dating Tiger Woods," Vonn, 28, said on her facebook page "Our relationship evolved from a friendship into something more over these past few months and it has made me very happy."
"I don't plan on addressing this further as I would like to keep that part of my life between us, my family and close friends," she added.

Woods, 37,  wrote: "Lindsey and I have been friends for some time, but over the last few months we have become very close and are now dating. We thank you for your support and for respecting our privacy. We want to continue our relationship, privately, as an ordinary couple and continue to compete as athletes."
The golfer was previously married to Elin Nordegren, with whom he has two children. They   divorced after Woods' extramarital affairs were made public in 2009.

Vonn broke a bone in her leg and shredded two knee ligaments in a high-speed crash at the skiing world championships in Austria last month. Rumors of a Woods-Vonn relationship heated up after he reportedly sent his private plane to fly her home after the injury.

Blasts at bus park in north Nigeria's Kano kills over 20, injures dozens

Five explosions at a bus park in northern Nigeria's main city of Kano killed at least 60 people and injuring dozens on Monday in an area where Islamist sect Boko Haram is waging an insurgency against the government.

 

The blasts destroyed several buses in the Sabon Gari area of Kano, an area mostly inhabited by immigrants from Nigeria's largely Christian south, the Reuters witness said. Military and police cordoned off the area after the blasts.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Boko Haram, which frequently has attacked the city, is a prime suspect.
"I ran for my dear life and managed to get out of the park after the second blast. Many people are lying dead. See, my clothes are covered in blood," said Ibrahim Bello, holding up a blood-soaked shirt.

The attacks came as an audio tape emerged of a man saying he was the father of a family of seven French tourists kidnapped by Boko Haram militants. On the tape, he read out a threat by them to increase kidnappings and suicide bombings in Cameroon if authorities there detain more of the group's followers.

Dotun CoolFM proposes to D’banj’s younger sister, Taiwo

 

Cool FM On Air Personality, Oladotun Ojuolape Kayode this evening in South Africa proposed to his girlfriend, Taiwo Oyebanjo. Taiwo is D’banj’s younger sister.


We wish them all the happiness they deserve.