Ex-Congo Soldier Admits Training Children

A former Congolese militia fighter testified Friday that he trained children to use assault rifles and fought alongside them in the ethnic conflicts of eastern Congo.

The witness was testifying in the war crimes trial of Thomas Lubanga at the International Criminal Court. Lubanga has pleaded not guilty to recruiting and using child soldiers under age 15 in 2002-2003.

The witness said Lubanga visited his training camp and told the recruits: "Do not be afraid. The war will not be difficult."

The young man, whose identity was concealed for his protection, was the first witness allowed to tell his story at the trial, which began this week. An earlier witness was excused after retracting his testimony, raising the judges' suspicions that he felt too intimidated to tell the truth.

The trial is the first to be heard by the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal since it was created in 2002, and is considered a milestone in judicial history.

The witness said he joined Lubanga's militia in 2002 after senior officers threatened to torch his village unless the young people joined up. He said children were among the group that went with them to a training camp.

Lubanga's militia made him an instructor since he already had some military training. He said he had enlisted in the Congolese army in 1997 when he was 13 years old, but he was released seven months later when the newly installed president, Laurent Kabila, ordered all child soldiers demobilized and sent back to school.

The witness said he taught Lubanga's recruits to fire AK47 rifles and the basics of fighting. Underage children often were assigned to officers as armed "bodyguards or escorts," the witness said.

Later, he said he saw child soldiers fight and die in several battles.